Evolution of Fairness

The article I read discussed how our sense of fairness evolved to encourage cooperation between humans, however, scientists wanted to test to see if animals felt fairness as well. They thought that animals such as monkeys would have some sense of fairness because monkeys work together a lot, unlike other species such as polar bears who do not interact with one another except to mate. To test this, scientists conducted an experiment consisting of two monkeys who each had to give a rock to the scientist in exchange for a cucumber. When both monkeys received cucumbers, they were perfectly happy, however, in the next experiment with the same monkeys, one of the monkeys received a grape as a reward, a far better reward than the cucumber that the other monkey received. The monkey that received the cucumber noticed his partner was getting a grape and he was not thrilled. After two or three time occurrences he became frustrated and hurled his cucumber at the scientist. This was a clear sign that the monkey felt that it was unfair that he was getting a worse prize for the same task. Dr. Sarah Brosnan, the scientist conducting the experiment, says that fairness only appears in animals that routinely intreract with others that are not related to them. However, she says that it is one thing to notice when you receive less than someone, like the monkeys, but only one species, the great apes, seem to notice when they get more than the other. Also, she says that the second step of fairness is if you do notice you received more than your partner, you are willing to share because your partner is a valuable to you.

I found it really interesting how scientists are discovering the intelligence and human like qualities such as creativity and individualality in animals and now finding that some animals also have a sense of fairness. I thought it was funny seeing the monkey in the cucumber-grape experment throwing the cucumber at the scientist in frustration. This article has helped me become more aware of the feeling of fairness and why other species may not share this sense. Seeing this experiment made me curious about what other human like traits animals may naturally posses, and why.

Source:

Salleh, A. (2014). Fairness evolved to support co-opperation. Retrieved October 

     12, 2014, from ABC Science website: http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2014/09/19/4089349.htm