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Inequity Aversion I Inequity Aversion provided humans with a key selective advantage that has enabled population growth into even Gillian L Vale and Sarah F Brosnan boreal climates (Boyd et al. 2011). In particular, National Center for Chimpanzee Care, Michale E. such cooperative tendencies have been vital to our Keeling Center for Comparative Medicine and cultural development, facilitating our ability to Research, The University of Texas MD Anderson accumulate complex traits and knowledge over Cancer Center, Bastrop, TX, USA time (cumulative culture), a process that is widely Department of Psychology and Language believed to underpin humanity’s extraordinary Research Center, Georgia State University, biological success. Given the selective advantage Atlanta, GA, USA wide-scale cooperation has conferred to our spe- cies, it is important to address why this capability may have evolved and the processes that may Synonyms underpin it. In this entry, we consider one mech- anism that may be essential to maintaining the Equality, Equity, Fairness, Justice success of cooperation, inequity aversion. When considering behaviors, evolutionary sci- entists typically focus on two features: its func- Definition tion, or why it evolved, and the mechanism(s) by which it operates. Regarding the first of these, Inequity aversion in animals is a response to out- the evolutionary pathway that leads to coopera- comes that are less than, or more than, what a tion is relatively well understood. It is typically social partner receives. accounted for by one of the three theories: kin selection, reciprocity, or mutualism. The kin selection account of cooperation is that coopera- Introduction tion can evolve when cooperative acts provide a fitness advantage to related individuals, despite a Humans are an exceptionally cooperative species, cost to helper organisms. The account of cooper- regularly engaging in cooperate acts with both ation that involves direct reciprocity indicates that related and unrelated individuals. Cooperation cooperation can arise when the short-term net in humans has played a fundamental role in losses are outweighed by the long-term benefits the success of our species, yielding unprecedented of cooperative interactions, often with specific collective action and a capacity to transmit infor- partners. Finally, mutualism describes coopera- mation through vast social networks, which has tion that can result in greater immediate payoffs # Springer International Publishing AG 2017 J. Vonk, T.K. Shackelford (eds.), Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_1084-1 2 Inequity Aversion resulting from working together as compared to cooperation, (ii) replace such unfair partners working alone, without necessarily requiring with more equitable partners, (iii) encourage future interaction. Central to all theories of coop- future interactions with valuable partners by dis- eration is the cost-benefit ratio resulting from tributing rewards in an equitable manner, and/or collaboration; cooperation requires average indi- (iv) manage their reputation as a fair partner (e.g., vidual inclusive fitness to be increased, directly or by rejecting unequal but beneficial gains). Such indirectly, when cooperating with genetically sim- strategies may play an important role in long-term ilar individuals. Herein lies the challenge; for cooperative actions (Brosnan 2011), particularly cooperation to evolve, it must provide more ben- when unrelated individuals stand to benefit from efit than the actor pays in costs. reciprocity and mutualism. Of course, not all of One way in which this might be done is these benefits will appear in every species, and through a sense of “fairness,” or more precisely, such behavior could evolve without individuals an ability to recognize inequitable outcomes (see understanding the function; all that is needed is an Brosnan 2011, for further discussion of the link evolved negative response to inequitable out- between inequity aversion and fairness). Specifi- comes that causes individuals to seek out other cally, sensitivity to inequity allows organisms to partners. identify when a partner unduly benefits from col- In this entry, we take an explicitly evolutionary laborative interactions versus when partners approach to explore how inequity aversion mutually and fairly benefit. Recognizing when evolved as an adaption to meet particular environ- payoffs are equitable or inequitable can inform mental and social challenges. We first provide actors whether it is beneficial to engage in future background on the study of inequity aversion in collaboration or whether it is time to find a new humans, following which we discuss the empiri- cooperative partner. Indeed, one advantage of cal evidence for inequity aversion in nonhuman having a sense of inequity is that it might allow species and, in particular, nonhuman primates. We individuals, in some cooperative contexts, to rec- then consider what this tells us about the phylo- ognize when they are being cheated by receiving genetic trajectory of the inequity response. These less than they should (rather than receiving noth- results indicate that inequity aversion and cooper- ing at all; Brosnan and Bshary 2016). ation coevolved, supporting the argument that In the past few decades, there has been increas- inequity aversion is a mechanism to promote suc- ing empirical and theoretical attention on whether cessful cooperation. Following this evolutionary species recognize inequitable outcomes and view, we look at the degree to which inequity may how this is (or is not) related to species’ coopera- impact cooperation between individual organ- tive tendencies. Empirically, researchers have isms. Inequity does lead to a breakdown in coop- established that many species are averse to ineq- eration, again indicating the degree to which uitable payoffs in at least some contexts. This is inequity responses are important in cooperation. described by the term “inequity aversion,” a neg- We end with a consideration of how inequity is ative response to an unequal payoff to oneself, related to the human sense of fairness and to what relative to others that can take the form of disad- degree studying responses to inequity in non- vantageous inequity aversion – a response to human species can help us understand the evolu- receiving less than others – or advantageous ineq- tion of our sense of fairness. uity, a response to receiving more than others (Brosnan 2006). Theoretically, inequity aversion has been hypothesized to constitute one of the The Study of Inequity Aversion in mechanisms by which cooperation can be Humans maintained because it allows individuals to judge the value of their partners. Specifically, One challenge to an evolutionary approach to individuals can judge when they should fairness is that fairness is a social ideal, and it is (i) discontinue interactions with partners that impossible to study ideals in nonverbal species. take more than their share of the benefits of Therefore, in order to study this empirically, Inequity Aversion 3 researchers have operationalized the sense of fair- Comparing the dictator game to the “ultima- ness as an ability to recognize disadvantageous tum” game shows that contextual features can and advantageous outcomes relative to those of a influence how fairly humans act toward others. partner. One way researchers have empirically The ultimatum game mirrors the dictator game, approached this question has been to examine with the exception that the recipient can reject the the choices participants make when they are proposed reward allocation, in which case both faced with allocating resources between them- players receive nothing. This is both a form of selves and a partner. Various scenarios, or punishment and an inequity response (although “games,” borrowed from the field of economics rejecting means that the recipient now ends up have been used to investigate the contexts in with absolutely less than they could have had, which humans care about equity. In one such the outcome is relatively equal). In this context, game, called the “dictator game,” a resource average offers made in Western adults increase to (i.e., money) is provisioned to an individual (the approximately 30–40% (Camerer and Thaler proposer) who decides how to divide it between 1995). This indicates that when proposers can themselves and a “recipient.” In the dictator game, lose resources, proposals become more equitable, the recipient plays a passive role and has no option albeit typically still not equal. The ultimatum to influence the proposer’s offer. Thus, the pro- game mimics situations in which individuals, at poser can share resources at a cost (reduce advan- a cost, can defect from partners that cheat or tageous inequity or even create disadvantageous unduly benefit, a situation that encourages equity. inequity) or monopolize resources (maximize That human fairness judgments are linked to con- advantageous inequity). As the partner does not textual and social factors is further highlighted by have a say in the distribution, a situation is created cross-cultural studies. Interestingly, economic in which selfish behavior pays. This setup has games, such as the dictator and ultimatum been informative for establishing whether humans games, played with different societies, reveal make “fair” offers when there is no opportunity large between-group variations in the proposals for a partner to encourage fairness by reciprocity humans make (Henrich et al. 2004). Such findings or recourse.
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