Animal behaviour: inequity aversion in capuchins?
Brosnan and de Waal have shown that capuchin monkeys are more likely to reject a cucumber slice after seeing that another capuchin has received a more attractive grape. In interpreting this finding, the authors make a link to work in humans on 'inequity aversion' and suggest that capuchins, like humans, may reject rewards because they are averse to unequal pay-offs. Here I argue that this interpretation suffers from three problems: the results contradict the predictions of the inequity-aversion model that Bosnan and de Waal cite; experimental results indicate that humans do not behave like capuchins in similar circumstances; and the available evidence does not suggest that inequity aversion is cross-culturally universal.
Henrich
Joseph
J
Department of Anthropology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30322, USA. jhenric@emory.edu
D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D002428:Cebus / Q000502:physiology*; D018553:Cucumis sativus; D005502:Food; D005518:Food Preferences / Q000502:physiology*; D005716:Game Theory; D006801:Humans; D012201:Reward; D012935:Social Justice; D027843:Vitis