Abstract
Humans have a sense of fairness, i.e. an interest in the ideal of equity. This sense allows them to compare their own efforts and subsequent outcomes with those of others, and thus to evaluate and react to inequity. The question is whether our closest living relatives, the non-human primates, show the behavioural characteristics that might qualify as necessary components to a sense of fairness, such as inequity aversion. In this article, we review the five different experimental approaches to studying behaviours related to fairness in non-human primates, including their underlying logic and main findings that represent the current state of research in this field. In the critical condition of all these studies, a subject and a conspecific partner have either to invest different efforts or receive different outcomes while observing each other. The main question is whether—and how—subjects react to unequal situations that humans would perceive as ‘unfair’. Taken together, the results from all five approaches provide only weak evidence for a sense of fairness in non-human primates. Although apes and monkeys are attentive to what the partner is getting, they do not seem to be able or motivated to compare their own efforts and outcomes with those of others at a human level. Even though the debate is still on-going, we believe that a full sense of fairness is not essential for cooperation. Obviously, apes and monkeys are capable of solving problems cooperatively, without a strong, humanlike sense of fairness. They are mainly interested in maximizing their own benefit, regardless of what others may receive. It is thus possible that a sense of fairness only exists rudimentarily in non-human primates.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Addessi, E., Mancini, A., Crescimbene, L., & Visalberghi, E. (2011). How social context, token value, and time course affect token exchange in capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella). International Journal of Primatology, 32, 83–98.
Boesch, C. (1994). Cooperative hunting in wild chimpanzees. Animal Behaviour, 48(3), 653–667.
Boesch, C., & Boesch, H. (1989). Hunting behavior of wild chimpanzees in the Taï National Park Ivory Coast. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 78(4), 547–573.
Boesch, C., & Boesch-Achermann, H. (2000). The chimpanzees of the Tai Forest. Oxford: Univ. Press.
Bräuer, J., & Call, J. (2011). The magic cup: Great apes and domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) individuate objects according to their properties. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 125(3), 353–361.
Bräuer, J., Call, J., & Tomasello, M. (2006). Are apes really inequity averse? Proceedings of Royal Society London, 273, 3123–3128.
Bräuer, J., Call, J., & Tomasello, M. (2009). Are apes inequity averse? New data on the token-exchange paradigm. American Journal of Primatology, 71(2), 175–181.
Brosnan, S. F., & de Waal, F. B. (2003). Monkeys reject unequal pay. Nature, 425(6955), 297–299.
Brosnan, S. F., & de Waal, F. B. (2004a). A concept of value during experimental exchange in brown capuchin monkeys, Cebus apella. Folia Primatologica, 75(5), 317–330.
Brosnan, S. F., & de Waal, F. B. (2004b). Socially learned preferences for differentially rewarded tokens in the brown capuchin monkey (Cebus apella). Journal of Comparative Psychology, 118(2), 133–139.
Brosnan, S. F., & de Waal, F. B. (2005). Responses to a simple barter task in chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes. Primates, 46(3), 173–182.
Brosnan, S. F., & de Waal, F. B. (2006). Partial support from a nonreplication: Comment on Roma, Silberberg, Ruggiero, and Suomi (2006). Journal of Comparative Psychology, 120(1), 74–75.
Brosnan, S. F., Flemming, T., Talbot, C. F., Mayo, L., & Stoinski, T. (2011). Orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) do not form expectations based on their partner's outcomes. Folia Primatologica, 82(1), 56–70. doi:10.1159/000328142.
Brosnan, S. F., Freeman, C., & de Waal, F. B. M. (2006). Partner’s behavior, not reward distribution, determines success in an unequal cooperative task in capuchin monkeys. American Journal of Primatology, 68(7), 713–724.
Brosnan, S. F., Schiff, H. C., & Waal, F. B. Md. (2005). Tolerance for inequity may increase with social closeness in chimpanzees. Proceedings B, 272, 253–258.
Brosnan, S. F., Talbot, C., Ahlgren, M., Lambeth, S. P., & Schapiro, S. J. (2010). Mechanisms underlying responses to inequitable outcomes in chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes. Animal Behaviour, 79(6), 1229–1237.
Burkart, J. M., Fehr, E., Efferson, C., & van Schaik, C. P. (2007). Other-regarding preferences in a non-human primate: Common marmosets provision food altruistically. Proceedings of the National academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 104(50), 19762–19766.
Burkart, J. M., Hrdy, S. B., & Van Schaik, C. P. (2009). Cooperative breeding and human cognitive evolution. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews, 18(5), 175–186.
Chen, M. K., Lakshminarayanan, V., & Santos, L. R. (2006). How basic are behavioral biases? Evidence from capuchin monkey trading behavior. Journal of Political Economy, 114(3), 517–537.
Clutton-Brock, T., & Parker, G. (1995). Punishment in animal societies. Nature, 373(6511), 209–216.
Colman, A. D., Liebold, K. E., & Boren, J. J. (1969). A method for studying altruism in monkeys. Psychological Record, 19(3), 401–405.
Cronin, K. A., Kurian, A. V., & Snowdon, C. T. (2005). Cooperative problem solving in a cooperatively breeding primate (Saguinus oedipus). Animal Behaviour, 69(1), 133–142.
Cronin, K. A., Schroeder, K. K. E., & Snowdon, C. T. (2010). Prosocial behaviour emerges independent of reciprocity in cottontop tamarins. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B Biological Sciences, 277(1701), 3845–3851.
de Waal, F. B. M. (1992). Appeasement, celebration, and food sharing in two pan species. In T. Nishida, W. C. McGrew, P. Marler, M. Pickford, & F. B. M. de Waal (Eds.), Human origins (pp. 37–50). Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press.
de Waal, F. B. M. (2000). Attitudinal reciprocity in food sharing among brown capuchin monkeys. Animal Behaviour, 60(2), 253–261.
de Waal, F. B. M., Leimgruber, K., & Greenberg, A. R. (2008). Giving is self-rewarding for monkeys. Proceedings of the National academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 105(36), 13685–13689.
de Waal, F. B. M., & Suchak, M. (2010). Prosocial primates: Selfish and unselfish motivations. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B Biological Sciences, 365(1553), 2711–2722.
Dindo, M., & de Waal, F. B. M. (2007). Partner effects on food consumption in brown capuchin monkeys. American Journal of Primatology, 69(4), 448–456.
Dubreuil, D., Gentile, M. S., & Visalberghi, E. (2006). Are capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) inequity averse? Proceedings B, 273, 1223–1228.
Fehr, E., & Fischbacher, U. (2003). The nature of human altruism. Nature, 425(6960), 785–791.
Fehr, E., & Fischbacher, U. (2004a). Social norms and human cooperation. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 8(4), 187–190.
Fehr, E., & Fischbacher, U. (2004b). Third-party punishment and social norms. Evolution and Human Behavior, 25(2), 63–87.
Fehr, E., Fischbacher, U., & Gächter, S. (2002). Strong reciprocity, human cooperation, and the enforcement of social norms. Human Nature, 13(1), 1–25.
Fehr, E., & Gächter, S. (2002). Altruistic punishment in humans. Nature, 415(6868), 137–140.
Fehr, E., & Rockenbach, B. (2004). Human altruism: Economic, neural, and evolutionary perspectives. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 14(6), 784–790.
Fehr, E., & Schmidt, K. M. (1999). A theory of fairness, competition, and cooperation. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 114(3), 817–868.
Fletcher, G. E. (2008). Attending to the outcome of others: Disadvantageous inequity aversion in male capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella). American Journal of Primatology, 70(9), 901–905.
Fontenot, M. B., Watson, S. L., Roberts, K. A., & Miller, R. W. (2007). Effects of food preferences on token exchange and behavioural responses to inequality in tufted capuchin monkeys, Cebus apella. Animal Behavior, 74, 487–496.
Gächter, S., Herrmann, B., & Thoni, C. (2004). Trust, voluntary cooperation, and socio-economic background: Survey and experimental evidence. [Original]. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 55(4), 505–531.
Galloway, A. T., Addessi, E., Fragaszy, D. M., & Visalberghi, E. (2005). Social facilitation of eating familiar food in tufted capuchins (Cebus apella): Does it involve behavioral coordination? International Journal of Primatology, 26(1), 181–189.
Geissmann, T., & Orgeldinger, M. (2000). The relationship between duet songs and pair bonds in siamangs, Hylobates syndactylus. Animal Behaviour, 60(6), 805–809.
Gilby, I. C., Eberly, L. E., & Wrangham, R. W. (2008). Economic profitability of social predation among wild chimpanzees: Individual variation promotes cooperation. Animal Behaviour, 75(2), 351–360.
Gintis, H., Bowles, S., Boyd, R., & Fehr, E. (2003). Explaining altruistic behavior in humans. Evolution and Human Behavior, 24, 153–172.
Hamilton, W. D. (1964). The genetical evolution of social behaviour. I & II. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 7(1), 1–52.
Hare, B. A., Melis, A. P., Woods, V., Hastings, S., & Wrangham, R. W. (2007). Tolerance allows bonobos to outperform chimpanzees on a cooperative task. Current Biology, 17(7), 619–623.
Hattori, Y., Kuroshima, H., & Fujita, K. (2005). Cooperative problem solving by tufted capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella): Spontaneous division of labor, communication, and reciprocal altruism. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 119(3), 335–342.
Henrich, J. (2004). Inequity aversion in capuchins? Nature, 428, 139.
Henrich, J., Ensminger, J., McElreath, R., Barr, A., Barrett, C., Bolyanatz, A., et al. (2010). Markets, religion, community size, and the evolution of fairness and punishment. Science, 327(5972), 1480–1484.
Henrich, J., McElreath, R., Barr, A., Ensminger, J., Barrett, C., Bolyanatz, A., et al. (2006). Costly punishment across human societies. [Original]. Science, 312(5781), 1767–1770.
Hirata, S., & Fuwa, K. (2007). Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) learn to act with other individuals in a cooperative task. Primates, 48(1), 13–21.
Horner, V., Carter, J. D., Suchak, M., & de Waal, F. B. M. (2011). Spontaneous prosocial choice by chimpanzees. Proceedings of the National academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 108(33), 13847–13851.
Horowitz, A. (2012). Fair is fine, but more is better: Limits to inequity aversion in the domestic dog. Social Justice Research, 25(2), 195–212.
Jaeggi, A., Stevens, J. & van Schaik, C. (2010). Tolerant food sharing and reciprocity is precluded by despotism among bonobos but not chimpanzees. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 143, 41e51.
Jensen, K., Call, J., & Tomasello, M. (2007a). Chimpanzees are rational maximizers in an ultimatum game. Science, 318(5847), 107–109.
Jensen, K., Call, J., & Tomasello, M. (2007b). Chimpanzees are vengeful but not spiteful. Proceedings of the National academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 104(32), 13046–13050.
Jensen, K., Hare, B., Call, J., & Tomasello, M. (2006). What’s in it for me? Self-regard precludes altruism and spite in chimpanzees. Proceedings of Royal Society London, Series B Biological Sciences, 273(1589), 1013–1021.
Lakshminarayanan, V. R., & Santos, L. R. (2008). Capuchin monkeys are sensitive to others’ welfare. Current Biology, 18(21), 999–1000.
Langergraber, K. E., Mitani, J. C. C., & Vigilant, L. (2007). The limited impact of kinship on cooperation in wild chimpanzees. Proceedings of the National academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 104(19), 7786–7790.
Massen, J., Luyten, I., Spruijt, B., & Sterck, E. (2011). Benefiting friends or dominants: Prosocial choices mainly depend on rank position in long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis). Primates, 52(3), 237–247.
Massen, J. J. M., van den Berg, L. M., Spruijt, B. M., & Sterck, E. H. M. (2010). Generous leaders and selfish underdogs: Pro-sociality in despotic macaques. PLoS ONE, 5(3), e9734.
Melis, A. P., Hare, B., & Tomasello, M. (2003). Cooperative problem-solving behaviour in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Folia Primatologica, 74(4), 211.
Melis, A. P., Hare, B., & Tomasello, M. (2006a). Chimpanzees recruit the best collaborators. Science, 311, 1297–1300.
Melis, A. P., Hare, B., & Tomasello, M. (2006b). Engineering cooperation in chimpanzees: Tolerance constraints on cooperation. Animal Behaviour, 72(2), 275–286.
Melis, A. P., Hare, B., & Tomasello, M. (2008). Do chimpanzees reciprocate received favours? Animal Behaviour, 76(3), 951–962.
Melis, A. P., Hare, B., & Tomasello, M. (2009). Chimpanzees coordinate in a negotiation game. Evolution and Human Behavior, 30(6), 381–392.
Melis, A. P., & Semmann, D. (2010). How is human cooperation different? Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B Biological Sciences, 365(1553), 2663–2674.
Melis, A. P., Warneken, F., Jensen, K., Schneider, A.-C., Call, J., & Tomasello, M. (2010). Chimpanzees help conspecifics obtain food and non-food items. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B Biological Sciences, 278(1710), 1405–1413.
Mendres, K. A., & de Waal, F. B. M. (2000). Capuchins do cooperate: The advantage of an intuitive task. Animal Behaviour, 60(4), 523–529.
Mitani, J. C. C. (2006). Demographic influences on the behavior of chimpanzees. Primates, 47(1), 6–13.
Nishida, T., Hasegawa, T., Hayaki, H., Takahata, Y., & Uehara, S. (1992). Meat-sharing as a coalition strategy by an alpha male chimpanzee? In T. Nishida, W. C. McGrew, P. Marler, M. Pickford, & F. B. M. de Waal (Eds.), Topics in primatology (Vol. 1). Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press.
Pelé, M., Dufour, V., Thierry, B., & Call, J. (2009). Token transfers among great apes (Gorilla gorilla, Pongo pygmaeus, Pan paniscus, and Pan troglodytes): Species differences, gestural requests, and reciprocal exchange. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 123(4), 375–384.
Perry, S. E., & Rose, L. (1994). Begging and transfer of coati meat by white-faced capuchin monkeys, Cebus capucinus. Primates, 35(4), 409–415.
Price, S. A., & Brosnan, S. F. (2012). To each according to his need? Variability in the responses to inequity in non-human primates. Social Justice Research, 25(2), 140–169.
Raihani, N. J., & McAuliffe, K. (2012). Does inequity aversion motivate punishment? Cleaner fish as a model system. Social Justice Research, 25(2), 213–231.
Range, F., Leitner, K., & Viranyi, Z. (2012). The influence of the relationship and motivation on inequity aversion in dogs. Social Justice Research, 25(2), 170–194.
Roma, P. G., Silberberg, A., Ruggiero, A. M., & Suomi, S. J. (2006). Capuchin monkeys, inequity aversion, and the frustration effect. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 120(1), 67–73.
Rose, L. M. (1997). Vertebrate predation and food-sharing in Cebus and Pan. International Journal of Primatology, 18(5), 727–765.
Silk, J. B., Brosnan, S. F., Vonk, J., Henrich, J., Povinelli, D. J., Richardson, A. S., et al. (2005). Chimpanzees are indifferent t the welfare of unrelated group members. Nature, 437, 1357–1359.
Stevens, J. (2010). Donor payoffs and other-regarding preferences in cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus). Animal Cognition, 13(4), 663–670.
Stevens, J. R., & Gilby, I. C. (2004). A conceptual framework for Nonkin food sharing: Timing and currency of benefits. Animal Behaviour, 67(4), 603–614.
Stevens, J. R., & Hauser, M. D. (2004). Why be nice? Psychological constraints on the evolution of cooperation. [Original]. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 8(2), 60–65.
Talbot, C. F., Freeman, H. D., Williams, L. E., & Brosnan, S. F. (2011). Squirrel monkeys' response to inequitable outcomes indicates a behavioural convergence within the primates. Biology Letters, 7(5), 680–682. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2011.0211.
Takimoto, A., Kuroshima, H., & Fujita, K. (2010). Capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) are sensitive to others’ reward: An experimental analysis of food-choice for conspecifics. Animal Cognition, 13(2), 249–261.
Tennie, C., Frith, U., & Frith, C. D. (2010). Reputation management in the age of the world-wide web. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 14(11), 482–488.
Tinklepaugh, O. L. (1928). An experimental study of representative factors in monkeys. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 8(3), 197–236.
Tomasello, M., Carpenter, M., Call, J., Behne, T., & Moll, H. (2005). Understanding and sharing intentions: The origins of cultural cognition. [Original]. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 28(5), 675–735.
Trivers, R. L. (1971). The evolution of reciprocal altruism. Quarterly Review of Biology, 46(1), 35–57.
van Wolkenten, M., Brosnan, S. F., & de Waal, F. B. M. (2007). Inequity responses of monkeys modified by effort. Proceedings of the National academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 104(47), 18854–18859.
Visalberghi, E., Quarantotti, B. P., & Tranchida, F. (2000). Solving a cooperation task without taking into account the partner’s behavior: The case of capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella). Journal of Comparative Psychology, 114(3), 297–301.
Visalberghi, E., Sabbatini, G., Stammati, M., & Addessi, E. (2003). Preferences towards novel foods in Cebus apella: The role of nutrients and social influences. Physiology & Behavior, 80(2–3), 341–349.
Vonk, J., Brosnan, S. F., Silk, J. B., Henrich, J., Richardson, A. S., Lambeth, S. P., et al. (2008). Chimpanzees do not take advantage of very low cost opportunities to deliver food to unrelated group members. Animal Behaviour, 75(5), 1757–1770.
Warneken, F., Hare, B., Melis, A. P., Hanus, D., & Tomasello, M. (2007). Spontaneous altruism by chimpanzees and young children. PLoS Biology, 5(7), e184.
Westergaard, G. C., Liv, C., Rocca, A. M., Cleveland, A., & Suomi, S. J. (2004). Tufted capuchins (Cebus apella) attribute value to foods and tools during voluntary exchanges with humans. Animal Cognition, 7(1), 19–24.
Wynne, C. D. L. (2004). Fair refusal by capuchin monkeys. Nature, 428, 140.
Yamagishi, T., & Mifune, N. (2009). Social exchange and solidarity: In-group love or out-group hate? Evolution and Human Behavior, 30(4), 229–237.
Yamamoto, S., & Tanaka, M. (2010). The influence of kin relationship and reciprocal context on chimpanzees’ other-regarding preferences. Animal Behaviour, 79(3), 595–602.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Matthew Rockey for providing assistance with language and Alicia Perez-Melis for her helpful comments.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bräuer, J., Hanus, D. Fairness in Non-human Primates?. Soc Just Res 25, 256–276 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11211-012-0159-6
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11211-012-0159-6