Primates Appreciate Fairness

Recent findings published in the journal Science show that primates really do appreciate fairness.

Researchers at Georgia State University examined long-term cooperation of a review of primate behavior data examining the issue.

"This is the first paper to put forth an evolutionary hypothesis for fairness based on experimental data from animals," said evolutionary biologist Dr. Sarah Brosnan of Georgia State University, in a news release.

The study, which was performed 11 years ago, examined how monkeys given a cucumber as a reward for preforming a task protested by hurling the cucumber back at the researchers if they saw their partner getting a more highly prized grape as a reward.

"They were perfectly happy to eat the cucumber as long as their partner was getting cucumber, but when the partner started getting grapes they started throwing out their cucumbers," said Brosnan.

Previous findings have shown that nine different species of primates, including humans, have shown sensitivity to inequity, only when it occurs in animals that routinely co-operate with others they are not related to.

She added that the evidence supports the hypothesis that having a sense of fairness evolved because it is important for co-operation. It also allows individuals to judge the value of their co-operative partner.