"Brosnan echoes similar notions. "People often forgo an available reward because it is not what they expect or think is fair," she said in a press statement. "Our findings in nonhuman primates indicate the emotional sense of fairness plays a key role in such decision-making."
Fehr, who has published key research on the economics of human equity, cooperation, and altruism since 1999, observed: "The new finding that even monkeys reject unequal pay is very important, I think, because it suggests that this is a very deeply rooted behavior that we observe among humans.""
I love it that some scientists reject such behavior as "irrational." Apparently, primates find equitable relationships to be more important than objects or even instant gratifications. This makes perfect sense and is corroborated by the existence of the marketing/mass=media industry. After all, if humans are really selfish, self-centered, and asocial, why would you have to tell them that every ten minutes? Seems to me the conditioning is AGAINST the grain. What really delights me about this story is the obvious sense of insult that the chimps felt in being "rewarded" when their sisters were being "punished."
This reminds me of an incident from when my son was seven. Like all kids, he liked sweets. My mother, who is very clueless when dealing with children, insisted on offering him candy or a cookie or a piece of chocolate every single time they had any kind of interaction, whishing, I guess to train him to like her. So, he took the stuff for a while. And then, he got more and more down about the whole thing and started refusing all offers of sweets. He continued to eat candy under normal circumstances, but never accepted any from my mom. I grant this isn't related to "sharing" -- but it is related to someone insisting on a real relationship, rather than being bought off.
Joanna