Children reject inequity out of spite.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: McAuliffe K
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4298187 | biostudies-other | 2014 Dec
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other
Publications
Children reject inequity out of spite.
McAuliffe Katherine K Blake Peter R PR Warneken Felix F
Biology letters 20141201 12
When confronted with inequality, human children and adults sacrifice personal gain to reduce the pay-offs of other individuals, exhibiting apparently spiteful motivations. By contrast, sacrifice of personal gain by non-human animals is often interpreted as frustration. Spite may thus be a uniquely human motivator. However, to date, no empirical study has demonstrated that psychological spite actually drives human behaviour, leaving the motivation for inequity aversion unclear. Here, we ask wheth ...[more]
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