Fairness requires deliberation: The primacy of economic over social considerations

While both economic and social considerations of fairness and equity play an important role in financial decision-making, it is not clear which of these two motives is more primal and immediate and which one is secondary and slow. Here we used variants of the ultimatum game to examine this question....

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Main Authors: Guy eHochman, Shahar eAyal, Dan eAriely
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2015-06-01
Series:Frontiers in Psychology
Subjects:
Online Access:http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00747/full
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author Guy eHochman
Guy eHochman
Shahar eAyal
Dan eAriely
author_facet Guy eHochman
Guy eHochman
Shahar eAyal
Dan eAriely
author_sort Guy eHochman
collection DOAJ
description While both economic and social considerations of fairness and equity play an important role in financial decision-making, it is not clear which of these two motives is more primal and immediate and which one is secondary and slow. Here we used variants of the ultimatum game to examine this question. Experiment 1 shows that acceptance rate of unfair offers increases when participants are asked to base their choice on their gut-feelings, as compared to when they thoroughly consider the available information. In line with these results, Experiments 2 and 3 provide process evidence that individuals prefer to first examine economic information about their own utility rather than social information about equity and fairness, even at the price of foregoing such social information. Our results suggest that people are more economically rational at the core, but social considerations (e.g., inequality aversion) require deliberation, which under certain conditions override their self-interested impulses.
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spelling doaj.art-41cfeae75e7b442eb521bb2a7e4ce5a72022-12-22T01:56:26ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782015-06-01610.3389/fpsyg.2015.00747141656Fairness requires deliberation: The primacy of economic over social considerationsGuy eHochman0Guy eHochman1Shahar eAyal2Dan eAriely3Duke UniversityInterdisciplinary Center Herzliya (IDC)Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya (IDC)Duke UniversityWhile both economic and social considerations of fairness and equity play an important role in financial decision-making, it is not clear which of these two motives is more primal and immediate and which one is secondary and slow. Here we used variants of the ultimatum game to examine this question. Experiment 1 shows that acceptance rate of unfair offers increases when participants are asked to base their choice on their gut-feelings, as compared to when they thoroughly consider the available information. In line with these results, Experiments 2 and 3 provide process evidence that individuals prefer to first examine economic information about their own utility rather than social information about equity and fairness, even at the price of foregoing such social information. Our results suggest that people are more economically rational at the core, but social considerations (e.g., inequality aversion) require deliberation, which under certain conditions override their self-interested impulses.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00747/fullfairnessultimatum gamecooperationDual-Processinequality aversionsocial utility
spellingShingle Guy eHochman
Guy eHochman
Shahar eAyal
Dan eAriely
Fairness requires deliberation: The primacy of economic over social considerations
Frontiers in Psychology
fairness
ultimatum game
cooperation
Dual-Process
inequality aversion
social utility
title Fairness requires deliberation: The primacy of economic over social considerations
title_full Fairness requires deliberation: The primacy of economic over social considerations
title_fullStr Fairness requires deliberation: The primacy of economic over social considerations
title_full_unstemmed Fairness requires deliberation: The primacy of economic over social considerations
title_short Fairness requires deliberation: The primacy of economic over social considerations
title_sort fairness requires deliberation the primacy of economic over social considerations
topic fairness
ultimatum game
cooperation
Dual-Process
inequality aversion
social utility
url http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00747/full
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