Study Reveals How to Reject Unfair Advantages Through Learning

A recent study conducted by researchers at McGill University demonstrates that individuals can learn to reject unfair advantages, even when it comes at a personal cost. The study, published in the journal eLife, reveals significant insights into human behavior regarding inequality and fairness.

Research led by psychology professor Ross Otto examines the phenomenon of advantageous inequity, where individuals benefit from an unequal distribution of resources. Otto explains, “We often benefit personally from an unequal distribution of resources, a phenomenon known as advantageous inequity – for example, receiving a higher salary than a colleague with the identical role.” The study investigates whether observing another person’s aversion to unfair advantages can influence individuals to adopt similar preferences.

Learning Through Observation

The findings indicate that participants became more inclined to reject unfairly favorable offers after seeing another individual consistently do so. Otto states, “People can learn to punish advantageous inequity even when it might come at a cost to themselves.” This discovery is noteworthy for two main reasons.

First, it was previously established that while people tend to reject unfair offers that disadvantage them, they generally accept situations that advantage them unfairly. The study suggests that a preference for fairness can be learned in both contexts—disadvantageous and advantageous inequity. Secondly, the learning process appears to extend beyond simple habit formation. According to Otto, “The way people seem to be learning these preferences from others involves taking the perspective of another person and implementing these preferences on their own behalf.”

The Ultimatum Game Experiment

To explore these concepts, the researchers utilized a modified version of the Ultimatum Game, a standard economic experiment where one player proposes a division of money, and the other player can accept or reject this offer. If the offer is rejected, neither player receives anything. Initially, participants played the game individually before entering a learning phase. During this phase, they made accept-or-reject decisions on behalf of another player, referred to as the “Teacher.”

After each decision, participants learned whether the Teacher would have preferred to reject the offer. In one scenario, the Teacher rejected both disadvantageous and advantageous unfair offers, while in another, the Teacher only rejected disadvantageous offers. The study found that individuals could acquire an aversion to advantageous inequity through observation of the Teacher’s preferences.

Further experiments replicated these findings, demonstrating that individuals can generalize this vicarious learning across different contexts.

The implications of this research extend beyond laboratory settings. “If we want to understand how to foster egalitarian norms in society, these experiments suggest one possible way to do this is by a process of conformity – that is, modelling the observed preferences of another with strong moral preferences,” Otto remarked.

The study, titled “Advantageous and disadvantageous inequality aversion can be taught through learning of others’ preferences,” was co-authored by Shen Zhang, Oriel FeldmanHall, and Sébastian Hétu. It received funding from several organizations, including the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Fonds de Recherche du Québec – Nature et Technologies, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, and the European Research Council.

This research contributes to a deeper understanding of social behavior and how individuals can be influenced to uphold fairness within society.