Capuchin monkeys

Capuchin monkeys are the subjects of a study cited in the book’s discussion of fairness, social norms, and cooperation. Their relevance here is evidentiary rather than narrative: research on how they respond to unequal rewards supplies an animal-behavior comparison for questions about how social beings react to unfair treatment.

Study and Context

The book points readers to Sarah F. Brosnan and Frans B. M. de Waal’s 2003 article, “Monkeys Reject Unequal Pay,” published in Nature. The citation places the study within a wider account of ultimatum games, distributive justice, and reciprocal behavior, where fairness is considered alongside the incentives and norms that sustain cooperation.

Significance

The reference broadens the discussion beyond human experiments: reactions to unequal rewards are examined in capuchins as well as in people. The evidence provided here does not describe the experiment’s procedures or results in detail, but the article’s title and its placement in the chapter identify its relevance: animal research forms part of the evidence brought to bear on whether responses to inequity and reciprocity illuminate the foundations of social cooperation.