The Ultimatum Game, Bonobos, and Mirror Neurons

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In chapter 14 of The Spirit Level:  Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger the authors imagine a society that moves beyond any dysfunction set in motion by inequality.  They imagine a more equal society that seems possible because of discoveries in the areas of interpersonal human relationships, bonobos and chimps as well as brain research.  A summary of those discoveries  is provided here:

1.   The Ultimatum Game

“The ultimatum game is an economic experiment in which volunteers are randomly paired and remain anonymous to one another.  A known sum of money is given to the ‘proposer’ who then divides it as he or she pleases with the ‘responder’.  All the responders do is merely accept or reject the offer.  If rejected, neighter partner gets anything, but if it is accepted, they each keep the shares of money offered.  They play the game only once, so there i sno point in rejecting a small offer to try to force the proposer to be more generous next time – they know there isn’t going to be a next time.  in this situation, self-interested responders should accept any offer, however derisory, and self-interested proposers should offer the smallest positive amount, just enought to ensure that a responder accepts it.

Although experiments show that this is exactly how chimpanzees behave, it is not what happens among human beings.  In practice the average offer made by people in developed societies is usually between 43 and 48 per cent, with 50 per cent as the most common offer.  At direct cost to ourselves, we come close to sharing equally even when people we never meet and will never interact with again. 

Responders tend to reject offers below about 20 per cent.  Rejected offers are money which the responder chooses to lose in order to punish the proposer and prevent them from benefiting from making a  mean offer.  The human desire to punish even at some personal cost has been called ‘altruistic punishment’, and it plays an important role in reinforcing co-operative behavior and preventing people from freeloading . …  The egalitarian preferences people reveal in the ultimatum game seem to fly in the face of the actual inequalities in our societies.” (199-200)

2.  Bonobos and Chimpanzees

“Around six or seven million years ago the branch of evolutionary tree from which we have emerged split from that which led to two different species of ape:  chimpanzees and bonobos.  Genetically we are equally closely related to both of them, yet there are striking differences in their social behavior and they illustrate sharply constrasting ways of solving the Hobbesian problem of the potential for conflict over scarce resources” (200-201).  Chimpanzees are known for agression and dominance.  Bonobos are known for love making and equality.  The authors take special care to note that the section of DNA responsible for social, sexual and parenting behavior differs in bonobos and chimps.  Human beings have that section of DNA in common with the bonobo. 

3.  Mirror Neurons

These are another example of the way that human beings are deeply social beings.  “When we watch someone doing something, mirror neurons in our brains fire as if to produce the same actions.” (210)  In other words the individual observing as brain function as if they themselves were doing the action.   The brain is hardwired for empathy. 

If the authors are correct and the US is struggling from dysfunctions brought on by inequality, there is a niche for the church to lead a response.   Since Jesus’ life and ministry the heart of the church is a social experiment for individuals to understand their preciousness and worth in the eyes of God. Imagine the church becoming a Jesus-like investigator into the issues of equality in  local communities….you couldn’t drive redevelopment away! 

 

Related Articles

• Some males react to competition like bonobos, others like chimpanzees (eurekalert.org)
• Why Bonobos Are Interesting (nytimes.com)
• A Conversation With Brian Hare and Vanessa Woods: Why Bonobos Don’t Kill Each Other (nytimes.com)
• Some males react to competition like bonobos, others like chimpanzees (esciencenews.com)
• Mirroring Care (psychologytoday.com)
• Westerners Are Actually The Weird ones (neatorama.com)
• What’s Fair is Fair (And Why) (psychologytoday.com)
• The book bonobos deserve (newscientist.com)

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Chapter Three of The Spirit Level – Narcissism, Social Sensitivity and Anxiety

The focus of chapter three is that there are individual sensitivities to inequality and those sensitivites offer an explanation for why  living in unequal societies can have such profound effects.  They assert that “Individual psychology and societal inequality relate to each other like lock and key” (33).  They make this argument by citing the effects of inequality and the relationship between them.  The effects of inequality can be found in our psychological state.   

1.  There is a rise in the anxiety levels of populations such as college students and children in the United States according to studies out of San Diego State University.

2.  There is, simultaneously, a rise in self esteem.  “So that despite increasing anxiety, people were taking an increasingly positive view of themselves” (36).  The key here is in the distinguishing of healthy and unhealthy self esteem.  “The healthier kind seemed to centre on a fairly well-founded sense of confidence and a resonably accurate view of one’s strengths in different situations and an ability to recognize one’s weaknesses.  The other seemed to be primarily defensive and involved a denial of weaknesses… People will insecure high self-esteem tend to be insensitive to others and to show an excessive preoccupation with themselves, with success, and with their image and appearance in the eyes of others.”(37).   Thus, there is really a rise in narcissism.

3. Both narcissism and anxiety find their source in social evaluative threat or those threats that created the possiblity for a loss of self esteem (38).

4.  How other people see us matters ultimately.  How others see us determine if we experience shame or pride.  Other people’s view of us determines our social status and if our social status is high we can become anxiety ridden in an effort to preserve the high status.  consumerism plays on this social status reality and consumption is part of the way that we set ourselves apart from others.  “Surveys have found that when choosing prospective marriage partners, people in more unequal countries put less emphasis on romantic considerations and more on criteria such as financial prospects, status and ambition, than do people in less unequal societies.”(44)

Some say that the church is struggling to be purposeful in our culture and society.   Relevance to our tradition and God’s people in society is at a premium in the life of  the church.  In the previous blog, I offered my opinion that churches can get caught up in striving to be “better than” another church or congregation.  If we take what the authors say at face value, it seems that the church has a continued opportunity for relevance. Some say that the nature of all cultures is inequality.  The church’s attempt to provide an environment in which communities can practice equality is a crucial response to the biblical and gospel message. 

But what do we mean when we say  equality?  The authors remind us that concerns about equality are at least as old as the French Revolution.  They cite the slogan of that revolution “liberty, equality, and fraternity” and note that ” ‘Liberty’ meant not being subservient or beholden to the feudal nobility and landed aristocracy.  ….Similarly, ‘fraternity’ reflects a desire for greater mutuality and reiprocity in social relations.  …’Equality’ comes into the picture as a precondition for getting ‘liberty’ and ‘fraternity’ right.”(45).  Said another way and using the language of persuasion and relationship from process theology, liberty requires persuasion and cannot survive coercion.  Fraternity emerges within a society that values mature relationality.  Equality as the prerequiste of both has yet to be defined by the author.  But process theology might invite us to understand equality more fully in an experience of wholeness and unity with the environments and creatures in whose midst we live.

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