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Instead of overthinking and assume that people don't want to upset social hierarchy, I suggest the researchers to take a step back and consider that people pref

Instead of overthinking and assume that people don't want to upset social hierarchy, I suggest the researchers to take a step back and consider that people prefer symbiotic over the antibiotic scenario. In this "game", we may not know how A came to wealth, but we would be certain how A lost wealth. Similarly in the second scenario, while we know B is still less wealthy compared to A, at least B is wealthier than before. Value creation vs Value transfer. (Entrepreneur v. Investment Banker)

caseysoftware 9y ago
I was wondering about this too.. when I got to the part about how the Tibetan herders were even more against rank reversal, it reinforced it for me. When someone is a herder, the only way to earn wealth is by working long hours, busting your butt day in day out, and being careful about what you have. I'd wager their mindset is that they know the pain, effort, and time it takes to accumulate wealth so they're loathe to take it from someone else.
- pmoriarty 9y ago
  "they know the pain, effort, and time it takes to accumulate wealth so they're loathe to take it from someone else" Except that the scenario was explicitly designed to make clear that the wealth in question was not a result of effort but was acquired purely randomly.
  - unclebucknasty 9y ago
    Yeah, but not sure that simple statement is enough to completely undo generations of cultural belief/experience regarding how wealth is earned.
- jonathankoren 9y ago
  > they know the pain, effort, and time it takes to accumulate wealth so they're loathe to take it from someone else Or they believe in divine right / hereditary caste system. In fact a long established hereditary caste system was dominate in 1959[0], Thinking that some long standing social construct is simply going to evaporate is a bit naïve. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_class_in_Tibet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_class_in_Tibet
ivanbakel 9y ago
That doesn't really explain the difference in behaviour in the experiment, though, because the money was explained as being dealt randomly. In the game, we know exactly how both parties came to wealth - the point is that people still value that wealth despite it being random.

caseysoftware 9y ago

I was wondering about this too.. when I got to the part about how the Tibetan herders were even more against rank reversal, it reinforced it for me. When someone is a herder, the only way to earn wealth is by working long hours, busting your butt day in day out, and being careful about what you have. I'd wager their mindset is that they know the pain, effort, and time it takes to accumulate wealth so they're loathe to take it from someone else.

pmoriarty 9y ago
"they know the pain, effort, and time it takes to accumulate wealth so they're loathe to take it from someone else" Except that the scenario was explicitly designed to make clear that the wealth in question was not a result of effort but was acquired purely randomly.
- unclebucknasty 9y ago
  Yeah, but not sure that simple statement is enough to completely undo generations of cultural belief/experience regarding how wealth is earned.
jonathankoren 9y ago
> they know the pain, effort, and time it takes to accumulate wealth so they're loathe to take it from someone else Or they believe in divine right / hereditary caste system. In fact a long established hereditary caste system was dominate in 1959[0], Thinking that some long standing social construct is simply going to evaporate is a bit naïve. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_class_in_Tibet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_class_in_Tibet

ivanbakel 9y ago

That doesn't really explain the difference in behaviour in the experiment, though, because the money was explained as being dealt randomly. In the game, we know exactly how both parties came to wealth - the point is that people still value that wealth despite it being random.