3 ms·

there was an interesting paper last year that said that refusal behavior at the ultimatum game was limited to westerners: http://www.nationalpost.com/Westerners

• Stormbringer 16y ago
  That could have something to do with the relative size of the reward offered. If the average daily income in a country is $1, then any split of $100 is going to be significant. Add a couple of zeroes on to it to see how a 'westerner' might feel about it. Of course, the researchers aren't going to be able to offer too many people a split of 10 or 100 grand in a western city before they are stampeded to death... I know if I was in this game and they had to split 50 grand and 'only' offered me 10 grand I'd think a lot harder about turning it down than an 80:20 split of $100. On the other hand, I wonder if there is a link in western society between how good the person is at handling their own finances, and how even the split has to be before it would be accepted. I can think of a few examples of 'angry and poor because of it' people who would demand nothing less than 50:50, and would grumble even at that, they always believe that they deserve more than everyone else. It seems to me the very epitome of the poverty mentality.