Research Hit: Your Brain On Fairness and Equity - And How to Manipulate This

Research shows we prefer equality to equity and recent research shows which parts of the brain control this

Isn’t fairness more of a personality trait with some people being selfish and some generous and cooperative?

Yes, it is in part, but on average human beings are very cooperative and very sensitive to fairness. We are way more fair than unfair. But perspectives can change this as can opinions and the messages we are fed over our lives

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So fairness is a part of human nature?!

Absolutely. We are inherently fair and react very strongly to unfairness - this has been very well documented. And as I said, we also respond strongly to being treated unfairly.

Another interesting aspect - and this is relevant for business is that we tend to prefer equality over equity i.e. even distribution irrespective of contribution. This may go against political messaging of some political parties and business policies - but is still a consistent finding in research. Some may argue this is more relevant in small groups that have a stronger connection to each other such as hunter-gatherer tribes.

This is also well-documented in children and babies even - with different forms of this developing at different ages.

So what is happening in the brain?

Well, this is precisely what this research by Patricia Christen et al., of Ludwig Maximilians University Munich, looked to investigate in more detail. This research was first published in 2023.