Why monkeys (and humans) are wired for fairness | Sarah Brosnan

Transcriber: Ivana Korom Reviewer: Krystian Aparta

譯者: Lilian Chiu 審譯者: Melody Tang

My first year in graduate school, studying cooperation in monkeys,

我在研究所的第一年 研究的是猴子間的合作，

I spent a lot of time outside,

我花了很多時間在戶外，

just watching our groups of capuchin monkeys interact.

觀看一群一群的捲尾猴如何互動。

One afternoon, I was out back feeding peanuts to one of our groups,

有一天下午，我回到戶外 拿花生去餵食其中一群猴子，

which required distracting one of our males, Ozzie,

需要做的是讓其中 一隻公猴奧奇分心，

enough so that the other monkeys could get some.

給其他猴子有機會 可以拿到一些花生。

Ozzie loved peanuts,

奧奇很愛花生，

and he always tried to do anything he could to grab some.

牠總是無所不用其極要拿到花生。

On that day, however,

然而，在那一天，

he began trying to bring other things from his enclosure to me

牠開始嘗試從牠的圍欄內 拿其他東西給我，

and trade them with me in order to get a peanut.

想要用這些東西和我交換花生。

Now, capuchins are smart, so this wasn't necessarily a surprise.

捲尾猴很聰明， 這個舉動並不讓人意外。

But what was a surprise

但，讓人意外的

was that some of the things that he was bringing me,

是牠拿給我的某些東西，

I was pretty sure he liked better than peanuts.

我很確定牠喜歡那些東西勝過花生。

First, he brought me a piece of monkey chow,

首先，牠拿給我一片猴食，

which is like dried dog food --

就像是乾狗糧一樣——

it was even made by Purina --

它甚至是普瑞納公司製造的——

and for a monkey, is about as worthless as it gets.

對猴子而言，它的價值 說多低就有多低。

Of course, I didn't give him a peanut for that.

當然，我沒有用花生跟牠換。

But he kept trying,

但牠不斷嘗試，

and eventually, he brought me a quarter of an orange

最終，牠拿給我四分之一個柳丁，

and tried to trade it with me for a peanut.

試圖和我交換一顆花生。

Now, oranges are a valuable monkey commodity,

柳丁是很有價值的猴子商品，

so this trade seemed, shall I say, a little bit nuts?

所以這個交易可以說有點 瘋狂（和堅果同單字）。

Now you may be wondering how we know what monkeys prefer.

你可能會納悶，我們 怎麼知道猴子偏愛什麼。

Well, we ask them,

嗯，我們會問牠們，

by giving them a choice between two foods

做法是給牠們兩種食物來選擇，

and seeing which one they pick.

看牠們會挑哪一種。

Generally speaking, their preferences are a lot like ours:

一般來說，牠們的偏好和我們很像：

the sweeter it is, the more they like it.

越甜的食物牠們越愛。

So, much like humans prefer cupcakes to kale,

就像人類喜歡杯子蛋糕勝過甘藍，

monkeys prefer fruits, like oranges or grapes,

猴子喜歡水果，如柳丁或葡萄，

to vegetables like cucumbers,

勝過蔬菜，如小黃瓜，

and all of this to monkey chow.

而所有這些都比猴食要好。

And peanuts are not bad.

花生也不差。

However, they definitely don't prefer them to a chunk of orange.

然而，牠們肯定不會 喜歡花生勝過一片柳丁。

So when Ozzie tried to trade a quarter of an orange for a peanut,

所以，當奧奇試圖用 四分之一個柳丁交換花生時，

it was a surprise,

那很讓人意外，

and I began to wonder if he suddenly wanted that peanut

我開始好奇，牠會突然想要花生，

because everybody else in his group was getting one.

是否是因為牠那群猴子 每一隻都有分到花生。

In case you're wondering, I did give Ozzie his peanut.

如果你好奇， 我確實把花生給了奧奇。

But then I went straight to my graduate adviser,

但，接著，我立即去找我的 研究所指導教授弗蘭斯·德瓦爾，

Frans de Waal,

and we began to design a study

我們開始設計一項研究，

to see how the monkeys would respond

來探究猴子的反應，

when somebody else in their group got a better reward than they did

當牠們發現同群的其他猴子 明明做同樣的工作

卻拿到更好的獎勵時， 會有什麼反應。

for doing the same work.

It was a very simple study.

這是個非常簡單的研究。

We took two monkeys from the same group

我們從同一群猴子中挑出兩隻，

and had them sit side by side,

讓牠們並排坐，

and they would do a task,

牠們要完成一項任務： 用代幣和我交易，

which was trading a token with me,

and if they did so successfully,

如果牠們成功做到，

they got a reward.

就能得到獎勵。

The catch was that one monkey always got a piece of cucumber,

我們故意讓其中一隻猴子 總是拿到一片小黃瓜，

and the other monkey sometimes got a piece of cucumber,

另一隻猴子有時拿到小黃瓜，

but sometimes got a grape.

有時拿到葡萄。

And if you'll recall,

如果你還記得， 在捲尾猴的偏好等級中，

grapes are much preferred to cucumbers

葡萄是遠高於小黃瓜的。

on the capuchin monkey hierarchy.

These are two of my capuchin monkeys.

這是我的兩隻捲尾猴。

Winter, on the right, is trading for a grape,

右手邊的溫特在交易換取葡萄，

and Lance, on the left, is trading for a cucumber.

左手邊的蘭斯在交易換取小黃瓜。

You can see that she -- and yes, Lance is actually a female --

可以看到牠（她）—— 是的，蘭斯是母猴——

is at first perfectly happy with her cucumber,

一開始非常開心拿到牠的小黃瓜，

until she sees Winter trading for a grape.

直到牠看見溫特換到了葡萄。

Suddenly, Lance is very enthusiastic about trading.

突然，蘭斯對交易非常熱衷。

She gets her cucumber, takes a bite and then --

牠換到了小黃瓜， 咬了一口，接著——

throws it right back out again.

直接把它丟回外面。

Meanwhile, Winter trades again and gets another grape

同時，溫特再次交易， 也再次換到葡萄，

and has Lance's undivided attention while she eats it.

牠在吃葡萄時， 就被蘭斯專注盯著看。

This time,

這一次，蘭斯不再熱衷交易了。

Lance is not so enthusiastic about trading.

But eventually, she does so.

但，最終，牠還是做了交易。

But when she gets the cucumber this time around,

但，當牠這次再拿到小黃瓜，

she doesn't even take a bite

牠咬都沒咬，

before she throws it back out again.

就直接把它丟回外面。

Apparently, Lance only wants a cucumber

很顯然，只有當蘭斯沒有看見

when she hasn't just watched Winter eat a grape.

溫特吃葡萄時，牠才會想要小黃瓜。

And Lance was not alone in this.

且蘭斯不是獨特的個案。

All of my capuchins were perfectly happy with their cucumbers

我所有的捲尾猴都對 牠們的小黃瓜很滿意，

as long as the other monkeys were getting cucumbers too.

只要其他猴子也都得到 小黃瓜，就沒問題。

But they often weren't so happy with their cucumbers

但，當其他猴子得到葡萄時，

when other monkeys were getting a grape.

牠們就不再對牠們的 小黃瓜那麼滿意了。

The obvious question is why?

很明顯要問的問題是，為什麼？

If they liked those cucumbers before,

如果牠們之前喜歡小黃瓜，

是什麼改變了？

what changed?

Now, I'm a scientist,

我是科學家，

and scientists are famously shy about reading too much into our studies,

科學家很著名的特色就是 對我們的研究總是想太多，

especially when it comes to what other animals

特別是談到其他動物的想法或感受，

are thinking or feeling,

because we can't ask them.

因為我們無法問牠們。

But still, what I was seeing in my monkeys

但，儘管如此， 我的猴子所展現的行為

looked an awful lot like what we humans would call a sense of fairness.

像極了人類所謂的「公平感」。

After all,

畢竟，

the difference in that cucumber was that it came after Winter got a grape,

要不要小黃瓜的時間點， 是在溫特得到葡萄之後，

rather than before.

不是之前。

We humans are obsessed with fairness.

我們人類對公平很執著。

I have a younger sister,

我有個妹妹，

and when we were little,

我們小時候，

if my sister got a bigger piece of the pie than me,

如果我妹妹拿到的派比我的還大塊，

even by a crumb,

即使只大一點點，

I was furious.

我就會盛怒。

It wasn't fair.

那不公平。

And the childhood me is not alone.

兒時的我並不獨特。

We humans hate getting less than another so much

我們人類相當討厭不如別人，

that one study found

討厭程度到了有一項研究發現 如果給予人類一個假設性的選擇，

that if humans were given a hypothetical choice

between earning 50,000 dollars a year

可以選擇一年賺五萬美金，

while others earned 25,000 dollars,

而其他人賺兩萬五千美金，

or earning 100,000 dollars a year

或者一年賺十萬美金，

while others earned 250,000 dollars,

而其他人賺二十五萬美金，

nearly half the subjects

有近半的受試者

prefer to earn 50,000 dollars a year less money

會偏好一年只要賺五萬美金，

to avoid earning relatively less than someone else.

以避免自己賺的比其他人少。

That's a pretty big price to pay.

那麼做要付出的代價很大。

What drives people

是什麼原因讓人做出 這種明顯不理性的決策？

to this sort of apparently irrational decision-making?

After all,

畢竟，

throwing away your cucumber because someone else got a grape

因為別人得到葡萄， 就丟掉自己的小黃瓜，

only makes sense if it makes things more fair.

除非這麼做能讓情況 變公平，才會合理。

Otherwise, Winter has a grape, and you have nothing.

要不然，溫特得到葡萄， 而你一無所有。

Of course humans are not capuchin monkeys.

當然，人類不是捲尾猴。

But on the surface,

但，表面上看來，

sacrificing 50,000 dollars

犧牲五萬美金，

because somebody else is going to earn more money than you

只因為別人會賺的比你更多，

makes no more sense than throwing away that cucumber.

這種行為並不會比 丟掉小黃瓜更合理。

Except maybe it does.

不過，是有可能有合理之處。

Some economists think

有些經濟學家認為，

that the sense of fairness in humans is tied to cooperation.

人類的公平感和合作相關。

In other words, we need that sense of fairness

換言之，我們需要公平感，

when we're working with somebody else

那麼，當我們和其他人共事時 才能知道何時我們吃了虧。

to know when we're getting the short end of the stick.

Think about it this way.

可以這樣想：比如，

Let's say you have a colleague at work who's having a hard time

你工作上的一位同事很辛苦， 需要一點額外的協助。

and needs a little extra help.

You're probably more than happy to help out,

你可能很樂意伸出援手，

especially if she does the same for you when you need it.

特別是因為在你 有需要時她也會幫你。

In other words, if things even out.

換言之，就是能扯平。

But now,

但，現在，

let's say that colleague is always slacking off

比如那位同事總是在懈怠，

and dumping extra work on you.

把額外的工作丟給你。

That's infuriating.

那很讓人惱火。

Or worse,

或更糟，

what if you're doing all the work, and she's getting paid more.

所有的工作都是你做， 她賺的薪水卻更多。

You're outraged, right?

你會火大，對吧？

As well you should be.

你應該要火大。

That righteous fury is your sense of fairness

那正當的怒火，就是你的公平感

telling you that, well, it's not fair.

在告訴你，嗯，那不公平。

You need to get your fair share from the people you're working with,

你必須從你共事的人那裡 得到該屬於你的份，

or it's exploitation, not cooperation.

要不然那就不是合作，是剝削。

You may not be able to leave every job where you're treated unfairly,

你可能無法每次受到 不公平對待時就辭職，

but in a perfect world,

但，在完美的世界中， 沒有種族主義和性別主義，

one without racism and sexism

and the frictions associated with finding a new job,

找新工作不會有困難，

it's your sense of fairness that would let you know

此時，就是由你的公平感來負責

when it was time to move on.

告訴你何時該離開了。

And if you couldn't?

如果你無法離開呢？嗯，

Well, that smoldering frustration might make you throw your cucumbers too.

在心裡悶燒的挫折感可能 也會讓你把小黃瓜丟掉。

And humans are not alone in this.

且不只有人類會如此。

In the previous study, there was nothing Lance could do about it,

在前面提到的研究中， 蘭斯是束手無策，

but what if there had been?

但如果牠能做點什麼呢？

It turns out

結果發現，

that capuchins simply refuse to cooperate with other capuchins

捲尾猴在和其他捲尾猴共事後，

若發現牠們不會提供公平的待遇， 就會拒絕和牠們合作。

who don't give them their share after they worked together.

And refusing to work together with another monkey

拒絕和其他猴子共事

is a pretty straightforward way of leveling the playing field.

是一種讓情況變公平的直接做法。

Apparently, no monkey getting anything at all

很顯然，與其讓其他猴子得到更多，

is better than another monkey getting more.

還不如讓所有猴子 都得不到任何東西。

But much like you and your coworker,

但，就像你和你的同事一樣，

they're perfectly happy with a little short-term inequality

牠們很樂意接受短期的小小不平等，

as long as everything evens out over the long run.

只要長期來看還是能扯平就好。

This economic connection between fairness and cooperation

在我這個演化生物學家看來，

公平和合作之間的 經濟關聯性是合理的。

makes sense to me as an evolutionary biologist.

After all,

畢竟，

your ancestors didn't get to pass on their genes

你的祖先能把他們的基因傳下來，

because they did well in some absolute sense,

並不是因為他們 做到了絕對的「好」，

but because they did better than others.

而是因為他們做得比其他人好。

We don't call it survival of the fit,

這不叫「適者生存」，

we call it survival of the fittest.

而是叫「最適者生存」。

As in more fit than others.

也就是說，要比別人更會適應。

It's all relative.

全都是相對的。

OK.

好。

So my capuchins don't like it when they get less than another.

所以我的捲尾猴不喜歡 拿到比其他猴子差的東西。

And they're perfectly happy to sacrifice their cucumbers

牠們非常願意犧牲牠們的 小黃瓜來讓情況變公平。

to level the playing field.

That's great.

那很棒。

但，當我們說人類有公平感，

But what we would call a sense of fairness in humans

also means that we care when we get more than someone else.

也表示我們會在乎 自己拿得比別人多。

What about my monkeys?

我的猴子會嗎？

It turns out

結果發現，

that primates do notice when they get more than others,

靈長類動物確實會注意到 自己得到的比較多，

or at least some of them do.

至少有些靈長類動物會。

My capuchins do not.

我的捲尾猴不會。

But in one of my studies,

但在我的其中一項研究中，

my chimpanzees would sometimes refuse a grape

我的黑猩猩如果發現 同一團體內有其他黑猩猩

if another chimpanzee in their group got a cucumber,

拿到小黃瓜時，牠就會拒絕拿葡萄，

which is pretty impressive, given how much my chimpanzees like grapes.

這很讓人印象深刻，

畢竟我的黑猩猩很喜歡葡萄。

However, they were still more upset when they got less than another chimp

然而，

當牠們拿到的比其他猴子少，

沮喪程度會高於拿到比較多的情況。

as compared to when they got more.

You may not think it's fair when you have more than your neighbor,

當你擁有的比鄰居多， 你可能不覺得不公平，

但當鄰居擁有的比你多時， 你就會認為不公平。

but you really don't think it's fair when your neighbor has more than you.

Here's an important question, though.

不過，有個重要的問題要問。

Why do we care about inequality or unfairness

當我們是不公平的受益方時，

when we are the ones who are unfairly benefiting?

為什麼我們會在乎不平等或不公平？

If evolution is about survival of the fittest,

若演化的重點在於最適者生存，

wouldn't it make sense to grab any advantage you can get?

要盡可能抓住所有優勢 不是才比較合理嗎？

Here's the thing though.

不過，重點來了。

I do better if I get more than you, sure.

如果我拿到的比你多， 我會過得比較好，的確。

But best of all is if you and I can work together

但最理想的是你和我能夠合作，

and get more than either one of us could have gotten on our own.

結果比我們任何一個人 單獨能得到的更多。

But why would you work with me if you don't think I'm going to play fair?

但，如果你認為我不公平， 你為什麼會和我合作？

But if you think I'm going to notice when I've got more than you

但，如果你認為我會注意到 我得到的比你多，

and do something about it,

並針對此採取行動，

then you will work with me.

那麼你就會和我合作。

Evolution has selected us to accept the occasional short-term loss

演化的天擇，讓我們能接受 偶爾發生的短期損失，

in order to maintain these all-important long-term relationships.

目的是要維持極重要的長期關係。

This is true in chimpanzees,

在黑猩猩當中是如此，

but it is even more important in humans.

但，在人類當中，這點更是重要。

Humans are incredibly interconnected and interdependent,

人類是非常相互連結、 相互依賴的生物，

and we have the advanced cognitive abilities

且我們有先進的認知能力，

to be able to plan far into the future.

能夠為很遠的將來做打算，

And to recognize the importance

並且能夠了解

維持這些合作關係的重要性。

of maintaining these cooperative partnerships.

Indeed, if anything,

的確，如果有的話，

I think we are likely underplaying

我認為我們很可能低估了

how important the sense of fairness is for people.

公平感對人類的重要性。

One of the biggest differences between humans and capuchin monkeys

人類和捲尾猴最大的不同點之一

is the sheer magnitude and ubiquity of cooperation in humans.

就是人類無時無刻 都需要大量的合作。

In other words,

換言之，

we're a lot more cooperative than capuchin monkeys are.

比起捲尾猴，我們更樂於合作。

Legal and economic systems literally only exist

法律和經濟體制能夠存在，

if we all agree to participate in them.

是因為我們全都同意參與其中。

And if people feel left out of the rewards and benefits

如果有人覺得那些體制在獎賞 或提供利益時漏掉了他們，

of those systems,

then they stop participating,

他們就會停止參與，

and the whole system falls apart.

整個體制就會崩壞。

Many of the protests and uprisings we're seeing,

我們所見到的許多抗議和起義，

both in the US and around the globe,

包括在美國以及在世界各地，

are explicitly framed in terms of fairness,

都很明確是用公平性來解讀，

which is not surprising to me.

對我來說這是意料之中。

Whether it's about disproportionate access to resources,

不論是資源的取得不成比例

or that some groups are being disproportionately impacted

或者有些族群受到法律體制

by the legal system or the effects of a virus,

或病毒影響的衝擊不成比例，

these protests are the logical outcome

這些抗議都是合邏輯的結果，

of our long evolutionary tendency to reject unfairness

因為我們長期演化成 傾向排拒不公平，

combined with our long history of social stratification.

再加上社會階層有著漫長的歷史，

And the systemic inequalities

此外還有因為那階層 而導致的體制不平等。

that have resulted from that stratification.

Layer on top of this the fact that by many measures

除此之外，

從許多測量方式來看

economic inequality is skyrocketing.

經濟不平等都還在劇烈增加。

Chris Boehm wrote a book called "Hierarchy in the Forest,"

克里斯·保漢寫了一本書， 叫做《森林中的階層》，

in which he argued that humans have reverse hierarchies

在書中，他主張人類 有反轉過來的階層，

in which those at the bottom band together

在這種階層中，底層的人集結起來，

to keep those at the top from taking advantage of them.

防止頂層的人佔他們便宜。

Perhaps these protests are simply the latest manifestation

也許，這些抗議就是

人類想要重新平衡階層的呈現吧。

of humans' tendency to rebalance the hierarchy.

Perhaps the biggest difference between us and capuchin monkeys

也許，我們和捲尾猴最大的不同點

is that we can recognize this problem

在於我們能夠看清這個問題，

and actively work to do something about it.

並能主動努力設法處理它。

Of course we recognize when we're disadvantaged.

當然，我們會注意到自己處於不利。

But we can and we must also recognize

但我們能夠也必須要留心，

when we're advantaged at the expense of someone else,

有時我們是以他人 為代價才得到優勢，

and recognize fairness

我們要認清，

公平是這兩種不平等之間的平衡，

as the balance between these two inequalities,

because our society literally depends upon it.

因為我們的社會還要仰賴它。

Indeed, my research shows

的確，我的研究發現，

that not all primate species care about inequality.

並非所有的靈長類物種 都會在乎不平等。

It's only those that rely on cooperation,

只有仰賴合作的物種才會在乎，

which most definitely includes humans.

那肯定就包括人類在內。

We evolved to care about fairness

我們演化成會在乎公平，

because we rely on each other for our cooperative society.

因為我們要仰賴彼此 才能建立合作的社會。

And the more unfair the world gets,

當世界變得越不公平，

and the less we care about each other,

我們越不在乎彼此，

the more peril we will face.

我們就會面對更多危險。

Our issues are more complex than grapes and cucumbers,

我們的問題遠比 葡萄和小黃瓜更複雜，

but as the capuchins have taught us,

但捲尾猴教導我們，

we will all do better when we all play fair.

當大家都能公平行事時， 大家會一起共榮。

Thank you.

謝謝。