Rational Decision-Making Process Choosing Fairness Over Monetary Gain as Decision Criteria

Nicoladie D. Tam

doi:doi:10.11648/j.pbs.s.2014030601.13

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Rational Decision-Making Process Choosing Fairness Over Monetary Gain as Decision Criteria

Nicoladie D. Tam

Published in Psychology and Behavioral Sciences (Volume 3, Issue 6-1)

Received: 30 November 2014 Accepted: 3 December 2014 Published: 7 March 2015

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Abstract

Objective: This study tests the hypothesis that the decision-making process in humans is often based on the fairness rather than the monetary gain/loss, when they are confronted with a choice between fairness and monetary gain/loss. Methods: The classical Ultimatum Game (UG) is used as the experimental paradigm to quantify the threshold crossover-point to switch the decision from rejection to acceptance. The fairness stimulus-response function is used for quantifying the decision threshold and the co-variation relationship between fairness and monetary gain/loss. Results: The results show that the level of fairness perception is always 27.5% lower for the rejection decision than the acceptance decision, irrespective of the offer-ratio (i.e., monetary gain/loss) or the baseline level of fairness for that decision. The data also show a co-variation relationship between fairness and offer-ratio (monetary gain/loss), but such proportionality relationship is decoupled at the even-split singularity point. The analysis shows that the decision crossover threshold is located at a slightly unfair perception, indicating tolerance to some unfairness in the decision. This suggests that a rejection decision is made when the unfairness perception threshold is reached. Conclusion: These analyses validated the hypothesis that the decision to accept/reject the monetary offer is logically consistent using the fairness criterion as the threshold for decision along the fairness-axis — even for accepting inequitable offers or rejecting hyper-equitable offers, irrespective of the amount of monetary gain/loss. The apparent decision based on the monetary gain/loss criterion is only a side effect of the co-variation between fairness and monetary gain.

Published in	Psychology and Behavioral Sciences (Volume 3, Issue 6-1) This article belongs to the Special Issue Behavioral Neuroscience
DOI	10.11648/j.pbs.s.2014030601.13
Page(s)	16-23
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2015. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Decision-Making, Fairness Bias, Equity, Rational Decision, Monetary Gain, Ultimatum Game

References

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Nicoladie D. Tam. (2015). Rational Decision-Making Process Choosing Fairness Over Monetary Gain as Decision Criteria. Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, 3(6-1), 16-23. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.pbs.s.2014030601.13

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Nicoladie D. Tam. Rational Decision-Making Process Choosing Fairness Over Monetary Gain as Decision Criteria. Psychol. Behav. Sci. 2015, 3(6-1), 16-23. doi: 10.11648/j.pbs.s.2014030601.13

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Nicoladie D. Tam. Rational Decision-Making Process Choosing Fairness Over Monetary Gain as Decision Criteria. Psychol Behav Sci. 2015;3(6-1):16-23. doi: 10.11648/j.pbs.s.2014030601.13

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@article{10.11648/j.pbs.s.2014030601.13,
  author = {Nicoladie D. Tam},
  title = {Rational Decision-Making Process Choosing Fairness Over Monetary Gain as Decision Criteria},
  journal = {Psychology and Behavioral Sciences},
  volume = {3},
  number = {6-1},
  pages = {16-23},
  doi = {10.11648/j.pbs.s.2014030601.13},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.pbs.s.2014030601.13},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.pbs.s.2014030601.13},
  abstract = {Objective: This study tests the hypothesis that the decision-making process in humans is often based on the fairness rather than the monetary gain/loss, when they are confronted with a choice between fairness and monetary gain/loss. Methods: The classical Ultimatum Game (UG) is used as the experimental paradigm to quantify the threshold crossover-point to switch the decision from rejection to acceptance. The fairness stimulus-response function is used for quantifying the decision threshold and the co-variation relationship between fairness and monetary gain/loss. Results: The results show that the level of fairness perception is always 27.5% lower for the rejection decision than the acceptance decision, irrespective of the offer-ratio (i.e., monetary gain/loss) or the baseline level of fairness for that decision. The data also show a co-variation relationship between fairness and offer-ratio (monetary gain/loss), but such proportionality relationship is decoupled at the even-split singularity point. The analysis shows that the decision crossover threshold is located at a slightly unfair perception, indicating tolerance to some unfairness in the decision. This suggests that a rejection decision is made when the unfairness perception threshold is reached. Conclusion: These analyses validated the hypothesis that the decision to accept/reject the monetary offer is logically consistent using the fairness criterion as the threshold for decision along the fairness-axis — even for accepting inequitable offers or rejecting hyper-equitable offers, irrespective of the amount of monetary gain/loss. The apparent decision based on the monetary gain/loss criterion is only a side effect of the co-variation between fairness and monetary gain.},
 year = {2015}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Rational Decision-Making Process Choosing Fairness Over Monetary Gain as Decision Criteria
AU  - Nicoladie D. Tam
Y1  - 2015/03/07
PY  - 2015
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.pbs.s.2014030601.13
DO  - 10.11648/j.pbs.s.2014030601.13
T2  - Psychology and Behavioral Sciences
JF  - Psychology and Behavioral Sciences
JO  - Psychology and Behavioral Sciences
SP  - 16
EP  - 23
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2328-7845
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.pbs.s.2014030601.13
AB  - Objective: This study tests the hypothesis that the decision-making process in humans is often based on the fairness rather than the monetary gain/loss, when they are confronted with a choice between fairness and monetary gain/loss. Methods: The classical Ultimatum Game (UG) is used as the experimental paradigm to quantify the threshold crossover-point to switch the decision from rejection to acceptance. The fairness stimulus-response function is used for quantifying the decision threshold and the co-variation relationship between fairness and monetary gain/loss. Results: The results show that the level of fairness perception is always 27.5% lower for the rejection decision than the acceptance decision, irrespective of the offer-ratio (i.e., monetary gain/loss) or the baseline level of fairness for that decision. The data also show a co-variation relationship between fairness and offer-ratio (monetary gain/loss), but such proportionality relationship is decoupled at the even-split singularity point. The analysis shows that the decision crossover threshold is located at a slightly unfair perception, indicating tolerance to some unfairness in the decision. This suggests that a rejection decision is made when the unfairness perception threshold is reached. Conclusion: These analyses validated the hypothesis that the decision to accept/reject the monetary offer is logically consistent using the fairness criterion as the threshold for decision along the fairness-axis — even for accepting inequitable offers or rejecting hyper-equitable offers, irrespective of the amount of monetary gain/loss. The apparent decision based on the monetary gain/loss criterion is only a side effect of the co-variation between fairness and monetary gain.
VL  - 3
IS  - 6-1
ER  -

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Nicoladie D. Tam

Department of Biological Sciences, University of North Texas, Denton, TX 76203, USA

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Nicoladie D. Tam. (2015). Rational Decision-Making Process Choosing Fairness Over Monetary Gain as Decision Criteria. Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, 3(6-1), 16-23. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.pbs.s.2014030601.13

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Nicoladie D. Tam. Rational Decision-Making Process Choosing Fairness Over Monetary Gain as Decision Criteria. Psychol. Behav. Sci. 2015, 3(6-1), 16-23. doi: 10.11648/j.pbs.s.2014030601.13

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Nicoladie D. Tam. Rational Decision-Making Process Choosing Fairness Over Monetary Gain as Decision Criteria. Psychol Behav Sci. 2015;3(6-1):16-23. doi: 10.11648/j.pbs.s.2014030601.13

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@article{10.11648/j.pbs.s.2014030601.13,
  author = {Nicoladie D. Tam},
  title = {Rational Decision-Making Process Choosing Fairness Over Monetary Gain as Decision Criteria},
  journal = {Psychology and Behavioral Sciences},
  volume = {3},
  number = {6-1},
  pages = {16-23},
  doi = {10.11648/j.pbs.s.2014030601.13},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.pbs.s.2014030601.13},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.pbs.s.2014030601.13},
  abstract = {Objective: This study tests the hypothesis that the decision-making process in humans is often based on the fairness rather than the monetary gain/loss, when they are confronted with a choice between fairness and monetary gain/loss. Methods: The classical Ultimatum Game (UG) is used as the experimental paradigm to quantify the threshold crossover-point to switch the decision from rejection to acceptance. The fairness stimulus-response function is used for quantifying the decision threshold and the co-variation relationship between fairness and monetary gain/loss. Results: The results show that the level of fairness perception is always 27.5% lower for the rejection decision than the acceptance decision, irrespective of the offer-ratio (i.e., monetary gain/loss) or the baseline level of fairness for that decision. The data also show a co-variation relationship between fairness and offer-ratio (monetary gain/loss), but such proportionality relationship is decoupled at the even-split singularity point. The analysis shows that the decision crossover threshold is located at a slightly unfair perception, indicating tolerance to some unfairness in the decision. This suggests that a rejection decision is made when the unfairness perception threshold is reached. Conclusion: These analyses validated the hypothesis that the decision to accept/reject the monetary offer is logically consistent using the fairness criterion as the threshold for decision along the fairness-axis — even for accepting inequitable offers or rejecting hyper-equitable offers, irrespective of the amount of monetary gain/loss. The apparent decision based on the monetary gain/loss criterion is only a side effect of the co-variation between fairness and monetary gain.},
 year = {2015}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Rational Decision-Making Process Choosing Fairness Over Monetary Gain as Decision Criteria
AU  - Nicoladie D. Tam
Y1  - 2015/03/07
PY  - 2015
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.pbs.s.2014030601.13
DO  - 10.11648/j.pbs.s.2014030601.13
T2  - Psychology and Behavioral Sciences
JF  - Psychology and Behavioral Sciences
JO  - Psychology and Behavioral Sciences
SP  - 16
EP  - 23
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2328-7845
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.pbs.s.2014030601.13
AB  - Objective: This study tests the hypothesis that the decision-making process in humans is often based on the fairness rather than the monetary gain/loss, when they are confronted with a choice between fairness and monetary gain/loss. Methods: The classical Ultimatum Game (UG) is used as the experimental paradigm to quantify the threshold crossover-point to switch the decision from rejection to acceptance. The fairness stimulus-response function is used for quantifying the decision threshold and the co-variation relationship between fairness and monetary gain/loss. Results: The results show that the level of fairness perception is always 27.5% lower for the rejection decision than the acceptance decision, irrespective of the offer-ratio (i.e., monetary gain/loss) or the baseline level of fairness for that decision. The data also show a co-variation relationship between fairness and offer-ratio (monetary gain/loss), but such proportionality relationship is decoupled at the even-split singularity point. The analysis shows that the decision crossover threshold is located at a slightly unfair perception, indicating tolerance to some unfairness in the decision. This suggests that a rejection decision is made when the unfairness perception threshold is reached. Conclusion: These analyses validated the hypothesis that the decision to accept/reject the monetary offer is logically consistent using the fairness criterion as the threshold for decision along the fairness-axis — even for accepting inequitable offers or rejecting hyper-equitable offers, irrespective of the amount of monetary gain/loss. The apparent decision based on the monetary gain/loss criterion is only a side effect of the co-variation between fairness and monetary gain.
VL  - 3
IS  - 6-1
ER  -

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