Evolution and the expression of biases: situational value changes the endowment effect in chimpanzees

Abstract

Cognitive and behavioral biases, which are widespread among humans, have recently been demonstrated in other primates, suggesting a common origin. Here we examine whether the expression of one shared bias, the endowment effect, varies as a function of context. We tested whether objects lacking inherent value elicited a stronger endowment effect (or preference for keeping the object) in a context in which the objects had immediate instrumental value for obtaining valuable resources (food). Chimpanzee subjects had opportunities to trade tools when food was not present, visible but unobtainable, and obtainable using the tools. We found that the endowment effect for these tools existed only when they were immediately useful, showing that the effect varies as a function of context-specific utility. Such context-specific variation suggests that the variation seen in some human biases may trace predictably to behaviors that evolved to maximize gains in specific circumstances.

The preference for scarcity: A developmental and comparative perspective

“…There is a precedent for this, with other economic "biases" being found in unexpected populations (e.g., Kanngiesser, Santos, Hood, & Call, 2011;Santos & Chen, 2009;Shafir, Waite, & Smith, 2002). For example, honeybees and gray jays both display asymmetric dominance effects (Shafir et al, 2002), and some nonhuman primates display the endowment effect and loss aversion (Brosnan, Jones, Gardner, Lambeth, & Schapiro, 2012;Chen, Lakshminarayanan, & Santos, 2006;Santos & Rosati, 2015).…”

The Evolutionary Roots of Human Decision Making

“…For example, great apes exhibit an endowment effect for food but not for functional items such as tools (Kanngiesser et al 2011). Similarly, although chimpanzees exhibit an endowment effect for tools that they can use immediately to obtain food, they fail to show a similar effect when food is currently inaccessible or absent (Brosnan et al 2012). Together, this work suggests that although nonhuman primates do exhibit a bias much like the endowment effect by refusing to trade an owned food for an equally valued alternative, this bias may be more limited than the one seen in humans.…”

Fairness in Animals: Where to from Here?

“…Without this comparative perspective, we cannot hope to understand why some of these behaviors evolved, nor can we provide coherent predictions for all of the variations seen in human behavior (i.e., Brosnan, Jones, Gardner, Lambeth, & Schapiro, 2012;Jones & Brosnan, 2008). This approach is embraced by many in the field.…”