Choices behind the veil of ignorance in Formosan macaques.

Yi-Ta Lu, Wei-Hsiang Hwang, Yi-Tsung Hsieh, Tsung-Yu Ho, Jian- Da Zhu, Chun-I Yeh, Chen-Ying Huang

Open access · goldAbstract read

In one paragraph

Article in PNAS nexus, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it

0cells of the map it votes in

0citing papers in PubMed

–field-weighted citation impact, top 90% of its field

1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed, 0 citations in OpenAlex.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Yi-Ta LuDepartment of Economics, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1479-094X

Wei-Hsiang HwangDepartment of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan.

Yi-Tsung HsiehDepartment of Economics, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan.

Tsung-Yu HoDepartment of Economics, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan.

Jian- Da ZhuDepartment of Economics, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan.

Chun-I YehDepartment of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan.

Chen-Ying HuangDepartment of Economics, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2897-642X

National Taiwan University · TW

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

An ongoing debate regarding the evolution of morality is whether other species show precursory moral behavior. The veil of ignorance (VOI) paradigm is often used to elicit human moral judgment but has never been tested in other primates. We study the division of resources behind the VOI in Formosan macaques. Monkeys choose the equal division more often when a conspecific is present than when it is absent, suggesting a degree of impartiality. To better understand this impartiality, we measure a monkey's reactions to two directions of inequity: one regarding inequity to its advantage and the other to its disadvantage. We find that disadvantageous inequity aversion correlates with the degree of impartiality behind the VOI. Therefore, seemingly impartial behavior could result from a primitive negative reaction to being disadvantaged. This suggests a mechanism to explain a tendency toward impartiality.

Identifiers

PMID36714857

DOI10.1093/pnasnexus/pgac188

PMCPMC9802069

OpenAlexW4296127841

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.