At a Crossroads of Disciplines

Studies on fairness are at an exciting juncture. There is interest in these topics across a wide range of disciplines and new technology gives the potential for further avenues of research. Perhaps the most recent area of interest addresses the ways in which reactions to inequity in nonhuman species are similar to or different from humans reactions. With this knowledge in hand, we can better understand ourselves, other animals, and the evolution of this behavior. A cross-disciplinary approach uniting theory and techniques from disciplines as diverse as economics, social psychology, and animal behavior allows us to best address these questions. Through such studies, we will hopefully better understand the breadth of inequity responses as they relate to a variety of different behaviors and situations. A cohesive theory of the evolutionary trajectory of this behavior will also help us gain a better understanding of the function of the behavior. These commentaries address just these issues. Researchers from diverse fields (representing social and cognitive psychology, neuroscience, economics, and primate behavior) attempt to meld the information on nonhuman reactions to inequity into their field of study and provide a good framework for how such work must be approached in the future. Many of these ideas represent directions that are already being taken. Here, I respond to and re-emphasize some of the ideas presented.