I almost ignored this due to the sloganized, hard-to-understand title and the unreliability of the site. But the study actually seems pretty good, and the paper is well-written and open-access [1].
Whenever my RSS reader shows me an article from phys.org and the article is open access I decide if I want to post the phys.org article or the paper, this was a toughie. A common situation is that the phys.org headline is "Scientists come to some conclusion" and the title of the paper was "We measured something"; this one was a tough call, I bet it would have gotten <5 upvotes had I posted a link right ot the paper.
thucydides · 13m ago
n=256 undergraduates playing “The Ultimatum Game.”
The headline (“fairness is what the powerful can get away with”) is, uh, just a tad lofty given the methodology of the study, no?
FergusArgyll · 58m ago
Surely this will replicate...
mrala · 15m ago
> He added, however, that it is important to remember the limitations of such studies: "We used point/money to represent the real-life costs associated with actions like campaigning or going on a protest march. Experiments like these are only meant to simulate aspects of the real world, not perfectly represent its complexity."
> Behavior may be different if participants had earned their points rather than simply received them, or both Proposers and Responder shared a common identity or wider goal.
> "Still," Dr. Gordon continues, "it is a reminder that we should be mindful of attempts to limit the ability to hold power to account. For example, through anti-protest, anti-strike, and voter suppression laws. In an era marked by growing global inequality, this study offers critical insights into the psychology of power, and the mechanisms that can promote more equitable societies."
jvanderbot · 39m ago
Isn't the flip-side of this "The powerful do not do what they will be held accountable for"?
Yes, everyone does what they can get away with in a mixed-incentive game.
tyleo · 1h ago
I feel like fairness is what anyone can get away with and powerful people just tend to get away with more. Even the article seems to land on this conclusion.
potato3732842 · 1h ago
>Even the article seems to land on this conclusion.
But the title landed in the next county because that's what the editor's job is in the modern era of clicks and eyeballs.
tyleo · 1h ago
Yeah, that’s what I was alluding to. There had to be a slight, “you’re getting screwed,” angle to it.
FrustratedMonky · 1h ago
I'd like to see add on study on 'Banality of Evil'.
Here "The willingness of those in power to act fairly depends on how easily others can collectively push back against unfair treatment, psychologists have found."
What about all the the middle managers that enable the powerful.
The more the middle layer of population supports the powerful, the less the 'masses' can revolt to enforce fairness.
All revolutions are actually started by the middle class which gets upset. The true lower class masses never have the resources to get off the ground.
[1] https://spb.psychopen.eu/index.php/spb/article/view/11607
The headline (“fairness is what the powerful can get away with”) is, uh, just a tad lofty given the methodology of the study, no?
> Behavior may be different if participants had earned their points rather than simply received them, or both Proposers and Responder shared a common identity or wider goal.
> "Still," Dr. Gordon continues, "it is a reminder that we should be mindful of attempts to limit the ability to hold power to account. For example, through anti-protest, anti-strike, and voter suppression laws. In an era marked by growing global inequality, this study offers critical insights into the psychology of power, and the mechanisms that can promote more equitable societies."
Yes, everyone does what they can get away with in a mixed-incentive game.
But the title landed in the next county because that's what the editor's job is in the modern era of clicks and eyeballs.
Here "The willingness of those in power to act fairly depends on how easily others can collectively push back against unfair treatment, psychologists have found."
What about all the the middle managers that enable the powerful.
The more the middle layer of population supports the powerful, the less the 'masses' can revolt to enforce fairness.
All revolutions are actually started by the middle class which gets upset. The true lower class masses never have the resources to get off the ground.