Dogs Have a Sense of Fairness
Jeffrey Weiss, in The Dallas Morning News Religion blog, reports what he calls a 'duh' science study. Experiments with dogs indicate that if master doesn't reward all dogs equally for doing tricks, then the dog that is treated unfairly is less likely to repeat the same trick. Weiss says this is obvious to anyone who owns more than one dog. Weiss still tells the story because he finds it interesting that "fair play seems hardwired into the brains of critters down the evolutionary chain from us."
We shouldn't mock studies that confirm conventional wisdom. Lots of common knowledge turns out to be false when looked at in a rigorous manner. Lots of common knowledge is confirmed. We don't know for sure which is which until we do the study.
One reason to test hypotheses we think we already know the answers to is to create the foundation for further studies. Rigorously understanding fair play in dogs might lead to better understanding of fair play in humans. Dogs can be made subjects of experiments that ethics would prevent running on humans.
That a sense of fair play is "hardwired" into the brains of dogs probably tells us something about ourselves. Will we discover that a sense of fair play is "hardwired" into human brains as well, whether from genes or from training? Don't be at all surprised to learn that if there's an evolutionary advantage for having a sense of fair play, that natural selection will select for it. That's hardwiring.
Dogs aren't "down the evolutionary chain from us." Dogs are just as highly evolved as humans are. Antelope are just as highly evolved as lions. Where one stands on the food chain does not imply anything about the inferiority or superiority of one's genes. All living things on Earth have about the same 4 billion years of evolution behind them, tailoring their genetic makeup for survival in their own environmental niches. It's been said that cockroaches have been around since the age of dinosaurs and will be around long after humans have destroyed themselves in nuclear or environmental disaster. If you're going to bestow rank in the "evolutionary chain", cockroaches would be at the head of the honor roll. Just in case you were feeling a little superior.
P.S. Coincidentally, another story was in the news today, headlined, "Homeless dog tries to save dog hit by car in Chile."
2 comments:
I disagree, Ed. Jeffrey Weiss is clearly further down the evolutionary chain than most dogs I know.
I don't know about Jeffrey in particular, but I know a lot of people who would argue that humans as a species are not as advanced as dogs.
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