Fairness - a multidimensional approach

Abstract

The extent to which humans have a preference for fairness is a puzzling phenomenon. Humans share food, goods, power, services and other resources fairly with their family, friends and even unrelated others. Further humans have strong preferences for being treated fairly themselves and also for others being treated fairly. This uniquely human behavior has been object of research in several disciplines. Psychologists, economists, sociologists, neuroscientists, biologists, lawyers as well as anthropologists have tried to understand this astonishing prosocial behavior. Fairness can be observed across cultures and is already present in young children suggesting that fair behavior has evolutionary advantages and an underlying neural basis. <br /> In recent years, there has been substantial progress in understanding neural mechanisms enforcing fair behavior. Psychological as well as economic theories were tested for their neurological plausibility. For that purpose paradigms from behavioral economics were adapted and tested in the fMRI scanner. Brain areas found to correlate with fair behavior were further tested for their causal involvement by using TMS or tDCS. <br /> In this dissertation I give a systematic overview about psychological and economic theories on fair behavior and their neurological plausibility. I further present four studies on fairness investigated with different neuroscientific methods and using different paradigms.