Take A Look At This Interesting Game That Tests Your Fairness

This is a game! It’s called the Ultimatum Game and there is a big pot of money. But, you have to split the pot! You need to decide how you want to split the pot – think 80/20 or 50/50 and suggest that!Show more

If agreed, you will both get the share. If rejected, no one gets the money. What do you do? This game has been used in a lot in tests of fairness. And things like your brain or electric stimulations of certain brain regions affect how people decide to split the pot, and if others accepted their offer they will split it.

In one study, participants were given a pill of amino acids or placebo, and then they played The Ultimate Game. Those who had the amino acid pill rejected unfair offers in 80% of the cases, and those who took the placebo, rejected unfair offers 65 % of the time. The amino acid pill didn’t include tryptophan, the amino acid necessary to synthesize serotonin, a chemical that plays a role in regulating emotions during social decision-making. So reduced serotonin resulted in more resentment towards the offer, making the responders less likely to accept.

Another study bent the rules of The Ultimatum Game. When the participants first split the pot, they are offered 10-25% of the value to their partner. Then The Ultimatum Game became electrifying. Some participants received electrical stimulations that increased activity in a brain area though to control fairness.

It’s kind of mind-blowing that our sense of fairness and inequity can be manipulated by drugs and electrical stimulations. But… can you really win The Ultimatum Game? How would you split the pot?