 |
| Make sure you get the pieces the same size. Photo: Klipy Design |
‘Daaaaaaad! You let Sam on the computer. IT’S NOT FAIR!’
So goes the soundtrack to the summer holidays. Rather than
scrambling to put dinner on the table, get in the washing and manage my job (in
half the usual time and without the aid of school) my top priority is to ensure
parity between my children. How could I have possibly forgotten? There
shouldn’t be a cigarette paper of difference in terms of equality; activities
must be balanced for treat-magnitude with the judgement of Solomon. Other than
of course the finely calibrated extra privileges that accrue to the my older
one as a result of seniority and long service. Long service, you understand,
consists of having been demanding for longer and it all counts in the great
ledger that I clearly failed to check.
The importance of fairness seems to trump all other
considerations, including self-interest. Give Child 1 £1 and she’ll be happy.
But if she finds out Child 2 has £1.50 she’ll be angry. Take the money away from
both and she’ll be satisfied. Child 1 has lost out but Child 2 has lost more so
all’s right with the world. In my frazzled state it can feel like my kids are
simply brats who live to make my life difficult. A more considered look at the
evidence however tells a different story. Other people’s kids do the same. Always
a relief. In fact research suggests that, though they may be more obvious about
it, it’s not just children who have a profound (and sometimes self-injurious)
aversion to unfairness. Behavioural economists Fehr and Schmidt (1999) have gone as far as to
suggest that ‘willingness to sacrifice potential gain to block another
individual from receiving a superior reward’ is basic to the human condition.
