MONKEY BUSINESS

Do you have a piggy bank filled with coins? Have you ever traded a candy bar for a bag of chips or a cookie at lunch? People buy, sell, and trade things every day. But what about animals? Do squirrels spend the nuts they save? Have you ever seen a dog deliberately offer another dog a tennis ball in exchange for a Frisbee or a tug toy?

Scientists have been studying how people use money for hundreds of years. Now they're finding that some of their theories about humans may apply to animals as well-or at least to one group of monkeys.

Monkey Money

Researchers recently taught six capuchin monkeys how to use money. They gave the monkeys small metal disks and showed them some yummy apple pieces, a favorite treat. The monkeys soon figured out that if they gave one of the disks to a scientist, they'd receive a piece of apple in return.

The experimenters then identified another treat that the monkeys liked as much as apple-grapes-and gave the monkeys a budget of 12 disks that could be used like cash to buy either fruit. Each monkey spent roughly half its disks on apple pieces, and the other half on grapes. Sounds reasonable, but what would happen if the prices changed?

Two for One

The researchers cut the price of the apple pieces in half. Now, instead of buying one piece of apple or one grape with each disk, the monkeys could choose between getting two pieces of apple for one disk or one grape for one disk. And they were given fewer disks to spend.

Did the monkeys shop for sales? Yes, just like people in a similar situation, the monkeys recognized a good deal and spent more of their disks on apples than grapes.

Trading Partners

Two researchers-let's call them Jake and Allison-both acted as apple sellers in the next three experiments. The monkeys were tested one at a time and had 12 disks to spend in each experiment. Jake always showed the monkeys one piece of apple, while Allison always showed two pieces. But that's not necessarily what they gave the monkeys. Sometimes, depending on the experiment, the number of apple pieces the seller would give for a disk was determined at random. It was a kind of coin toss. Heads, you get one piece of apple; tails, you get two.

Smart Money

According to money experts, the monkeys showed good business sense when they shopped for bargains. But their choices in the experiments with Allison and Jake weren't always so sensible.

In experiment one, the monkeys correctly figured out that they'd get only one treat from Jake but had a 50-50 chance of getting two pieces from Allison. If they spent all their disks trading with Allison, they'd end up with more treats in total. Smart choice.

In experiment two, Jake and Allison both gave one treat half the time and two treats the other half. A monkey who traded only with Allison would get the same number of treats as one who traded only with Jake. Why did the monkeys prefer Jake, especially since they preferred Allison before?

Experiment three made even less sense. The payoffs from Jake and Allison were exactly the same. Both always gave one treat for one disk. But the monkeys much preferred Jake. Why?

You Win Some, You Lose Some

Well, in experiement two, when a monkey received two pieces of apple from Jake instead of one, it seemed like a gain or a win. And when Allison gave the monkey only one treat instead of the two she showed, it seemed like a loss. The monkeys preferred trading with Jake because they'd rather take a chance of seeming to win than seeming to lose. The monkeys' dislike of losing was so strong that in experiment three, when Jake and Allison both gave one piece of apple every time, but Allison showed two pieces before taking one away, the monkeys chose Jake even more often.

The money experts say that's not so different from the way people behave. We also sometimes make silly business decisions just to avoid the feeling that we're getting less, even when we're not. What about you? Would you have made the same choices as the monkeys?

Copyright Carus Publishing Company May/Jun 2006
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved