Torn Between Left and Right

Suppose that one person happens to be born with more talent than another and is therefore able to accomplish more with the same effort. Will people think that it is fair for this person to make more money?

At first, it may seem that the answer is obvious. Some people are more to the right of the political spectrum, others are more to the left. Those who are more to the right will say that the person who accomplishes more deserves to make more money, while those who are more to the left will say that it would be more fair for the two to receive equal pay.

But perhaps things are not as simple as they seem. A new experimental philosophy study by Chris Freiman and Shaun Nichols points to an interesting new angle on this traditional debate. Freiman and Nichols gave subjects precisely the question at the beginning of this post -- but with a twist. Subjects were randomly assigned either to receive 'abstract' question or a 'concrete.'

Subjects who had been assigned to receive an abstract question were asked:

Suppose that some people make more money than others solely because they have genetic advantages.

Please tell us whether you agree with the following statement:

- It is fair that those genetically-advantaged people make more money than others.

Meanwhile, subjects who had been assigned to receive a concrete question were asked:

Suppose that Amy and Beth both want to be professional jazz singers. They both practice singing equally hard. Although jazz singing is the greatest natural talent of both Amy and Beth, Beth's vocal range and articulation is naturally better than Amy's because of differences in their genetics. Solely as a result of this genetic advantage, Beth's singing is much more impressive. As a result, Beth attracts bigger audiences and hence gets more money than Amy.

Please tell us whether you agree with the following statement:

- It is fair that Beth makes more money than Amy.

Surprisingly, subjects who were given the abstract question said that it was not fair, but subjects who were given the concrete question said that it actually was fair! In other words, it seems that each individual person is torn between left and right. People seem to have a kind of leftist intuition in the abstract but to move to the right when they turn to more concrete cases. Perhaps the differences we observe between the views of different individuals are due in part to the degree to which they hold on to this abstract principle.