Among social scientists, a character named Homo economicus is often invoked; the term describes an idealized agent who always makes the perfectly logical and rational choice. This figure has proved hard to find in the real world—and yet, the Virginia Tech researchers write, “in this study, we identified a population of human beings who play the ultimatum game more like Homo economicus.” In a tone of some surprise, they continue, “Experienced meditators were willing to accept even the most asymmetrical offers on more than half of the trials, whereas control members of Homo sapiens did so in
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