People give 30–50% in ultimatum games
When given $10 to split with a stranger in economic experiments, most people give 30–50%, contradicting standard economic predictions of pure self-interest.
Snapshot · Huberman Lab
How to Overcome Social Anxiety | Dr. Nick Epley
Explore episode
May 18, 2026
Where this was said
Social Connection & Cooperation; Adopted Children
At 54:30 · chapter starts 47:52
Huberman asks what hardwiring exists for genetic versus non-genetic offspring, prompting Epley to discuss the evolutionary logic of cooperation: groups that coordinate outperform those that don't, and humans are unique among animals in their ability to cooperate with and care for non-kin. This leads to the personal revelation of his family's three adoptions — two children from Ethiopia and one (Lindsay) from China. He recalls the exact moment he and his wife committed to adopting their first two children, and how, in that instant, the photographs of those children in the 2nd and 3rd growth percentile began to look beautiful. The role of parent, once assumed, becomes the only relevant fact. He invokes economist experiments where people give away 30–50% of a sum to total strangers to argue that the standard economic model of pure self-interest is simply wrong about human nature.
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