In a choice between equal payoffs (e.g., self gets $500/other person gets $500) and more lucrative but disadvantageously unequal payoffs (e.g., self gets $600/other person gets $800), individuals willingly trade disadvantageous inequality for extra profit (e.g., Blount and Bazerman, 1996),...

This paper explores the influence of social categories on the perceived trade-off between relatively bad but equal distribution of resources between two parties and profit maximizing, yet asymmetric payoffs. Study 1 and 2 showed that people prefer to maximize profits when interacting within...