Equity Theory

Question 1

What is Equity theory?

Answer 1

Equity theory states that people will expect to receive rewards from a relationship that are proportional to the rewards that they give the other person. People in a relationship will strive for fairness and equity to allow the relationship to continue.

Equity does not always mean equality, each person in the relationship must feel that it’s fair and an equitable relationship will have a fair ratio of costs and rewards for each individual.

Question 2

What happens if the relationship becomes unfair?

Answer 2

If people over benefit and receive more rewards then their oar their they feel guilt or pity. If people under benefit in their relationship and receive less rewards than their partner they might feel angry or sad.

An imbalance in rewards can be tolerated if both parties agree to it, ie if someone has lost their jobs this can accepted and tolerated and they can also try to redistribute costs and rewards.

Question 3

Strength of enquiry theory

Answer 3

• ) A study of 1500 couples as part of the us national survey found that if women were under benefiting to a high degree then there was a high change of divorce. This suggests that equity and inequity are important for women in a relationship.
• ) study’s show that female monkeys become angry if they were denied a prize (grapes) for playing a game with a researcher, especially if they saw another monkey who had not played the game receive the grapes instead. They monkeys got so angry they hurled fruits at the experimenter, it seems that ideas of equity are rooted in our ancient origins.

Question 4

Weakness of equity theory

Answer 4

• ) it is more applicable to individualistic cultures then collectivist cultures. In collectivist cultures they may be more focused on family values and the extended family network rather then equal rewards and costs in a relationship. In collectivist cultures they may focus on expectations and obligations rather then squirt of rewards and costs.
• ) study’s has found no correlation between equity in a relationship and the future quality and maintenance of a relationship. People have free will in choosing wether to continue in a relationship or not so just because the relationship is equitable it does not mean it will continue and last.
• ) it is not possible to assess equity in loving relationships as most of the rewards and costs are emotional/psychological and can’t be quantified or measured easily.