Equity Theory Flashcards
What is equity theory?
-‘equity’ means fairness, it argues that people re not just out to get most rewards for the least costs; they are also concerned about equity.
-The rewards + costs they experience are roughly equal to the other.
-Equity doesn’t mean equality, it means a constant ratio of rewards to costs or profit to investment.
What is the difference between equity + equality?
-It is not the size or amount of rewards + costs that matter; it is the ratio of the two of each other.
-e.g. one partner stays home and doesn’t work, and carries out domestic and child-rearing duties - a precisely equal distribution of these tasks would not be seen as fair by the other.
-Equity may well come from the compensation that the other partner could offer in other areas.
-Satisfying relationships are marked by negotiations to ensure equity, that rewards are distributed fairly between partner - involves making trade-offs.
Explain equity + satisfaction
-Theorists such as Homans + Walster describe equitable relationships as the happiest + most stable, inequitable relationships result in unhappiness + instability.
-Under benefitting = an individual may gain few rewards + have to incur a lot of costs.
-Over benefitting = an individual may get loads of rewards + have to incur few costs.
-According to this theory, both of these situations should feel uneasy, and should be motivated to restore equity to the relationship.
What is 1 strength of equity theory?
Real-life applications to marital therapy:
-Concepts of the theory can be applied to relationships which are failing.
-Typically the therapist will work to assess their inputs + costs.
-This will enable them to make attempts to restore equity by drawing attention to the fact that one of the individuals is dissatisfied with.
Therefore the theory has external validity and is useful within a real-world setting.
What are 3 limitations of equity theory?
Women are more concerned with equity than men:
-Van Yperen + Buunk (1990) - 736 people by newspaper article, mixture of married + cohabiting couples average age 39, 70% with children.
-Asked to complete anonymous questionnaire for score of equity.
-Around 2/3 men + women felt equitable, about 1/4 men felt over benefitted, 1/4 women under benefitted.
-1 yr later asked about satisfaction, assessed correlation between equity at beginning and satisfaction at 2nd point - generally, married people who perceived it as equitable were most content and those under benefitted were least satisfied.
-Correlation for women = 0.44 (shows greater equity led to greater satisfaction), men = 0.20.
These findings suggest women may be more concerned with equity than men.
Women are more concerned with over benefitting than men:
-Women tend to perceive themselves more under benefitted, could be due to unfair division of domestic responsibilities - reported more during child-rearing stages.
-Sprecher (1992) found women feel more guilt than men - may be due to fact women’s greater relationship focus may make them more sensitive to injustices + more likely to react to being exploited.
-Increased emphasis on gender equality in modern marriage may lead women to be more vigilant about inequity.
Illustrates gender differences exist and men + women value different aspects of relationships.
Women are more likely to deal with inequity through cheating:
-Many report that they have had extra-marital affairs for reason that their relationship feels inequitable and fee they are the ‘loser’.
-Not the case for males - tend to be purely sexual in nature rather than linked with dissatisfaction.
This shows men + women deal with inequity in different ways.
