Equity Theory of Attraction

Question 1

What is the central assumption of Equity Theory

Answer 1

That people are most comfortable when they percieve that they are getting roughly what they deserve from a given relationship. In this view, an equitable relationship is when (your benefits - costs) = (partner’s benefits - costs)

Question 2

What are people likely to feel in a relationship where they feel over-benefitted

Answer 2

Pity, Guilt ad shame

Question 3

What are people likely to feel in a relationship where they feel under-benefitted

Answer 3

Anger, Sadness and Resentment

Question 4

What happens with feelings of equity and inequity in marriages

Answer 4

Schafer and Keith surveyed hundreds of married couples, noting those who felt the marriage was inequitable because of an unfair division of domestic responsibilities. During child-rearing years women felt under-benefitted while men felt over-benefitted, causing marital satisfaction to dip. In contrast during the honey moon and after children had left the house, both husband and wife were more likely to percieve equity and satisfaction with their marriage

Question 5

Who studied married couples and found that children made women feel under-benefitted

Answer 5

Schafer and Keith

Question 6

Why might concern over equity change during a relationship

Answer 6

Hatfield and Rapson suggest that in the initial stages of a relationship considerations of equity are important, however, once couples are deeply cmmitted to each other they become less concerned with day to day equity. Happily married people therefore, tend to not keep track of giving and recieving. Equitable relationships also lower risk of extramarital affairs

Question 7

What are some ways of dealing with inequity

Answer 7

Restoration of actual equity - Individuals restore equity by voluntarily setting things right or urging their partners to do so
Restoration of psychological equity - Couples in inequitable relationships can distort reality and convince themselves that things are perfectly fair as they are
Leave inequity - Either physically separate or emotionally leave their partner

Question 8

What was the procedure of Stafford and Canary’s study into inequity

Answer 8

Asked over 200 married couples to complete measures of equity and relationship satisfaction, as well as asking each spouse about use of relationship maintainance strategies like assurances of committment, sharing tasks and positivity

Question 9

What were the findings of Stafford and Canary’s study into inequity

Answer 9

Found satisfaction was highest for spouses who percieved relationships to be equitable, followed by over-benefitted partners and then under-benefitted ones. Under-benefitted husbands reported significantly lower levels of maintainance strategies.

Question 10

Who did a study into the benefitingness of marital couples

Answer 10

Stafford and Canary

Question 11

How does the equity theory not account for equity sensitivity (eval)

Answer 11

Research by Huseman et al challeneges the assumption that everyone is equally sensitive to inequity. He identified three types of participants, benevolents, equity sensitives and entitleds. Benevloents were more tolerant of under-benefitting, equity sensitives behaved just like the theory and entitleds preferred to be over-benefitted. This shows that there are individual differences in the impact of inequitable relationships

Question 12

Who found there were three types of equity sensitives

Answer 12

Huseman

Question 13

How might there be gender differences in equity (eval)

Answer 13

DeMaris et al pointed out that women tend to perceive themselves as under-benefited compared to men, and are also more disturbed by being under-benefited. They suggest the main reason for this is that women’s greater relationship focus may make them more sensitive to injustices. There is also greater focus on equality in modern marraige, so women are likely to react more negatively to be exploited

Question 14

Who found women are more sensitvie to equity than men

Answer 14

DeMaris

Question 15

Are there cultural differences in the importance of equity (eval)

Answer 15

Aumer-Ryan et al found that in all cultures people found it important that a relationship was equitable. However the levels of equibility in different in different cultures, with men and women in the US claiming to be in the most equitable relationships, while men and women (especially women) in Jamaica claimed to be in the least equitable relationships

Question 16

Who did a study on equity across cultures

Answer 16

Aumer-Ryan

Question 17

How have studies of non-human primates supported the equity theory (eval)

Answer 17

In a study of capuchin monkeys Brosnan and de Waal found that female capuchin monkeys became angry if they were denied the highly prized rewards of grapes in return for playing a game. If another monkey, who had not played the game, was given the grapes instead, the monkeys grew so angry that they hurled food at the experimenter. In a later study, Brosnan found chimpanzees were more upset by injustice in casual relationships than in close, intimate ones, where injustice caused ‘barely a ripple’ (how he found this out I cannot begin to imagine)

Question 18

Who did studies on monkeys which supported the equity theory

Answer 18

Brosnan and de Waal (Brosnan did a follow up)