Equity Theory

• Equity theory

  Developed as a criticism of social exchange theory as SET fails to take balance into account and focuses mainly on cost and reward benefit.

  • An economic theory that acknowledges the cost and reward idea of a relationship but criticises SET as the role of equity is repeatedly ignored.
  • Equity does not mean "equal." It refers to the perception of whether the distribution of reward and cost is fair.
• Hatfield


  Elaine Hatifield - both partners' level of profit must be around the same

  • a lack of equity/fairness results in one partner being majorly over benefitted and one partner being underbenfitted.
  • Over benefitted people feel guilty and under benefitted people end up feeling angry and sad
• Consequences of inequity

  • Changes in perceived equity - this refers to when we end up changing what we expect as a reward and a cost to make the relationship work
  • Dealing with inequity- usually when the underbenefitted partner is ready to make the relationship more equitable for themselves so long as they believe it is salvageable, for example, abuse now being accepted as the norm to save the relationship.
• Research Support - Schafer + Keith (1980)

  • 333 married couples (666 Ps)
  • Equity and inequity was examines as it occured in five main family roles
  • cooking
  • housekeeping
  • provider
  • companionship
  • parenting
  • During the child rearing stage, marital satisfaction went down and wives felt under benefitted. Husbands felt over.
  • During the honeymoon and emptynest stage, marital satisfaction increased again.

  Supports the link of distress in r.s and inequality.
• Limitation - Husenman et al


  • Individual differences- not all partners are concerned with equity and the theory does not account for individual differences.
  • Equity sensitivity- the extent to which an individual will tolerate inequality.
  • Benevolents- "givers"- more tolerant of being underbenefitted.
  • Equity sensitives- act in accordance to the equity theory and are more likely to face tension in the face of inequality
  • Entitles- tend to be okay with being over-rewarded.
• Gender differences

  Research found that women perceive themselves as more underbenefitted than men.

  • Women also feel more guilt when over benefitted and more distress when under benefitted.
  • This shows that a woman has more sensitivity to a relationship being equitable.
• Research support - Capuchin monkeys

  • Female capuchin monkeys got mad if they were denied a grape in reward for a game
  • If another monkey who had not played the game got grapes, the monkeys became very angry and threw the food back at the experimenter.
  • This shows that equity theory has ancient origins.

  BUT, research may not be generalisable as it is an animal study.