AO3

• Who found research support from real-world relationships that equity theory is more valid that SET?

  Utne et a.
• What did Utne et al. do?

  Carried out a survey of 118 recent-married couples, measuring equity with two self report scales
• Who were the participants in Utne et al.’s study?

  Participants aged between 16 and 45 years and had been together for more than 2 years before marrying
• What did Utne et al. find?

  Couples who considered their relationship equitable were more satisfied than those who saw themselves as over-benefiting or under-benefitting
• Who found that equity did not increase over time?

  Berg and McQuinn
• Berg and McQuinn also found that relationships which ended and those which continued were not different in terms of equity, a further prediction of equity theory. They found that other variables like self disclosure were significantly more important. This undermines the validity of equity theory because equity does not play the role in relationship satisfaction that is predicted
• Who found that there are cultural differences in the link between equity and satisfaction?

  Aumer Ryan et al.
• What did Aumer-Ryan et al. find?

  Couples form an individualistic culture considered their relationship to be most satisfying when the relationship was equitable whereas partners in collectivist culture were most satisfied when they were over benefitting. This was true for both genders
• Individual differences: not all partners in romantic relationships are concerned about achieving equity
• Huseman et al. suggest that some people are less concerned about equity than the ‘norm’. They describe some partners as benevolents, who are prepared to contribute more to the relationship than they get out of it. Others are entitleds who believe they deserve to over-benefit and accept it without feeling distressed or guilty. In both cases such individuals have less concern about equity than the theory predicts
• There is research showing that lack of equity is a cause of dissatisfaction in relationships. However other research shows the opposite direction of cause and effect. Grote and Clark argue that as soon as partners start monitoring each other’s contribution, this is a sign of dissatisfaction. Once dissatisfactions sets in, partners notice inequalities and become even more dissatisfied, ‘cycle of misery’
• Who found there are gender differences in perception of relationship fairness that equity theory ignores?

  Sprecher
• What did Sprecher find?

  Women tended to be more disturbed when under-benefitting from relationships and feel more guilt when over-benefitting
• DeMaris et al. suggested that women are more focused on relationships and so are more sensitive to injustices