Role of equity

• Most people have a need for equity in relationships
• Social exchange theory suggests that partners seek equality or a balance between costs and benefits. In contrast, Walster et al. propose that equity is more important where both partners' level of profit should be roughly the same
• Who proposes equity theory?

  Walster et al.
• Underbenefitting and overbenefitting can lead to dissatisfaction
• The underbenefitted partner is likely to be the least satisfied and their feelings may be evident in anger and resentment
• The overbenefitted partner may feel less dissatisfied but is still likely to feel discomfort and shame
• Equity is about the fairness of the ratios. It is not the size or amount of the rewards and costs that matters- it is the ratio of the two to each other
• For example, if one partner puts a lot into the relationship but at the same time gets a lot out of it, then that will seem fair enough