Equity Theory

• •Equality achieves this through treating everyone the same regardless of need.
• •Equity achieves this through treating people differently dependent on need.
• •It’s an economic theory of relationships – it still suggests that the exchange of rewards and costs are important in relationship satisfaction, but argues that equity is also important.
• •Inequity means that one person underbenefits (and so feels anger, hostility, resentment etc.) and one person overbenefits (and so feels guilt, discomfort and shame). Therefore both are dissatisfied. The greater the inequity, the greater the distress and dissatisfaction.
• •People are most dissatisfied when there is a change in the level of perceived equity as time goes on.
• •Inequity can be dealt with in two main ways:–The ‘put upon’ partner will work hard to try to restore equity, as long as they believe it is possible to do so and the relationship is salvageable.–They will revise their perceptions of rewards and costs so that the relationship feels more equitable even if it’s not.
• Equity In Marriage

  •Utne carried out a survey of 118 recently-married couples, measuring equity with two self-report scales. These husbands and wives were aged between 16 and 45 years, and had been together for more than two years before marrying.•
• Equity In Marriage

  •The researchers found that couples who considered their relationship equitable were more satisfied than those who saw themselves as over-benefitting or under-benefitting.•This research confirms a central prediction of equity theory, increasing its validity as an explanation of romantic relationships.
• Further Evidence In Primates

  •In a study with capuchin monkeys, Brosnan and de Waal found that female capuchin monkeys became very angry if they were denied a highly prized reward of grapes in return for playing a game.•If another monkey (who had played no part in the game) received the grapes instead, the capuchins grew so angry that they hurled food at the experimenter.•This study echoes what researchers have found in human relationships and suggest that the perception of inequity has ancient origins.•
• Cultural differences in the link between equity and satisfaction

  • Couples from an individualist culture considered their relationship most satisfying when it was equitable
  • Partners from a collectivist culture were most satisfied when they were overbenefitting
• This was true of men and women
• The theory's claim that equity is a universal need in relationships is unwarranted
• The theory is limited because it can't account for the difference in cultural influences