equity theory

• Equity: fairness - the profit (rewards- costs) should be approximately the same for each person in the relationship. This is different to equality: where costs and rewards have to be the same for each partner. A lack of equity would mean that one partner over benefits.
• An under benefitted partner may feel: sad, angry, resentment, hostility, humiliation.
• An over benefited partner may feel: manipulative, guilty, shame, discomfort.
• What are the consequences?

  The greater the perceived inequality, the greater the dissastification. The theory predicts a strong positive correlation between the 2. This applies to over and under benefitted partners.

  changes in perceived equity:

  Change in perceived level of equity as time goes on in a relationship. If relationships develops in a way that means you always put in more than you get out of it you will feel less satisfied than you did at the start of the relationship.
• What are the consequences?

  -dealing with inequality:

  Behavioural: the under benefitted partner will try to make the relationship more equitable as long as they think they can save the relationship. The more unfair it feels, the harder they will work to restore equity.

  Cognitive: change their perception of reward and costs so the relationship feels more equitable. What was a cost earlier on in the relationship isn't any more (abuse,untidy). It’s now the accepted norm.
• strength of equity theory is support from research into real world relationships. Mary Utne et al (1984) carried out a survey of 118 recently-married couples, measuring equity with two self report scales. pps were aged between 16 and 45 years had been together for more than two years before marrying. researchers found couples who considered their relationship equitable where more satisfied than those who saw themselves as overbenefitting or underbenefitting. study confirms that equity is major concern of romantic couples and is linked with satisfaction, a central prediction of equity theory. 
• weakness is individual differences regarding importance placed on equity. been suggested some people are less concerned about equity than the ‘norm’. describe some partners as benevolents, who prepared to contribute more to the relationship than they get out of it(underbenfit). Others are entitleds believe they deserve to overbenefit and accept it without feeling distressed or guilty. In both cases individuals have less concern about equity than the theory predicts. shows that desire for equity varies from individual to another and not a universal feature of romantic relationships. 
• One limitation is that equity theory may not apply to all cultures. Katherine Aumer-Ryan et al found that there are cultural differences in the link between equity and satisfaction. Couples from an individualistic culture (US) considered their relationships to be most satisfying when the relationship was equitable, whereas partners in a collectivist culture (Jamaica) were most satisfied when they were overbenefitting. This was true of both men and women, so cannot be explained by gender differences. This suggests that the theory is limited because it only applies to some cultures. 
• weakness is that equity theory ignores important gender differences. Researchers found that women tend to be more disturbed when under-benefitting from relationships, and feel more guilty when over-benefitting, others suggests that women are more focused on relationships, and more sensitive to injustices. These results indicate clear gender differences between males and females, highlight the importance of conducting research into males and females separately, avoid gender bias. this may result in an alpha bias and exaggerates differences between males and females that dont actually exist.