Equity:

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  • evidence from studies of real-world relationships that confirm equity theory as a more valid explanation than SET.
  • IE Utne et al carried out a survey of 118 recently-married couples measuring equity with two self-report scales
  • The pp were aged between 16-45 years and had been together for more than 2 years before marrying
  • Found that couples who considered their relationship equitable were more satisfied than those who saw themselves as overbenefitting or underbenefitting

  Confirms that equity is a major concern of romantic couples and is linked with satisfaction a central prediction
• COUNTERPOINT:

  • Equity may be a feature of satisfaction in relationships (as predicted by equity theory) but Berg et al found that equity did not increase over time as would also be predicted by the theory
  • Nor did the researchers find that relationships which ended and those which continued differed in terms of equity, a further prediction of equity theory
  • Other variables (e.g. self-disclosure) were significantly more important

  This undermines the validity of equity theory because equity does not play the role in relationship (dis)satisfaction that is predicted
• LIMITATION:

  • May not apply to all cultures
  • Aumer-Ryan et al found that there are cultural differences in the link between equity and satisfaction
  • Couples from an individualist 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.