Understanding the Equity Theory: A Comprehensive Guide

It is a theory with very broad applications, showing that we aim for consistency between attitudes and behaviors and may not use very rational methods to achieve it. If we put effort into a task that we have chosen to carry out, and the task turns out badly, we experience dissonance. To reduce this dissonance, we are motivated to try to think that the task turned out well. Cognitive dissonance refers to a situation involving conflicting attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors.

The Theory of Animal Mind: Evidence of Influencing Psychological Theories

Secondly, the self-affirmation model (Berkowitz, 1988) focused on the overall self-image of moral and adaptive adequacy as an alternative explanation for attitude change. Lastly, the aversive consequences model (also commonly known as ”a new look at dissonance”) (Cooper & Fazio, 1984) also presented an alternative view on mental discomfort. This model proposed that the psychological stress was caused by the feeling of being self-responsible for inducing aversive consequences, rather than the inconsistency in cognitive elements. The theory was put forward by John Adams in his article “Inequity in Social Exchange” (1965), in which Adams introduced the concepts of social comparison and equity into psychology to explain the social behaviors of individuals at work. Originating from the social comparison theory and the cognitive dissonance theory, the social equity theory combines their main viewpoints.

What is the difference between cognitive dissonance theory and balance theory?

It may not be correct in all of its details, but it upsets the conventional wisdom that came before. I would argue that the most fundamental assumption about human and infrahuman behavior in the decade of the 1950’s was learning theory. Scholars argued about the relative merits of approaches such as Skinner’s behaviorism or Hull’s drive theory, but few dared to question the fundamental notion that organisms approach rewards and avoid punishments. This was as true of humans in the workplace as it was for pigeons and rats in experimental cages. By employing one or more of these referent types, either consciously or unconsciously, employees form a nuanced view of how equitably they are being treated. For example, an individual who previously felt underappreciated at another company might find themselves more acknowledged in their current role.

5.3 Cognitive dissonance theory

Cognitive dissonance theory helps illuminate social incentives for survey completion. For example, when individuals consider themselves helpful, kind or generous, refusing to participate is incompatible with their self-perception. The application of the theory was also found in research on intimate relations (Canary & Stafford, 1992; Sechrist et al., 2014). The balanced exchange of support between family members was confirmed to determine the quality of relations (Sechrist et al., 2014). Equity Theory was adopted to investigate the role of perceived relationship power in dating relations.

• This highlights the importance of considering cultural nuances when applying Equity Theory in diverse social environments.
• A series of studies that I was involved in with my colleague Mark Zanna took a different approach.
• Internet web sites, public and private video is available 24/7, and meetings are often live-streamed.

Some participants had been offered a small amount of money to make the attitude discrepant statement (U.S. $1) while others had been offered a substantially larger amount (U.S. $20). Festinger & Carlsmith made the prediction that the $20 incentive would lead to less dissonance than the small incentive because it helped people understand why they had acted in contradiction to their true beliefs. Participants who had only been offered $1 had much less comfort from their small incentive and thus were predicted to experience a greater tension state. Consistent with those predictions, participants in the $1 condition changed their attitudes more than the participants who were offered the large reward.

• Such situations do not take into consideration psychological unlimited rewards, which cannot be measured and divided (Romer, 1979).
• The theory was based on the belief that people strive toward consistency within themselves and are driven to make changes to reduce or eliminate an inconsistency (Cooper, 2007).
• This subjectivity poses a challenge in both research and practical applications of the theory.
• Conversely, experimental framing of human–animal similarity has been shown to increase moral concern for animals and human outgroups simultaneously 31.

Social Equity Theory

For example, in an analog research design, Heppner and Dixon (1978) exposed participants to an expert or an inexpert counselor who attempted to change their opinions about their problem-solving abilities. The expert counselors produced greater change on an immediate assessment and an assessment taken one week later. The result suggests that participants may have been motivated to reconsider the information provided by the expert after the therapy session. It has been used to explain and predict the motivational nature of dissonance that led to attitude and behaviour changes at both the individual and organisational level. When Festinger and Carlsmith (1959) revealed counterattitudinal advocacy changed people’s attitudes more when it was done in response to a small incentive rather than a large incentive it became immediately controversial. It initiated a flurry of studies by researchers who supported reinforcement incentive theories aimed at showing that the result was a mistake.

• Based on cognitive dissonance theory, the Body Project was developed as an intervention to help people with faulty body images and eating disorders (Stice, Rohde & Shaw, 2013).
• Instead, more or less successful attempts are made to explain or rationalize them, thereby reducing dissonance.
• Dissociation can also be observed at a linguistic level, demonstrating its cultural entrenchment.
• He found that students who wrote the essays in return for a large incentive changed their attitudes more than those who wrote in return for a small incentive.
• Since then cognitive dissonance continues to interest social psychologists and to feed research on different fields such as health attitudes (smoking, eating habits), political attitudes (voting behavior, opinion polls, and election campaigns), and marketing.

Understanding the Equity Theory: A Comprehensive Guide

I then consider the transition of dissonance research from its focus on the individual to one that envisions the individual in the context of a social group. The social group perspective enables us to consider how people feel dissonance vicariously on behalf of their fellow group member. I conclude with an appeal for a two-pronged approach to dissonance in the coming decades in which we continue to make progress in the laboratory while simultaneously translating dissonance to help alleviate problems that are important in peoples lives. Equity Theory has been tested in different geographical contexts, producing inconsistent results. Another piece of research demonstrated that the importance of fairness perception differed depending on culture (Lund, Scheer & Kozlenkova, 2013).

Dissonance Approaches

It underscores the need for a nuanced understanding of individual differences when interpreting equity perceptions and designing interventions to address inequities. In individuals with a preference for social hierarchies, dehumanisation by ridding animals of mind and, therefore, moral worth 29 allows their conception as an out-group and subsequent exploitation 6. For example, those cognitive dissonance and addiction who support animal experimentation endorse a greater mental divide between humans and other species 9,30. Conversely, experimental framing of human–animal similarity has been shown to increase moral concern for animals and human outgroups simultaneously 31. This concept of out-group dementalisation can also be seen in our reduced attributions of mind to pest species compared with other animals 32.

The theory was based on the belief that people strive toward consistency within themselves and are driven to make changes to reduce or eliminate an inconsistency (Cooper, 2007). Cognitive dissonance theory began by postulating that pairs of cognitions can be either relevant or irrelevant to one another. However, if two cognitions are relevant, but conflicting, the existence of dissonance would cause psychological discomfort and motivate the individual to act upon this. The greater the magnitude of dissonance, the greater the pressure for the individual to reduce the dissonance (Harmon-Jones & Mills, 2019).

Dissociating meat from its animal origins: A systematic literature review

In addition, it was suggested that the application of Equity Theory is bounded to limited resource situations, whereby the rewards are subjected to the division between members of relations. Such situations do not take into consideration psychological unlimited rewards, which cannot be measured and divided (Romer, 1979). Second, the evaluation of equity results from the assessment of personal inputs/outputs against inputs/outputs of other people in the social exchange relations (Figure 1). Equity is perceived when the ratio of input/output is equal to the input/output of other people. Individuals either refer to a specified referent person or a generalised other to draw the comparison.