Equity theory (AQA A Level Psychology): Revision Note

The key features of equity theory

• Equity theory is based on the concept of fairness in a relationship, i.e., are both partners receiving the same profit and not incurring unequally weighted costs?

• Equity theory – like Social Exchange Theory and Rusbult’s Investment Model - is an economic theory of relationships, but it attempts to explain aspects of the costs/rewards balance, which SET fails to do

• Equity means that both people in the relationship benefit from the relationship rather than one person overbenefitting, while the other person underbenefits

  • The overbenefitted partner may feel unease, guilt and embarrassment about the inequity in the relationship

  • The underbenefitted partner may feel anger, resentment and dissatisfaction about the inequity in the relationship

• Perception is important, as if one of the partners feels that the relationship is unfair, then this may result in them feeling dissatisfied with it, regardless of whether they overbenefit or underbenefit

• Equity is not the same as equality

  • It is the balance of costs and rewards which is important, not the number of rewards and costs involved

• Insisting on equality in a relationship would involve, for example, all tasks being allocated equally between the couple, but if one person works away from home for several weeks at a time, this is not going to be viable

Perceived inequity

• Perceived inequity occurs when one partner feels that they are putting in more effort and incurring more costs than the other

  • E.g., Frankie does all of the housework and childcare as well as working part-time, whereas their husband Freddie does no housework and only occasionally looks after the children, plus he often plays golf at the weekends

• The balance of a relationship can change over time as couples become complacent and perhaps make less effort to please each other

• Perceptions of inequity can change and adjust with the evolution of the relationship

  • E.g., Sara initially thought that it was fine to let Sally have the spare room for her watercolour painting, but now she feels that she would like to have her own space for her crafting hobby, but there is only one spare room, and Sally has claimed it

• The underbenefitted partner will work harder to restore equity than the overbenefitted partner

  • They will do this even when the inequity seems quite obvious and unfair to everyone who knows the couple

• Alternatively, the underbenefitted partner may use cognitive dissonance to re-frame  the costs and turn them into simply another aspect of the relationship, i.e., one which does not cause dissatisfaction

  • E.g., Sara decides that she doesn’t really like crafting anyway and that Sally is such a good artist that she needs the spare room for her artwork

• Another possible outcome is that the underbenefitted partner reaches a point of ‘no return’ and, feeling extremely disgruntled, will end the relationship

Research which investigates equity theory

• Utne et al. (1984) – a survey of 118 married couples showed that perceived equity was a predictor of relationship satisfaction 

• Schaffer & Keith (1980) – equity is not stable throughout a marriage; it has peaks (the ‘honeymoon period’ in the early stages of the relationship) and troughs (for women, this is particularly true during child-rearing years when women mostly underbenefit and men overbenefit)

• Berg & McQuinn (1986) – longitudinal research of 38 dating couples found that there were no real differences in equity between the couples who split up and the couples who stayed together – other variables such as self-disclosure were found to be more important to long-term happiness than equity 

Evaluation of equity theory

Strengths

• Research such as Utne et al.’s (1984) demonstrates that  equity theory has good validity, i.e., it reflects a real phenomenon in the dynamics of relationships

• Much of the research on equity theory uses real-life couples so it could be argued that there is a degree of external validity to studies which investigate this topic

Limitations

• Equity theory is not universal: Aumer-Ryan et al. (2007) found that individualistic cultures prefer an equitable relationship, whereas collectivist cultures expressed a preference for overbenefitting

• Much of the theory assumes universal values or priorities in relationships, overlooking the fact that each relationship is unique. As a result, its explanations are not consistently reliable across different individuals and contexts

Issues & Debates

• Like other economic theories, equity theory is reductionist, as it reduces relationships to simple cost–benefit calculations

  • It overlooks emotional, personal, and irrational factors like love, commitment, or personal sacrifice, which also play a role in relationship satisfaction

  • This reductionist view may not capture the full complexity of human romantic behaviour