Shifting Standards of Unfairness in Romantic Relationships
Abstract
The current study sought to investigate whether differential appraisals of online
relationship transgressions made by victims and perpetrators in romantic relationships
can be accounted for by incongruent unfairness standards. Prior research has shown that
judgments of injustice can be a function of the confirmatory standards to which people
determine harm has occurred (Miron, Warner & Branscombe, 2010). A confirmatory
standard of injustice is defined as a subjective threshold people set in order to conclude
that an action has definitely taken place or that a person or group has a particular ability
(Miron & Branscombe, 2008). Miron et al. (2011) found that when judging the severity
of wage inequality, disadvantaged group members set lower confirmatory standards than
advantaged members and therefore perceived the existing inequality as more unfair. This
means that disadvantaged group members asked for less evidence of wage inequality and
consequently made harsher judgments of inequality. The motivation to protect one's
positive identity has also been shown to manifest itself in the differential attributions
made by victims and perpetrators (Bradbury & Fincham, 1990), especially within
romantic relationships (Feeney & Hill, 2006; Kearns & Fincham, 2005). While both
differential standards and attributions have been found to lead to different perceptions of
harm, the current study proposed a model in which the effect of victim vs. perpetrator
perspective on standards of unfairness and judgments of harm occurs above and beyond
that of attributions. Participants read a hypothetical transgression situation in either the
perspective of the victim or perpetrator. Participants then answered questions assessing
their unfairness standards, judgments of harm, attributions, and levels of forgiveness. The
results suggested that victims of online relational transgressions and perpetrators of the
offenses set different confirmatory standards of unfairness for what content can be
discussed with potential others, with victims setting lower confirmatory standards than
perpetrators. Although these divergent unfairness standards were not found to influence
individuals' appraisals of the unfairness of transgression, the effect of the perspective
manipulation on standards occurred above and beyond that of attributions. Implications
and future research directions are discussed.
Subject
Equality
Equity
Interpersonal relationships
Online social networks
Internet social aspects
Permanent Link
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1793/62259Description
A Thesis Submitted In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Master of Science- Psychology-Experimental