Collaborative Research: Examining Emotional Reactions to Standards of Justice

Jody Clay-Warner Dawn T.罗宾逊，格鲁吉亚大学SES-0966488林恩史密斯-洛文杜克大学正义理论预测，当人们得到的比他们应得的多或少时，他们会感到负面情绪。研究一致证实，收到少于一个人应得的唤起负面情绪。然而，关于人们在过度奖励时的感受的研究是不一致的。目前的项目调查的想法，这些不一致的结果，采用不同的司法标准。研究人员假设，当过度奖励是因为违反了公平正义的标准时，人们会感到痛苦和内疚，公平正义是基于与特定他人的局部比较。他们还预测，当过度奖励是因为违反了公正的参照标准时，人们不会感到痛苦和内疚，公正的参照标准是基于与某种广义期望的远距离比较。按照这种逻辑，如果一个人和同事工作同样的时间，但工资比同事高，他会感到内疚。相反，如果他的工资比一般人高，他不会感到内疚？现行利率？一个特定的工作。为了验证这些预测，研究人员将进行一系列实验，以检查过度奖励的情绪反应，从而将公正标准的影响与背景因素的影响分开。如果这些预测是正确的，那么在公平和参照比较过程中可能存在根本性的差异，因此需要更具体的正义理论。这项研究对工作环境、政策讨论和理解社会运动具有广泛的影响。由于报酬不足的人通常没有能力为自己获得更多资源，因此报酬过高的人往往有责任纠正不公正的不平等。因此，了解过度奖励者对自己所受青睐的地位的感受，将有助于更好地理解在各种情况下如何纠正不公正。拟议的研究还将为两个机构的本科生和研究生研究助理提供培训和指导机会

SES-0966536 Jody Clay-Warner Dawn T. Robinson, University of Georgia SES-0966488 Lynn Smith-Lovin Duke University Theories of justice predict that people feel negative emotion when they receive either more than they deserve or less than they deserve. Research consistently confirms that receiving less than one deserves evokes negative emotion. However, research regarding how people feel when over-rewarded is inconsistent. The current project investigates the idea that these inconsistencies are the result of employing different standards of justice. The researchers hypothesize that people feel distress and guilt when over-reward results from violation of the equity standard of justice -- which is based on local comparisons with specific others. They also predict that people do not feel distress and guilt when over-reward results from a violation of the referential standard of justice -- which is based on distal comparisons to some generalized expectation. By this logic, a person would feel guilty if he worked the same number of hours as a coworker but was paid more than the coworker. Conversely, he would not feel guilty if he were paid a higher wage than the typical ?going rate? for a particular job. In order to test these predictions, the researchers will conduct a series of experiments to examine emotional reactions to over-reward that will disentangle the effects of the justice standard from the effects of contextual factors. If the predictions are correct, then there may be fundamental differences in equity and referential comparison processes and thus a need for greater specification of justice theory. Broader Impacts This research has broad implications for work settings, for policy discussions and for understanding social movements. Since the under-rewarded typically lack the ability to gain more resources for themselves, it is often incumbent upon the over-rewarded to remedy unjust inequality. As a result, understanding how the over-rewarded feel about their favored position will lead to a better understanding of how injustice may be remedied in a variety of settings. The proposed research will also provide training and mentoring opportunities for a diverse group of undergraduate and graduate research assistants at two institutions