Elaine Walster
Biographic Data
| ID | 274656 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Elaine Walster |
| GIVEN NAMES | Elaine |
| FAMILY NAME | Walster |
| SIGNATURE | WALSTER E |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Wisconsin System |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 37 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 1108 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 37 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1962 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1981 |
| H-INDEX | 15 |
Extending Equity Theory
A New Look at Love
Equity and extramarital sexuality
Equity and premarital sex
Equity with the World: The Trans-Relational Effects of Equity and Inequity
Traditional equity theory assumes that individuals attempt to maintain Person-specific Equity. Austin (1974) proposes that individuals are also concerned about the amount of net equity they receive across relationships, and that people try to maintain both Person-specific and Equity with the World (i.e., equity across several relationships). On this basis, we hypothesized that individuals sometimes will sacrifice Person-specific in order to achie…
Equity and Social Justice
Scholars and social reformers have long been interested in trying to define “social justice.” In this essay, we present a framework for understanding recent theorizing and research on social justice. First we review equity theory. Aristotle proposed a primitive equity model of social justice; in recent years, social philosophers such as Homans, Adams, and Walster, Berscheid, and Walster have reformulated and extended the model. Next we describe t…
Physical Attractiveness
Participants' reactions to “Equity with the world”
Reactions to confirmations and disconfirmations of expectancies of equity and inequity
This study investigated subjects' cognitive, affective, and physiological reactions to equity and inequity. Results confirmed two hypotheses derived from equity theory: (a) Subjects were more content (and less distressed) when they were equitably rewarded than when they were either underrewarded or overrewarded (Hypothesis 1). Further, overrewarded subjects were more content than were underrcwardcd subjects (Hypothesis 2). Hypothesis 3 predicted …
Playing hard to get: Understanding an elusive phenomenon
New directions in equity research
This article consists of four sections: The first section elucidates a general theory of social behavior—equity theory. Equity theory consists of four propositions designed to predict when individuals will perceive that they are justly treated and how they will react when they find themselves enmeshed in unjust relationships. The second section summarizes the extensive research that has been conducted to lest equity theory. The third section poin…
The Effect of Physical Attractiveness on Teacher Expectations
Rosenthal and Jacobson found that a teacher's expectations about a child's behavior strongly influence his actual behavior. Generally, teachers form their first impressions of children, and thus develop their expectations for them, from two sources of information-the children's school record and their physical appearance. In this experiment, teachers were given objective information, presumably about a child's scholastic and social potential, ac-…
Influencing Attitudes and Changing Behavior: A Basic Introduction to Relevant Methodology, Theory and Applications
Equity and the Innocent Bystander 1
This paper attempts to integrate equity theory and specialized theories and data concerning the reactions of bystanders and victims caught up in emergencies. The authors first examine three factors which determine the bystander's response to emergency situations: whether or not bystanders attend to an emergency; how aroused bystanders become by the emergency; how the bystander responds to the emergency — i.e., by helping, by denigrating the victi…
What is beautiful is good
A person's physical appearance, along with his sexual identity, is the personal characteristic that is most obvious and accessible to others in social inter-action. The present experiment was designed to determine whether physically attractive stimulus persons, both male and female, are (a) assumed to possess more socially desirable personality traits than physically unattractive stimulus persons and (6) expected to lead better lives (e.g., be mo…
Legal Structures and Restoring Equity 1
Psychological research suggests that harmdoers typically respond in one of two ways after injuring another: (a) sometimes harmdoers make voluntary reparation to the victim, or acquiesce when forced to make reparation; (b) sometimes harmdoers engage in defensive behavior. Instead of acknowledging responsibility for the victim's predicament, they try to justify their harmdoing. They may insist that the victim deserves to suffer or may deny that he …
Physical attractiveness and dating choice: A test of the matching hypothesis
Self-esteem and attraction
Is a person more receptive to love and affection when his self-esteem, is high or when it is low? Learning theorists, clinicians, and dissonance theorists provide conflicting answers. This paper proposes and tests an explanation for these contradictory research findings. This explanation is based on the assumption that low-self-esteem individuals are unusually receptive to affection when they realize that it is being offered, but that it is most …
Sexual arousal and heterosexual perception
It has been theorized that high drive initiates an autistic perceptual process operating in the direction of drive gratification. In the present study, it was hypothesized that (a) under conditions of high drive, perceptual distortion of drive-relevant objects occurs principally along drive-relevant dimensions; (b) the direction of distortion is toward enhancement of the object's potential for drive satisfaction; (c) the degree of accessibility o…
The Effect of Race and Sex on College Admission
Applications for admission were sent to a random sample of 240 American colleges and universities. For three different student ability levels, forms that were identical in all respects, save race and sex, were prepared. Each college was sent a single application with a randomly assigned race, sex, and ability level. Contrary to our expectations, white applicants were accepted slightly more frequently than black. In accordance with our predictions…
Choice between Negative Alternatives: Dissonance Reduction or Regret
In 1962 an experiment investigated whether or not individuals commonly experience regret after making decisions. Results suggested Ss probably experienced more regret as time passed. There was no evidence that they ever succeeded in reducing dissonance. One of three current interpretations is that the more negative the choice alternatives, the more post-decisional regret a decision maker should experience. An experimental design to test alternati…
The effect of self-esteem on liking for dates of various social desirabilities
Effect of Time on Tendency to Compensate a Victim
Previous research has shown that individuals may reduce the distress they feel on harming another by making reparation to their victim, by justifying their harm-doing or by seeking punishment for the act. Prediction of which distress-reduction technique or which combination will be used has been facilitated by extending theoretical equity formulations to the harm-doing situation. The present experiment, a quasi-replication of Berscheid and Walste…
Retaliation as a means of restoring equity
Previous research has shown that when a harm-doer is faced with the suffering of his victim he will attempt to eliminate the inequity he has created by compensating the victim. When this is not possible, he will restore psychological equity by justifying the victim's suffering. It was suggested that equity can be restored by still another method: the victim can get even with the harm-doer by retaliating against him. It was proposed that when comp…
Second Guessing' Important Events
What is beautiful is good
A person's physical appearance, along with his sexual identity, is the personal characteristic that is most obvious and accessible to others in social inter-action. The present experiment was designed to determine whether physically attractive stimulus persons, both male and female, are (a) assumed to possess more socially desirable personality traits than physically unattractive stimulus persons and (6) expected to lead better lives (e.g., be mo…
New directions in equity research
This article consists of four sections: The first section elucidates a general theory of social behavior—equity theory. Equity theory consists of four propositions designed to predict when individuals will perceive that they are justly treated and how they will react when they find themselves enmeshed in unjust relationships. The second section summarizes the extensive research that has been conducted to lest equity theory. The third section poin…
Assignment of responsibility for an accident
People have no real control over many of the things that happen to them. Cars can fail to start in the morning; students can get measles just before a final exam; air and rail accidents can kill the traveler; and floods, plagues, and hurricanes can destroy entire communities. Control over all environmental events is impossible both because techniques for preventing some accidents are unknown and because precautionary steps may be impractical cons…
Physical attractiveness and dating choice: A test of the matching hypothesis
Importance of physical attractiveness in dating behavior
It was proposed that an individual would most often expect to date, would try to date, and would like a partner of approximately his own social desirability. In brief, we attempted to apply level of aspiration theory to choice of social goals. A field study was conducted in which individuals were randomly paired with one another at a Computer Dance. Level of aspiration hypotheses were not confirmed. Regardless of S's own attractiveness, by far th…
Equity and Social Justice
Scholars and social reformers have long been interested in trying to define “social justice.” In this essay, we present a framework for understanding recent theorizing and research on social justice. First we review equity theory. Aristotle proposed a primitive equity model of social justice; in recent years, social philosophers such as Homans, Adams, and Walster, Berscheid, and Walster have reformulated and extended the model. Next we describe t…
Reactions to confirmations and disconfirmations of expectancies of equity and inequity
This study investigated subjects' cognitive, affective, and physiological reactions to equity and inequity. Results confirmed two hypotheses derived from equity theory: (a) Subjects were more content (and less distressed) when they were equitably rewarded than when they were either underrewarded or overrewarded (Hypothesis 1). Further, overrewarded subjects were more content than were underrcwardcd subjects (Hypothesis 2). Hypothesis 3 predicted …
On increasing the persuasiveness of a low prestige communicator
The Effect of Physical Attractiveness on Teacher Expectations
Rosenthal and Jacobson found that a teacher's expectations about a child's behavior strongly influence his actual behavior. Generally, teachers form their first impressions of children, and thus develop their expectations for them, from two sources of information-the children's school record and their physical appearance. In this experiment, teachers were given objective information, presumably about a child's scholastic and social potential, ac-…
Equity and premarital sex
When does a harm-doer compensate a victim
It was hypothesized that individuals who had harmed another person would be more likely to compensate their victim if the available compensation made up exactly for the harm done than if, in order to compensate at all, it was necessary to give the victim either an insufficient or an excessive compensation. Ss were members of women's church auxiliaries who in the course of a game were led to deprive a fellow church member of green-stamp books. In …
The effect of self-esteem on romantic liking
Second Guessing' Important Events
Equity with the World: The Trans-Relational Effects of Equity and Inequity
Traditional equity theory assumes that individuals attempt to maintain Person-specific Equity. Austin (1974) proposes that individuals are also concerned about the amount of net equity they receive across relationships, and that people try to maintain both Person-specific and Equity with the World (i.e., equity across several relationships). On this basis, we hypothesized that individuals sometimes will sacrifice Person-specific in order to achie…
Participants' reactions to “Equity with the world”
Playing hard to get: Understanding an elusive phenomenon
The effectiveness of "overheard" persuasive communications
To enable competitive industrial production, it is crucial to understand how to design and operate competitive production systems. Today, much operations management research focuses on the environm
Equity and the Innocent Bystander 1
This paper attempts to integrate equity theory and specialized theories and data concerning the reactions of bystanders and victims caught up in emergencies. The authors first examine three factors which determine the bystander's response to emergency situations: whether or not bystanders attend to an emergency; how aroused bystanders become by the emergency; how the bystander responds to the emergency — i.e., by helping, by denigrating the victi…
Self-esteem and attraction
Is a person more receptive to love and affection when his self-esteem, is high or when it is low? Learning theorists, clinicians, and dissonance theorists provide conflicting answers. This paper proposes and tests an explanation for these contradictory research findings. This explanation is based on the assumption that low-self-esteem individuals are unusually receptive to affection when they realize that it is being offered, but that it is most …
The effect of self-esteem on liking for dates of various social desirabilities
Retaliation as a means of restoring equity
Previous research has shown that when a harm-doer is faced with the suffering of his victim he will attempt to eliminate the inequity he has created by compensating the victim. When this is not possible, he will restore psychological equity by justifying the victim's suffering. It was suggested that equity can be restored by still another method: the victim can get even with the harm-doer by retaliating against him. It was proposed that when comp…
A determinant of preference among modes of dissonance reduction
It was hypothesized that in selecting a dissonance-reduction technique people will search for a solution which is a stable one. Given a choice among modes of dissonance reduction, the individual will search both for a mode which is not challenged by present events and information, and for a mode which is unlikely to come under reality attack in the future. To test this hypothesis, nursery-school children made a decision between 2 toys. One could …
The effect of misjudging another: Over-compensation or dissonance reduction
Sexual arousal and heterosexual perception
It has been theorized that high drive initiates an autistic perceptual process operating in the direction of drive gratification. In the present study, it was hypothesized that (a) under conditions of high drive, perceptual distortion of drive-relevant objects occurs principally along drive-relevant dimensions; (b) the direction of distortion is toward enhancement of the object's potential for drive satisfaction; (c) the degree of accessibility o…
Effectiveness of debriefing following deception experiments
This study was designed to test the notion that deception experiments might be especially disturbing to a person already concerned about the area involved in the deception. Specifically, it was hypothesized that if a person who was extremely concerned about his adequacy in social situations was given false information about his adequacy as part of an experiment, it might not be easy to debrief him at the end of the experiment. In this experiment,…
The effectiveness of "overheard" persuasive communications
To enable competitive industrial production, it is crucial to understand how to design and operate competitive production systems. Today, much operations management research focuses on the environm
Effect of expecting to be liked on choice of associates
This study investigated one of the factors which the authors felt influenced the strong tendency of people to choose to associate with others they perceive as similar to themselves, the fear of being disliked by dissimilar strangers. As predicted, it was found that if Ss felt it was important to talk with people who would like them, they more often chose to interact with similar than dissimilar people. A 2nd group of students, assured that all me…
The effect of self-esteem on romantic liking
Assignment of responsibility for an accident
People have no real control over many of the things that happen to them. Cars can fail to start in the morning; students can get measles just before a final exam; air and rail accidents can kill the traveler; and floods, plagues, and hurricanes can destroy entire communities. Control over all environmental events is impossible both because techniques for preventing some accidents are unknown and because precautionary steps may be impractical cons…
On increasing the persuasiveness of a low prestige communicator
The effect of misjudging another: Over-compensation or dissonance reduction
Choosing to suffer as a consequence of expecting to suffer: An unexpected finding
The effect on liking of underrating or overrating another
Importance of physical attractiveness in dating behavior
It was proposed that an individual would most often expect to date, would try to date, and would like a partner of approximately his own social desirability. In brief, we attempted to apply level of aspiration theory to choice of social goals. A field study was conducted in which individuals were randomly paired with one another at a Computer Dance. Level of aspiration hypotheses were not confirmed. Regardless of S's own attractiveness, by far th…
Second Guessing' Important Events
Effectiveness of debriefing following deception experiments
This study was designed to test the notion that deception experiments might be especially disturbing to a person already concerned about the area involved in the deception. Specifically, it was hypothesized that if a person who was extremely concerned about his adequacy in social situations was given false information about his adequacy as part of an experiment, it might not be easy to debrief him at the end of the experiment. In this experiment,…
When does a harm-doer compensate a victim
It was hypothesized that individuals who had harmed another person would be more likely to compensate their victim if the available compensation made up exactly for the harm done than if, in order to compensate at all, it was necessary to give the victim either an insufficient or an excessive compensation. Ss were members of women's church auxiliaries who in the course of a game were led to deprive a fellow church member of green-stamp books. In …
A determinant of preference among modes of dissonance reduction
It was hypothesized that in selecting a dissonance-reduction technique people will search for a solution which is a stable one. Given a choice among modes of dissonance reduction, the individual will search both for a mode which is not challenged by present events and information, and for a mode which is unlikely to come under reality attack in the future. To test this hypothesis, nursery-school children made a decision between 2 toys. One could …
Retaliation as a means of restoring equity
Previous research has shown that when a harm-doer is faced with the suffering of his victim he will attempt to eliminate the inequity he has created by compensating the victim. When this is not possible, he will restore psychological equity by justifying the victim's suffering. It was suggested that equity can be restored by still another method: the victim can get even with the harm-doer by retaliating against him. It was proposed that when comp…
Effect of Time on Tendency to Compensate a Victim
Previous research has shown that individuals may reduce the distress they feel on harming another by making reparation to their victim, by justifying their harm-doing or by seeking punishment for the act. Prediction of which distress-reduction technique or which combination will be used has been facilitated by extending theoretical equity formulations to the harm-doing situation. The present experiment, a quasi-replication of Berscheid and Walste…
Choice between Negative Alternatives: Dissonance Reduction or Regret
In 1962 an experiment investigated whether or not individuals commonly experience regret after making decisions. Results suggested Ss probably experienced more regret as time passed. There was no evidence that they ever succeeded in reducing dissonance. One of three current interpretations is that the more negative the choice alternatives, the more post-decisional regret a decision maker should experience. An experimental design to test alternati…
The effect of self-esteem on liking for dates of various social desirabilities
Legal Structures and Restoring Equity 1
Psychological research suggests that harmdoers typically respond in one of two ways after injuring another: (a) sometimes harmdoers make voluntary reparation to the victim, or acquiesce when forced to make reparation; (b) sometimes harmdoers engage in defensive behavior. Instead of acknowledging responsibility for the victim's predicament, they try to justify their harmdoing. They may insist that the victim deserves to suffer or may deny that he …
Physical attractiveness and dating choice: A test of the matching hypothesis
Self-esteem and attraction
Is a person more receptive to love and affection when his self-esteem, is high or when it is low? Learning theorists, clinicians, and dissonance theorists provide conflicting answers. This paper proposes and tests an explanation for these contradictory research findings. This explanation is based on the assumption that low-self-esteem individuals are unusually receptive to affection when they realize that it is being offered, but that it is most …
Sexual arousal and heterosexual perception
It has been theorized that high drive initiates an autistic perceptual process operating in the direction of drive gratification. In the present study, it was hypothesized that (a) under conditions of high drive, perceptual distortion of drive-relevant objects occurs principally along drive-relevant dimensions; (b) the direction of distortion is toward enhancement of the object's potential for drive satisfaction; (c) the degree of accessibility o…
The Effect of Race and Sex on College Admission
Applications for admission were sent to a random sample of 240 American colleges and universities. For three different student ability levels, forms that were identical in all respects, save race and sex, were prepared. Each college was sent a single application with a randomly assigned race, sex, and ability level. Contrary to our expectations, white applicants were accepted slightly more frequently than black. In accordance with our predictions…
Influencing Attitudes and Changing Behavior: A Basic Introduction to Relevant Methodology, Theory and Applications
Equity and the Innocent Bystander 1
This paper attempts to integrate equity theory and specialized theories and data concerning the reactions of bystanders and victims caught up in emergencies. The authors first examine three factors which determine the bystander's response to emergency situations: whether or not bystanders attend to an emergency; how aroused bystanders become by the emergency; how the bystander responds to the emergency — i.e., by helping, by denigrating the victi…
What is beautiful is good
A person's physical appearance, along with his sexual identity, is the personal characteristic that is most obvious and accessible to others in social inter-action. The present experiment was designed to determine whether physically attractive stimulus persons, both male and female, are (a) assumed to possess more socially desirable personality traits than physically unattractive stimulus persons and (6) expected to lead better lives (e.g., be mo…
Psychology (32 works) · Social Psychology (29 works) · Social Psychology (15 works) · Law (13 works) · Political science (13 works) · Psychology of Social Influence (11 works) · Law (9 works) · Sociology (8 works) · Cognitive psychology (7 works) · Equity (law (7 works)