The Impact Of Sharing Unfairness On Unfairness Perception And Behavioral Tendencies Toward Fairness Norm-Violators

Unfairness is a common phenomenon,previous research found that experiencing unfairness not only affects the perception ofthe unfair treatment,but also affects an individual’s attitude towards the fairness norm-violators.The previous research however primarily focused on the experience of unfair treatment in isolation.People undergo unfair treatment in social context,however,there is a dearth of research focusing on examining the effect of co-experiencing unfairness with others on unfairness perception and the attitude towards the fairness norm-violators.A small number of previous studies have shown that,compared with individuals experiencing unfairness alone,experiencing unfairness with others reduces the individual’s perception of unfairness.But this is inconsistent with previous research on group identity,such as group polarization and common experience will enhance the individual’s perception experience,cognition and behavior.Is this inconsistency due to some regulatory factors(arousal or identification of group identity)working? This study focuses on the impact of group identity on the co-experience of unfairness and the reduction of unfairness perception.Three studies were designed to investigate how the co-experience of unfairness with others affected individuals’ unfairness perception and the individual’s attitude towards the fairness norm-violators(proposer).Specifically,in Study 1,participants were randomly assigned to three conditions(coexperience unfairness with group membership condition,co-experience unfairness with no group membership condition,unfairness alone condition.)to play the Ultimatum Game(UG),where the participants acted as the responders.In the co-experience of unfairness condition,the proposer kept the majority of the money for himself or herself(e.g.,7 of the 15 RMB),while allocating a very small proportion to the two responders(e.g.,each of the responders obtained 4 of the 15 RMB).In the unfairness alone condition,the proposer allocated more money to himself or herself(e.g.,10 of the 15 RMB),while allocating the rest of money(5 of the 15 RMB)to the responder.After the general instruction,the membership manipulation was introduced.In group membership condition,the co-experiencers were became a group and each participant needed to make a consensus decision on behalf of the group.In no group membership condition,the participants make decisions individualy.The results showed that the co-experience of unfairness decreased the perception of unfairness,but it did not affect the attitude towards the proposer.Study 2 was designed to replicate the first study results.For this aim,we replicated study 1with two exceptions.First,study 2 was designed to directly compare the co-experience unfairness with group membership and experience unfairness anone conditions;thus,we excluded the no group condition.Second,in the co-experience condition,participants needed to make a consensus decision on behalf of the group in turn.Study 3 allowed friends or strangers to co-experience unfairness.The results showed that whether co-experiencing unfairness with friends or strangers,compared to experiencing unfairness alone,it significantly decreased the individual’s perception of unfairness,increased the individual’s acceptance of unfair distribution,and did not affect the individual’s attitude and behavioral tendencies toward proposer.The findings of this study is helpful to expand the research on coexperience of unfairness into group situations,and also to predict the cognitive and behavioral responses of individuals when they encounter unfair treatment with others.