The effect of anticipated future interaction on reward allocation in same- and opposite-sex dyads

Hypotheses were tested concerning the relationship of anticipated future interaction and sex of allocator vs. sex of recipient on reward allocation norm choice. Male and female college students worked on a sex-neutral, attributionally ambiguous task. Subjects participated in same- and mixed-sex dyads, but were kept isolated from one another. All received feedback that they had contributed higher input than their partner and had been randomly chosen to apportion a group reward. The primary dependent variable was amount of reward allocated to self. As predicted, there was a significant difference in allocation norm choice in the no future interaction condition (with males favoring equity and females employing equality), while both sexes divided the reward equally between themselves and the coworker in the future interaction condition. A model was proposed to explain these findings in terms of a continuum of social interaction levels. Rather than being viewed as independent causal entities, sex of allocator and sex of recipient were demonstrated to play roles of differing importance as a function of the level of interaction experienced or anticipated.