Men's and women's reactions to fair and unfair treatment in relationship conflict |
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| Authors: | ESTHER S. KLUWER MAUREEN TUMEWU KEES VAN DEN BOS |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Utrecht University, The Netherlands;2. Esther S. Kluwer, Maureen Tumewu, and Kees van den Bos, Department of Social and Organizational Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.;3. Maureen Tumewu is now at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, The Hague. |
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| Abstract: | Abstract Evidence of gender differences in reactions to experienced fair and unfair treatment in relationship conflict was examined in 4 studies among dating, cohabiting, and married participants in The Netherlands. Using a critical incidents method and a scenario, this research provided convergent results suggesting that the relationship between fairness of treatment and affective feelings or relationship satisfaction is stronger for women than for men. This gender difference disappeared under conditions of high relationship commitment. Furthermore, men who identified strongly with their relationship showed stronger reactions to fair treatment than men who identified weakly with their relationships. Finally, the manipulation of relationship salience led to heightened sensitivity to fairness of treatment among men, but not among women. |
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