Week 12 Exam Study Notes Justice and Injustice PDF

**Week 12 Exam Study Notes: Justice and Injustice** **Key Topics: Justice, Injustice, Social Exchange Theory, Scope of Justice, Procedural vs. Distributive Justice** **Social Psychologists & Justice** - **Focus**: How individuals experience justice and injustice subjectively. - **No defi...

**Week 12 Exam Study Notes: Justice and Injustice** **Key Topics: Justice, Injustice, Social Exchange Theory, Scope of Justice, Procedural vs. Distributive Justice** **Social Psychologists & Justice** - **Focus**: How individuals experience justice and injustice subjectively. - **No definitions**: Social psychologists don't define justice but study how people perceive and react to justice - **Interest**: 1. in how individuals react to justice and injustice - **2**. How individuals determine whether something is just or unjust - **3**. Social Psychologist use their research to try to create a more just society **Key Questions Social Psychologists Ask About Justice:** 1. **What do people perceive as fair?** 2. **How are fairness perceptions formed?** 3. **How do fairness perceptions influence cognition, affect, and behaviour?** 4. **What do people do to achieve justice?** **What is Justice?** - Justice = treating others fairly, based on entitlement. - **Key idea**: Giving others what they deserve, and receiving what one is entitled to. **What is Injustice?** - Injustice occurs when people: - **Receive rewards or punishments that are disproportionate** to what they deserve. **The Social Exchange Theory of Justice** - Early psychologists thought people were motivated by self-interest alone. This led to the **Social Exchange Theory**. - **Social Exchange Theory**: People try to maximize rewards and minimize effort. - Example: Doing just enough work to avoid being fired. - **Key point**: **Fairness isn\'t the priority**, but appearance of fairness. **Research on Motivation and Justice** - **Pritchard et al. (1972)**: - Overpaid students felt discomfort (motivated by justice, not self-interest). - **Underpaid students** performed less work, showing a negative response to perceived injustice. - **Walster et al. (1978)**: Overpaid people may work harder, but still feel discomfort if it\'s unfair. - **Schmitt & Marwell (1972)**: Overpaid people may leave to work somewhere fairer. - **Montada & Schneider (1989)**: Some will redistribute resources to disadvantaged groups to restore justice. **McAuliffe et al. (2015)**: - **Skittles study**: Children preferred **equal** distribution, even if it cost them. - 6-year-olds were more likely to **reject unequal allocations** than 5-year-olds. **Leventhal\'s (1976) Conditions Where Justice Becomes Salient:** 1. **Authority**: When an authority figure makes a decision (e.g., judge). 2. **Injustice**: Perceived injustice triggers fairness concerns. 3. **Other goals don\'t matter**: Justice becomes central when other objectives are irrelevant. 4. **Pluralistic societies**: Justice issues are more salient in diverse societies. 5. **Scarcity**: Justice concerns are heightened during resource scarcity. **The Scope of Justice** - **Scope of Justice**: Psychological boundary for whom justice applies. - People within this boundary receive fairness and moral consideration; those outside do not. - **Influences on the scope of Justice:** - Similarity to target - Utility of the target - Context of Conflict - **Key Facts**: 1. **Morals and values** apply to those inside the scope of justice. 2. **Apathy** for those outside the scope (e.g., \"us vs. them\"). 3. **Wars and conflict** often define others outside the scope of justice, allowing harmful behaviour. 4. People tend to **dehumanize** those outside their scope. **Examples**: - We may see animals outside the scope of justice, like pests harming agriculture, but more closely related animals (e.g., primates) are inside. **Factors That Determine Who is in Your Scope of Justice:** 1. **Similarity to the target**: The more similar someone is, the more likely they fall within the scope of justice (e.g., humans and primates). 2. **Context of conflict**: In war or scarcity, justice narrows to in-group members (family, nation). 3. **Utility**: Those who benefit you or society are within the scope (e.g., beneficial animals, not pests). **Studies on Scope of Justice:** - **Kals & Strubel (2017)**: - Volunteers have a higher scope of justice when involved with refugees. - **Opotow (1993)**: - Showed how we can include more beings (like the bombardier beetle) in the scope of justice by showing **utility and reducing harm and low conflict** - Participants who were told the beetle is **similar to humans did NOT** **include** them in their scope of justice **Types of Justice** 1. **Procedural Justice**: How decisions are made. 2. **Distributive Justice**: How rewards and punishments are distributed. **Procedural Justice** - **Definition**: The fairness of the decision-making process. - **Judgments of procedural justice** are stronger predictors of job satisfaction and organizational commitment compared to distributive justice. **Criteria for Procedural Justice**: 1. **Consistency**: Same process for everyone. 2. **Bias suppression**: Decision-makers avoid self-interest. 3. **Accuracy**: Information used is correct. 4. **Correctability**: Opportunity to appeal or correct decisions. 5. **Representativeness**: Involvement of those affected. 6. **Ethicality**: Decisions align with universal ethical principles. **Distributive Justice** - **Definition**: Perceived fairness of how rewards and punishments are allocated. - **Judgments**: People compare inputs (effort) and outputs (rewards). **Distribution Theories:** 1. **Relative Deprivation Theory**: Focuses on comparing individuals\' outcomes to others\' (e.g., wealth disparity). 2. **Equity Theory**: Fairness is judged by comparing inputs (effort) and outputs (rewards). - **Equity**: Your outcome should reflect your input. - **Equality**: Everyone gets the same, regardless of input. - **Need**: Distribution based on need (e.g., healthcare). **Research on Distributive Justice** - **Leung & Bond (1984)**: - Chinese collectivist culture values **equal allocation** for in-group members, but prefers **equitable distribution** for out-group members. - American individualist culture values **equity** for in-group members and **equality** for out-group members. - - **Törnblom et al. (1985)**: Swedes prefer **equal allocations**, whereas Americans prefer **equity** in distributions. - **Murphy-Berman et al. (2002)**: - **Hong Kong** participants valued **equity** over need. - **Indonesian** participants valued **need** over equity. **Justice and Punishment Distribution** - **Equitable Justice**: Punishment should be proportional to the crime. - **Equality**: Same punishment for the same crime. - **Need**: Punishment based on deterrence or compensation for victims. **Retributive Justice**: - Focuses on punishment as a proportional response to crime, with the idea that wrongdoers should \"pay\" for their actions to restore justice. **Procedural vs. Distributive Justice** - **Procedural Justice**: How the decision is made, affects job satisfaction, trust, and organizational commitment. - **Distributive Justice**: Fairness of outcomes, affects individual behavior and perceptions of fairness. **Studies**: - **Alexander & Ruderman (1987)**: Procedural fairness is more strongly linked to job satisfaction than distributive justice. - **Colquitt et al. (2001)**: Distributive justice predicted job satisfaction, while procedural justice influenced commitment and performance. **Group Engagement Model** - **Social Identity**: Group membership shapes how people understand themselves and drives extra-role behavior. - **Extra-role Behavior**: Going above and beyond in group settings, motivated by procedural justice and economic outcomes. - **Motivators for extra-role behavior**: - **Procedural justice**: Fosters trust and group identity. - **Economic outcomes**: Symbolic value of being part of a group. **Conclusion** Understanding justice in social psychology involves examining **how fairness is perceived** in decision-making processes (procedural justice) and how rewards and punishments are allocated (distributive justice). Researchers explore **individuals\' motivations** (self-interest vs. fairness), the **scope of justice**, and **cultural differences** in justice perceptions. This knowledge helps shape **fairer practices** in organizations and societies.