Abstract
Equity theory is a social psychological theory concerned with justice in all interpersonal relationships. Until recently, however, equity principles have been examined only in casual role relations (i.e., employer-employee, philanthropist-recipient, and harmer-victim relations) and have not been examined in more personal relations (see Walster (Hatfield), Walster, & Berscheid, 1978). The distinction between role relationships and personal relationships is a long-standing and important one (see Cooley, 1902; Tonnies, 1887). Given the importance of primary, intimate relations, it would be a grave omission to overlook such relations in theory and research on interpersonal behavior.
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Hatfield, E., Traupmann, J., Sprecher, S., Utne, M., Hay, J. (1985). Equity and Intimate Relations: Recent Research. In: Ickes, W. (eds) Compatible and Incompatible Relationships. Springer Series in Social Psychology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-5044-9_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-5044-9_5
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