Test of a subtractive theory of "fair" allocations.

Tested models of "fair" allocation judgments in two experiments in which Ss were given information about how two people worked on a job and how much one of them was paid. The task was to assign a "fair" payment to the other person. Both the present results and previous research can be described by a subtractive theory of equity. According to this theory, an equitable state is one in which differences between subjective outcomes are equivalent to differences between subjective inputs. "Fair" allocation judgments are then a monotonic function of subjective differences. When the response scale produces ceiling and floor effects, the judgment function has a sigmoidal shape. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)