Reactions to inequity: A prospective on the role of attributions.

Abstract

This article proposes a model for integrating equity theory, a framework for studying the psychology of the legal process, with some tenets of attribution theory. Attempts to restore equity and redress an injustice are viewed as being related to how responsible the victim and the harmdoer are for causing or contributing to the inequitable situation. Judgments of responsibility rest on causal attributions concerning the locus of causation, intentionality, stability, and controllability of the injustice. Some implications for future theorizing in equity are discussed along with some possible connections between the present attributional analysis and problems in dispute resolution.