Does it only depend on the point of view? Perspective-related differences in justice evaluations of negative incidents in personal relationships

Abstract

A series of four studies investigated systematic dierences between actor and recipient interpretations and justice evaluations of negative incidents in interpersonal relationships. Due to a re®ned methodology, each negative incident was assessed both by the respective recipient and actor, and each participant reported incidents from both perspectives. The studies provided clear evidence of systematic recipient-actor dierences and showed that the quality of the relationship between the parties involved in the incidents can moderate the occurrence and shape of the dierences. Signi®cant gender dierences were found showing that women respond more accusingly than men in the role of the recipient and more defensively than men in the role of the actor. # 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.The present research deals with dierences in the interpretation and justice evaluation of negative behaviors and incidents in interpersonal relations. The focus is on dierences between individuals who obtain dierent perspectives with relation to a negative incident: the recipient, that is the individual who suers from the incident, and the actor, that is the individual who caused the incident in question. 1The main goals of our series of studies were to investigate whether any systematic dierences occur between actors' and recipients' interpretations and justice evaluations, what form they take, and whether the quality of the relationship between the

Sender–Recipient Perspectives of Honest but Hurtful Evaluative Messages in Romantic Relationships

“…Consistent perspective-related differences have been found in the evaluation of negative events in close relationships (e.g., Feeney & Hill, 2006;Leary, Springer, Negel, Ansell, & Evans, 1998;Mikula, Athenstaedt, Heschgl, & Heimgartner, 1998). In four studies of justice evaluations of negative incidents in close relationships, Mikula et al (1998) found recipients perceived events as more unjust and attributed more responsibility and blame to the actors than did the actors themselves.…”

“…In four studies of justice evaluations of negative incidents in close relationships, Mikula et al (1998) found recipients perceived events as more unjust and attributed more responsibility and blame to the actors than did the actors themselves. Similarly, previous research on victim and offender narrative accounts of interpersonal conflicts have indicated that victims describe the incident as open and continuing with lingering negative consequences, whereas offenders view the incident as over and isolated without lasting negative implications (Baumeister et al, 1990;Zechmeister & Romero, 2002).…”

Aggressor-Victim Dissent in Perceived Legitimacy of Aggression in Soccer

“…Such perspective-related differences in evaluation of aggressive acts have been demonstrated in several empirical studies in school (Mummendey & Otten, 1989;Otten et al, 1995) and justice contexts (Mikula, Athenstaedt, Heschgl, & Heimgartner, 1998). Mummendey and Otten (1989) used a perspective-taking experiment and revealed that pupils in a position of aggressor considered their own behavior as less intentional and inappropriate than pupils in a position of victims.…”

“…Mummendey and Otten (1989) used a perspective-taking experiment and revealed that pupils in a position of aggressor considered their own behavior as less intentional and inappropriate than pupils in a position of victims. In a similar vein, Mikula et al (1998) found that victims reported negative and aggressive incidents as more unjust and less justified than aggressors did. In a team-sport context, the results…”

Fairness judgments in household decision making

“…We may also consider scenarios in which the respondent is the actor instead of the actor's partner (cf. Mikula, Athenstaedt, Heschgl, & Heimgartner, 1998). The scenarios described only temporary changes regarding income, expenditures and use of time.…”