Toward understanding why fairness matters: The influence of mortality salience on reactions to procedural fairness.

Abstract

This article focuses on the question of why fairness matters to people. On the basis of fairness heuristic theory, the authors argue that people especially need fairness when they are uncertain about things that are important to them. Following terror management theory, the authors focus on a basic kind of human uncertainty: fear of death. Integrating these two theoretical frameworks, it is proposed that thinking about their mortality should make fairness a more important issue to people. The findings of three experiments support the authors' line of reasoning: Asking participants to think about their mortality led to stronger fair process effects (positive effects of perceived procedural fairness on subsequent reactions) than not asking them to think about mortality. It is argued that these findings suggest that fairness especially matters to people when they are uncertain about fundamental aspects of human life such as human mortality.

Experimental Research on Just-World Theory: Problems, Developments, and Future Challenges.

“…In any case, Heuer's work implies that there may be less difference between procedural and distributive justice than is presently thought (see also van den Bos et al, 2001). The scope of just-world theory is broader if the need to believe that people get what they deserve extends to the perceived deservingness of both the treatment people receive and the procedural rules they are subjected to as well as to the outcomes they eventually obtain.…”

“…Both theory and research tend to focus on defensive responses that involve psychological rationalizations and the creation of worldviews (though more prosocial responses such as compensation of victims of injustice are also part of just-world theory). In contrast, emotion-based, defensive processes have been virtually ignored in much of present justice theorizing in favor of approaches that focus on colder cognitive information processing, less defensive motivations (e.g., Brockner et al, 2003;Folger & Cropanzano, 2001;Tyler, 1994;van den Bos et al, 2001), or both. Indeed, the role of emotion more generally in people's justice-related thoughts and behavior has been relatively overlooked in recent years (for another early emotion-based perspective, other than just-world theory, see equity theory; e.g., Adams, 1965).…”

Group Belongingness and Procedural Justice: Social Inclusion and Exclusion by Peers Affects the Psychology of Voice.

“…It has been argued that subjective human uncertainty can increase the need to be categorized into social groups (Hogg & Abrams, 1993;Hogg & Mullin, 1999) and is thus interwoven with people's group memberships. Furthermore, uncertainty is a crucial element in social-cognitive models of procedural justice, such as fairness heuristic theory (for overviews, see Lind, Kulik, Ambrose, & De Vera Park, 1993;Van den Bos, Lind, Vermunt, & Wilke, 1997;Van den Bos, Lind, & Wilke, 2001) and the related uncertainty management model (Van den Bos, 2001; . Theoretical and empirical work following these frameworks has suggested that people are especially affected by fairness in situations that make them feel uncertain (for a review, see .…”

The Influence of Self-Threats on Fairness Judgments and Affective Measures

“…Tyler, 1990Tyler, , 1997. More specifically, earlier research has shown that self-related threats, such as salience of personal uncertainties (see, e.g., Van den Bos, 2001; Van den Bos et al, 2005a) and reminders of one's own mortality (see, e.g., Van den Bos and Miedema, 2000), can have a profound influence on people's perceptions of, and reactions toward fairness. We argue here that these results are indicative of why and when fairness matters to people, because fairness may provide people with a means to re-establish a positive self-evaluation.…”