{"title":"n -平等:不平等随着分配接受者数量的增加而增加。","authors":"Stephen M Garcia,Avishalom Tor","doi":"10.1037/pspi0000504","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"We examine the equality preferences of resource allocators, finding that a ubiquitous situational factor-the mere number of recipients (N)-shapes the trade-offs these allocators make between their equality concerns and other considerations. Specifically, our studies offer evidence for an N-Equality effect: Third-party allocators become less concerned about inequality as the number of recipients increases. A pilot study illustrates the N-Equality effect with university faculty salaries, showing that the variance in faculty salaries increases with department size. Study 1 offers experimental evidence that allocators facing a trade-off between equality and the distributive principles of efficiency and equity give less weight to equality as the number of recipients increases, and supplemental experiments replicate the effect with different equality-efficiency trade-offs. Study 2 reveals the N-Equality effect in allocators' choice that requires an equality-equity trade-off between low variance and high variance distributions. Studies 3a-c implicate the contribution of social comparison to the N-Equality effect, linking allocators' preferences to their concerns over social comparison among recipients (Studies 3a and 3c) and showing this concern mediates the N-Equality effect (Study 3b). We conclude with implications for inequality research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).","PeriodicalId":16691,"journal":{"name":"Journal of personality and social psychology","volume":"45 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.7000,"publicationDate":"2025-09-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"N-equality: Inequality increases with the number of allocation recipients.\",\"authors\":\"Stephen M Garcia,Avishalom Tor\",\"doi\":\"10.1037/pspi0000504\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"We examine the equality preferences of resource allocators, finding that a ubiquitous situational factor-the mere number of recipients (N)-shapes the trade-offs these allocators make between their equality concerns and other considerations. Specifically, our studies offer evidence for an N-Equality effect: Third-party allocators become less concerned about inequality as the number of recipients increases. A pilot study illustrates the N-Equality effect with university faculty salaries, showing that the variance in faculty salaries increases with department size. Study 1 offers experimental evidence that allocators facing a trade-off between equality and the distributive principles of efficiency and equity give less weight to equality as the number of recipients increases, and supplemental experiments replicate the effect with different equality-efficiency trade-offs. Study 2 reveals the N-Equality effect in allocators' choice that requires an equality-equity trade-off between low variance and high variance distributions. Studies 3a-c implicate the contribution of social comparison to the N-Equality effect, linking allocators' preferences to their concerns over social comparison among recipients (Studies 3a and 3c) and showing this concern mediates the N-Equality effect (Study 3b). We conclude with implications for inequality research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).\",\"PeriodicalId\":16691,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"Journal of personality and social psychology\",\"volume\":\"45 1\",\"pages\":\"\"},\"PeriodicalIF\":6.7000,\"publicationDate\":\"2025-09-15\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"\",\"citationCount\":\"0\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"Journal of personality and social psychology\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"102\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000504\",\"RegionNum\":1,\"RegionCategory\":\"心理学\",\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"\",\"PubModel\":\"\",\"JCR\":\"Q1\",\"JCRName\":\"PSYCHOLOGY, SOCIAL\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of personality and social psychology","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000504","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, SOCIAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
N-equality: Inequality increases with the number of allocation recipients.
We examine the equality preferences of resource allocators, finding that a ubiquitous situational factor-the mere number of recipients (N)-shapes the trade-offs these allocators make between their equality concerns and other considerations. Specifically, our studies offer evidence for an N-Equality effect: Third-party allocators become less concerned about inequality as the number of recipients increases. A pilot study illustrates the N-Equality effect with university faculty salaries, showing that the variance in faculty salaries increases with department size. Study 1 offers experimental evidence that allocators facing a trade-off between equality and the distributive principles of efficiency and equity give less weight to equality as the number of recipients increases, and supplemental experiments replicate the effect with different equality-efficiency trade-offs. Study 2 reveals the N-Equality effect in allocators' choice that requires an equality-equity trade-off between low variance and high variance distributions. Studies 3a-c implicate the contribution of social comparison to the N-Equality effect, linking allocators' preferences to their concerns over social comparison among recipients (Studies 3a and 3c) and showing this concern mediates the N-Equality effect (Study 3b). We conclude with implications for inequality research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).
期刊介绍:
Journal of personality and social psychology publishes original papers in all areas of personality and social psychology and emphasizes empirical reports, but may include specialized theoretical, methodological, and review papers.Journal of personality and social psychology is divided into three independently edited sections. Attitudes and Social Cognition addresses all aspects of psychology (e.g., attitudes, cognition, emotion, motivation) that take place in significant micro- and macrolevel social contexts.