In social dilemmas, equality is an important coordination rule. When equality is violated, people seek explanations. In Experiment 1, the authors assessed dispositional trust and found that especially high trusters were affected by the given explanation. High trusters reacted less negatively to external than internal explanations. Experiment 2, using a manipulation of trust in others, revealed a similar pattern across a wider range of negative emotions. In Experiment 3, the authors only induced high trust and showed that when the external explanation turned out to be a lie, emotional and retributive reactions became more negative. Moreover, attribution information did not influence reactions when participants realized that the information was dishonest.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Averill, J. R. (1983). Studies on anger and aggression: implications for theories of emotion. American Psychologist38, 1145-1160.
2.
Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology51, 1173-1182.
3.
Berg, J., Dickhaut, J., & McCabe, K. (1995). Trust, reciprocity, and social history. Games and Economic Behavior10, 122-142.
4.
Bies, R. J. (1987). The predicament of injustice: The management of moral outrage. In L. L. Cummings & B. M. Staw (Eds.), Research in organizational behavior (Vol. 9, pp. 289-319). Greenwich, CT: JAI.
5.
Bies, R. J., & Tripp, T. M. (1996). Beyond distrust: “Getting even” and the need for revenge. In R. M. Kramer & T. R. Tyler (Eds.), Trust in organizations. Frontiers of theory and research (pp. 246-260). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
6.
Bies, R. J., & Tripp, T. M. (2002). Hot flashes, open wounds: Injustice and the tyranny of its emotions. In S. W. Gilliland, D. D. Steiner, & D. P. Skarlicki (Eds.), Emerging perspectives on managing organizational justice (pp. 303-221). Greenwich, CT: Information Age.
7.
Blomqvist, K. (1997). The many faces of trust. Scandinavian Journal of Management13, 271-286.
8.
Blount, S. (1995). When social outcomes aren't fair: The effect of causal attributions on preferences. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes63, 131-144.
9.
Bobocel, R. D., & Zdaniuk, A. (2005). How can explanations be used to foster organizational justice? In J. Greenberg & J. A. Colquitt (Eds.), Handbook of organizational justice (pp. 469-498). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
10.
Boles, T. L., Croson, R. T. A., & Murnighan, J. K. (2000). Deception and retribution in repeated ultimatum bargaining. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes83, 235-259.
11.
Bottom, W. P., Gibson, K., Daniels, S., & Murnighan, J. K. (2002). When talk is not cheap: Substantive penance and expressions of intent in rebuilding cooperation. Organization Science13, 497-513.
12.
Carlsmith, K. M., Darley, J. M., & Robinson, P. H. (2002). Why do we punish? Deterrence and just deserts as motives for punishment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology83, 284-299.
13.
Croson, R., Boles, T., & Murnighan, J. K. (2003). Cheap talk in bargaining experiments: Lying and threats in ultimatum games. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization51, 143–159.
14.
Darley, J. M., & Pittman, T. S. (2003). The psychology of compensatory and retributive justice. Personality and Social Psychology Review7, 324-336.
15.
De Cremer, D. (2004). The influence of accuracy as a function of leader's bias: The role of trustworthiness in the psychology of procedural justice. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin30, 293-304.
16.
De Cremer, D., Snyder, M., & Dewitte, S. (2001). The less I trust, the less I contribute (or not)? The effects of trust, accountability and self-monitoring in social dilemmas. European Journal of Social Psychology31, 93-107.
17.
Deutsch, M., & Gerard, H. B. (1955). A study of normative and informational social influences upon individual judgment. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology51, 629-636.
18.
Fehr, E., & Gächter, S. (2002). Altruistic punishment in humans. Nature415, 137-140.
19.
Frijda, N. H. (1986). The emotions. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
20.
Goldberg, J. H., Lerner, J. S., & Tetlock, P. E. (1999). Rage and reason: The psychology of the intuitive prosecutor. European Journal of Social Psychology29, 781-795.
21.
Greenberg, J. (1990). Looking fair vs. being fair: Managing impressions of organizational justice. In B. M. Staw (Ed.), Research in organizational behavior (Vol. 12, pp. 111-157). Greenwich, CN: JAI.
22.
Greenberg, J. (1993). The social side of fairness: Interpersonal and informational classes of organizational justice. In R. Cropanzano (Ed.), Justice in the workplace: Approaching fairness in human resource management (Vol. 1, pp. 79-103). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
23.
Hertel, G. (1999). Mood effects in social dilemmas: What we know so far. In M. Foddy & M. Smithson (Eds.), Resolving social dilemmas: Dynamic structural and intergroup aspects (pp. 227-243). Philadelphia: Psychology Press/Taylor & Francis.
24.
Johnson, T. E., & Rule, B. G. (1986). Mitigating circumstance information, censure, and aggression. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology50, 537-542.
25.
Kerr, N. L. (1999). Anonymity and social control in social dilemmas. In M. Foddy & M. Smithson (Eds.), Resolving social dilemmas: Dynamic structural and intergroup aspects (pp. 103-119). Philadelphia: Psychology Press/Taylor & Francis.
26.
Kerr, N. L., Tindale, R. S. (2004). Group performance and decision making. Annual Review of Psychology, 55, 1-32.
27.
Kidd, R., & Utne, M. (1978). Reactions to inequity: A perspective on the role of attributions. Law and Human Behavior2, 301-311.
28.
Kim, P. H., Ferrin, D. L., Cooper, C. D., & Dirks, K. T. (2004). Removing the shadow of suspicion: The effects of apology versus denial for repairing competenceversus integrity-based trust violations. Journal of Applied Psychology89, 104-118.
29.
Knapp, A., & Clark, M. S. (1991). Some detrimental effects of negative mood on individuals' ability to solve resource dilemmas. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin17, 678-688.
30.
Komorita, S. S., & Parks, C. D. (1994). Social dilemmas. Dubuque, IA: Brown & Benchmark.
31.
Loewenstein, G. F., & Lerner, J. S. (2002). The role of affect in decision making. In R. J. Davidson, K. R. Scherer, & H. H. Goldsmith (Eds.), The handbook of affective sciences(pp. 619-642). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
32.
Mayer, R. C., Davis, J. H., & Schoorman, F. (1995). An integrative model of organizational trust. Academy of Management Review20, 709-734.
33.
McCusker, C., & Carnevale, P. J. (1995). Framing in resource dilemmas: Loss aversion and the moderating effects of sanctions. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes61, 190-201.
34.
Messick, D. M. (1993). Equality as a decision heuristic. In B. A. Mellers & J. Baron (Eds.), Psychological perspectives on justice: Theory and applications. Cambridge series on judgment and decision making(pp. 11-31). New York: Cambridge University Press.
35.
Mikula, G., Scherer, K. R., & Athenstaedt, U. (1998). The role of injustice in the elicitation of differential emotional reactions. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin24, 769-783.
36.
Mulder, L. B., Van Dijk, E., De Cremer, D., & Wilke, H. A. M. (in press). Undermining trust and cooperation: The paradox of sanctioning systems in social dilemmas. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.
37.
Niehoff, B. P., Paul, R. J., & Bunch, J. F. S. (1998). The social effects of punishment events: The influence of violator past performance record and severity of the punishment on observers' justice perceptions and attitudes. Journal of Organizational Behavior19, 589-602.
38.
O'Connor, K. M., & Carnevale, P. J. (1997). A nasty but effective negotiation strategy: Misrepresentation of a common-value issue. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin23, 504-515.
39.
O'Sullivan, M. (2003). The fundamental attribution error in detecting deception: The boy-who-cried-wolf effect. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin29, 1316-1327.
40.
Parks, C. D., & Hulbert, L. G. (1995). High and low trusters' responses to fear in a payoff matrix. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 39, 718-730.
41.
Pruitt, D. G. (1981). Negotiation behavior. New York: Academic Press.
42.
Pruitt, D. G., & Kimmel, M. J. (1977). Twenty years of experimental gaming: Critique, synthesis, and suggestions for the future. Annual Review of Psychology36, 363-392.
43.
Rabin, M. (1993). Incorporating fairness into game theory and economics. American Economic Review83, 1281-1302.
44.
Ring, P. S., & Van de Ven, A. H. (1994). Developmental processes of cooperative interorganizational relationships. Academy of Management Review19, 90-118.
45.
Robinson, R. J., Lewicki, R. J., & Donahue, E. M. (2000). Extending and testing a five factor model of ethical and unethical bargaining tactics: Introducing the SINS scale. Journal of Organizational Behavior21, 649-664.
46.
Rucker, D. D., Polifroni, M., Tetlock, P. E., & Scott, A. L. (2004). On the assignment of punishment: The impact of general-societal threat and the moderating role of severity. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin30, 673-684.
47.
Russell, J. A., & Fehr, B. (1994). Fuzzy concepts in a fuzzy hierarchy: Varieties of anger. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology67, 186-205.
48.
Rutte, C. G., & Messick, D. M. (1995). An integrated model of perceived unfairness in organizations. Social Justice Research8, 239-261.
49.
Samuelson, C. D., & Allison, S. T. (1994). Cognitive factors affecting the use of social decision heuristics in resource-sharing tasks. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes58, 1-27.
50.
Scherer, K. R. (1988). Criteria for emotion-antecedent appraisal: A review. In V. Hamilton, G. H. Bower, & N. H. Frijda (Eds.), Cognitive perspectives on emotion and motivation: Vol. 44. NATO ASI series D: Behavioural and social sciences(pp. 89-126). Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Kluwer.
51.
Schroeder, D. A., Jensen, T. D., Reed, A. J., Sullivan, D. K., & Schwab, M. (1983). The actions of others as determinants of behavior in social trap situations. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology19, 522-539.
52.
Schroeder, D. A., Steel, J. E., Woodell, A. J., & Bembenek, A. F. (2003). Justice within social dilemmas. Personality and Social Psychology Review7, 374-387.
53.
Shaver, K. G. (1985). The attribution of blame: Causality responsibility and blameworthiness. New York: Springer-Verlag.
54.
Shaver, P., Schwartz, J., Kirson, D., & O'Connor, C. (1987). Emotion knowledge: Further exploration of a prototype approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology52, 1061-1086.
55.
Sobel, M. E. (1982). Asymptotic intervals for indirect effects in structural equations models. In S. Leinhart (Ed.), Sociological methodology (pp. 290-312). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
56.
Stouten, J., De Cremer, D., & Van Dijk, E. (2005). All is well that ends well, at least for proselfs: Emotional reactions to equality violation as a function of social value orientation. European Journal of Social Psychology35, 767-783.
57.
Trevino, L. K. (1992). The social effects of punishment in organizations: A justice perspective. Academy of Management Review17, 647-676.
58.
Tyler, T. R., Boeckmann, R. J., Smith, H. J., & Huo, Y. J. (1997). Social justice in a diverse society. Boulder, CO: Westview.
59.
Van der Kragt, A. J. C., Orbell, J., & Dawes, R. M. (1983). The minimal contributing set as a solution to public goods problems. American Political Science Review77, 112-122.
60.
Van Dijk, E., & Wilke, H. (2000). Decision-induced focusing in social dilemmas: Give-some, keep-some, take-some, and leave-some dilemmas. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology78, 92-104.
61.
Van Dijk, W. W., & Zeelenberg, M. (2002). What do we talk about when we talk about disappointment? Distinguishing outcomerelated disappointment from person-related disappointment. Cognition and Emotion16, 787-807.
62.
Weiner, B. (1985). An attributional theory of achievement motivation and emotion. Psychological Review92, 548-573.
63.
Weiner, B. (1986). An attributional theory of motivation and emotion. New York: Springer Verlag.
64.
Weiss, H. M., Suckow, K., & Cropanzano, R. (1999). Effects of justice conditions on discrete emotions. Journal of Applied Psychology84, 786-794.
65.
Williams, K. D., & Karau, S. J. (1991). Social loafing and social compensation: The effects of expectations of co-worker performance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology61, 570-581.
66.
Yamagishi, T. (1986). The provision of a sanctioning system as a public good. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology51, 110-116.
67.
Yamagishi, T., & Yamagishi, M. (1994). Trust and commitment in the United States and Japan. Motivation and Emotion, 18, 129-166.
