PROCEDURAL FAIRNESS AND SELF-ESTEEM

We argue that people's self-esteem is affected by the fairness of proc edures to which they are subjected; unfair treatment will lower self-e steem. Moreover, since this influence on self-esteem is presumably due to the implicit evaluation expressed by the choice of procedure and h ence by the evaluation expressed by the person implementing the proced ure, people's concern with the fairness of treatment will be focused o n the interactional aspects of the procedure. In two experiments desig ned to test these hypotheses subjects received either a high or a low grade on an ability test on the basis of either fair or unfair grading procedures. The results of Experiment 1 indicated that subjects' self -esteem was lower after unfair treatment, and this influence was only apparent when subjects received high test feedback. Additionally, rati ngs of the fairness of the interaction were lower following unfair gra ding procedures. Experiment 2 also manipulated level of involvement wi th the test. Self-esteem was affected by procedural fairness and proce dural fairness influenced perceived fairness of the interaction only i n the high involvement condition.