Impact of task reward-manipulated personal relative deprivation on the discourse of self-responsibility toward the unemployed

Abstract

This study attempted to use a new method to experimentally manipulate personal relative deprivation to examine its effect on the discourse of self-responsibility of the unemployed. An online experiment involving young full-time workers aged 18 to 34 was performed. The participants first completed a creativity task and were later given a task to distribute additional rewards, where they were informed of their high scores. They were randomly assigned to either the relative deprivation condition, where they were told their reward had been reduced due to budget constraints, or the control condition, where they were told everyone received the same reward. The analyses showed that the participants in the relative deprivation condition were more dissatisfied with their reward and the associated procedure than those in the control condition; however, no significant effect on the participants’ views regarding the self-responsibility of the unemployed was found. The study discussed the significance of the methodology and potential improvements to it as well as the causal relationship between personal relative deprivation and the discourse of self-responsibility.