The experiments were conducted to clarify the factors affecting unfair allocation under the competition between two groups. Thirty-eight male undergraduates participated as subjects in Experiment 1 and twenty-seven in Experiment 2. In Experiment 1, each subject was told that he would be an allocator and that it would be informed in one of the four ways; only to the in-group, only to the out-group, to both, or to neither group. The subjects were asked to allocate rewards between the in-group and the out-group performer according to equity, but they allocated more rewards to the in-group performer in spite of equal performance when they were to be identified by the in-group members. Information about identification by the out-group members did not affect allocation. In Experiment 2, the subjects received information concerning the group to which each performer belonged. Being asked to use equity, the subjects leveled the rewards in unequal performance when the in-group performer did poorly. When he did well, the subjects made an equitable allocation. In both experiments, the subjects made fair performance ratings.
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