Tolerance of justice violations: The effects of need on emotional reactions after violating equality in social dilemmas

Equality is an important coordination rule in social dilemmas. Studies have shown that a violation of equality elicits strong negative emotions. This research addresses whether these emotional reactions occur when another group member is in need of social support. Results showed that participants reacted less negatively if equality was violated and the other person was in need.Moreover, it was shown that there are individual differences in the extent to which people are influenced by fairness viola-tions in their emotional reactions. In particular, Conscientiousness was important for people’s emotional reactions, and people low rather than high in Conscientious-ness reacted more negatively. These findings are discussed in light of coordination rules and emotions in social dilemmas and individual differences.jasp_717 357..380 In daily life, people often participate in groups that have a number of important functions, such as providing members with a sense of belonging-ness and tangible resources (Baron & Byrne, 2000). Group membership often involves a conflict between personal and collective interests, and a public-good dilemma constitutes one of the clearest examples of this conflict. In