Abstract
ABSTRACTBeing at a disadvantage and perceiving this predicament to be unfair are at the core of the experience of personal relative deprivation. Previous research has shown that personal relative deprivation is associated with interpersonal aggression. The present longitudinal study extended these investigations by examining the impact of personal relative deprivation on aggression over time. In fact, personal relative deprivation at Time 1 was associated with reported aggression at Time 2 even when controlling for the impact of aggression at Time 1. As a secondary goal, we aimed to show that the effect of personal relative deprivation (i.e., increased aggression) may spread through the participant’s social network. Egocentric networking data showed that individuals who perceive their friends as being personally deprived are more aggressive and that this relationship statistically holds when taking the individual’s level of personal relative deprivation into account. Limitations of this approach are discussed.
Highlights
Inequality in income and wealth among their inhabitants is high in most modern societies
We aimed to show that the effect of personal relative deprivation may spread through the participant’s social network
Inasmuch as aggressive affect and action were immediately measured after the deprivation manipulation, aggression may fade within a short period of time and the effect of personal relative deprivation is of little practical importance
Summary
Inequality in income and wealth among their inhabitants is high in most modern societies. The present study examined the long-term impact of personal relative deprivation on reported aggression. Previous studies into the relationship between personal relative deprivation and aggression have either employed a cross-sectional correlational or an experimental design. What is missing is evidence that personal relative deprivation has long-lasting effects on aggression To address this gap, the present study employed a longitudinal design and examined the cross-lagged relationships between personal relative deprivation and aggression over two time points. Inasmuch as aggressive affect and action were immediately measured after the deprivation manipulation, aggression may fade within a short period of time and the effect of personal relative deprivation is of little practical importance. Long-lasting effects of personal relative deprivation on aggression would provide strong evidence for the theory of relative deprivation
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