Be Fair....Be Patient....And Be Happy

Cliches often contain truth....

Procedural Fairness, Outcome Favorability, and Judgments of an Authority's Responsibility

Joel Brockner, Ariel Fishman, Jochen Reb, Barry Goldman, Scott Spiegel &
Charlee Garden
Journal of Applied Psychology, November 2007, Pages 1657-1671

Abstract:
Fairness theory (R. Folger & R. Cropanzano, 1998, 2001) postulates that, particularly in the face of unfavorable outcomes, employees judge an organizational authority to be more responsible for their outcomes when the authority exhibits lower procedural fairness. Three studies lent empirical support to this notion. Furthermore, 2 of the studies showed that attributions of responsibility to the authority mediated the relationship between the authority's procedural fairness and employees' reactions to unfavorable outcomes. The findings (a) provide support for a key assumption of fairness theory, (b) help to account for the pervasive interactive effect of procedural fairness and outcome favorability on employees' attitudes and behaviors, and (c) contribute to an emerging trend in justice research concerned with how people use procedural fairness information to make attributions of responsibility for their outcomes. Practical implications, limitations, and suggestions for future research also are discussed.

and....

Patience is a virtue: Cooperative people have lower discount rates

Oliver Curry, Michael Price & Jade Price
Personality and Individual Differences, forthcoming

Abstract:
Reciprocal altruism involves foregoing an immediate benefit for the sake of a greater long-term reward. It follows that individuals who exhibit a stronger preference for future over immediate rewards should be more disposed to engage in reciprocal altruism - in other words, 'patient' people should be more cooperative. The present study tested this prediction by investigating whether participants' contributions in a public-good game correlated with their 'discount rate'. The hypothesis was supported: patient people are indeed more cooperative. The paper discusses alternative interpretations of this result, and makes some suggestions for future research.

(Nod to KL, who is always fair and cooperative. ALWAYS, I'm telling you)