Does Feeling Deprived Always Pack the Same Emotional Punch?

Which would you prefer? To be paid $20 an hour in a workplace where everyone else is also paid $20 an hour? Or to be paid $21 an hour in a workplace where everyone else is paid $25 an hour?

Many people prefer the first option, even though it means they bring home less money. Their decision may not be rational in an economic sense, but it makes good sense psychologically. An extra dollar an hour is nice, but is it worth the emotional turmoil that comes from knowing you’re being treated unfairly?

Relative deprivation—comparing ourselves to better-off others and believing our disadvantage is undeserved—packs an emotional punch. In fact, it often leads to feelings of dissatisfaction, anger, and resentment (Smith & Huo, 2014).

But does relative deprivation pack the same emotional punch everywhere? Given the role of culture in psychological functioning, the impact of relative deprivation may be greater or smaller, depending on the beliefs and values that are promoted in a particular society or cultural group (Smith et al., 2018).

A Study of Relative Deprivation in 28 Nations

A few years ago, psychologist Heather Smith at Sonoma State University in California organized a large international research team. She and her colleagues recruited and surveyed 6,112 university students in 28 countries on six different continents.

The study participants used a 7-point scale to rate their personal economic situation, from “very good” to “very bad.” They also compared their personal situation to other people in their country, from “a lot better” to “a lot worse.” These items were combined to produce an index called IRD (individual relative deprivation). Participants also used 7-point scales to indicate (1) their degree of life satisfaction and (2) the extent to which they feel respected by other citizens.[1]

Although levels of relative deprivation varied somewhat across the 28 countries, the average rating in most countries fell between 3.00 and 3.50 on the 7-point scale. In only three countries—India, Iran, and Japan—did the average rating exceed the scale’s midpoint at 4.0. It seems that university students (and perhaps citizens) in many countries generally feel good about how their personal situation compares to others.

Based on findings from earlier studies, the researchers expected to find a relationship between relative deprivation and feelings of dissatisfaction—and their prediction was strongly confirmed. In all 28 countries, students who reported higher levels of relative deprivation tended to report lower levels of life satisfaction and lower levels of respect from others (Smith et al., 2018, Figures 2 and 4). The associations were moderately strong (r values of .57 and .32, respectively) and highly significant in a statistical sense.[2]

Of special interest to cultural researchers, Smith and her team discovered that students’ relative deprivation scores were better, stronger predictors of dissatisfaction in individualistic countries than in collectivistic countries. In other words, relative deprivation seems to pack more of an emotional punch in societies that value autonomy and self-sufficiency than in societies that value interdependence and social harmony.

Making Sense of the Findings

That last finding is especially intriguing, in part because it’s not clear how we should explain it. Here are three possible reasons why relative deprivation is more strongly associated with dissatisfaction in individualistic societies than in collectivistic societies.

First, people in individualistic countries such as the United States and Australia are more likely to view themselves as responsible for their personal situation, now and in the future (Oishi & Gilbert, 2106). When they realize they have less than similarly situated others, they not only feel dissatisfied as a matter of principle, they also feel dissatisfied with themselves.

Second, people in collectivistic countries such as China, Pakistan, and Brazil are more likely to view their social position as relatively fixed and less easily changed (Oishi & Gilbert, 2016). When they have less than others, they may reconcile themselves to the situation because they believe there’s not much they can do about it.

Finally, people in collectivistic countries are more likely to expect and accept that power is not distributed equally. As a result, collectivists who are relatively deprived may be less likely to perceive their situation as unfair or even unusual. In their minds, they have little reason to feel upset. They may also believe that $21 an hour is better than $20, no matter how much others are paid.

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^{[1] The study included several other measures, but I do not discuss them because they are not relevant to the findings presented here.}

^{[2] The statistic r measures the strength of a relationship between two variables. Values of r can range from 0 to 1.00.}