Justice norms in allocation decisions: Need consideration as a function of resource adequacy for complete need satisfaction. recipients' contributions, and recipients' interpersonal attraction

The assumption was examined that allocations based on the need principle of distributive justice are dependent upon characteristics of the allocation situation. In a questionnaire experiment, 96 male subjects indicated how they would allocate money between two hypothetical persons who needed different sums of money. Experimental variations included: The possibility/impossibility of entirely satisfying the recipients' needs with the available amount of money; and the interpersonal attraction between the recipients. It was found that the needier person received a larger share (a) when the available sum of money was sufficient to satisfy the persons' needs as opposed to when it was insufficient; (b) when the needier person contributed as much as his partner toward earning the money rather than less; and (c) when the recipients were close friends rather than superficial acquaintances.