Although frequently utilized as an alternative to punishment, monetary compensation has been largely under-researched in the third-party intervention literature. The existing work typically treats compensation as purely instrumental, as "reparations" for the victim's material losses; and when used in response to non-material losses (e.g., suffering or loss of life), research suggests that money elicits "taboo tradeoff" reactions, outrage at placing a price on sacred values. My research in this domain challenges both the belief that monetary compensation represents a "taboo tradeoff", and the dominant assumption that material concerns underlie preferences for and reactions to compensation as an injustice response. Rather, I suggest that monetary reparations from ingroup authorities may be satisfactory to a victim because compensation communicates symbolic meaning that helps to addresses an injustice victim’s psychological needs.

Okimoto, T. G. & Tyler, T. R. (2007). Is compensation enough?: Relational concerns in responding to unintended inequity. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 10(3), 399-420. [LINK] [ABSTRACT]

Okimoto, T. G. (2008). Outcomes as affirmation of membership value: Monetary compensation as an administrative response to procedural injustice. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44(5), 1270-1282. [LINK] [ABSTRACT]

Lotz, S., Okimoto, T. G., Schlösser, T. & Fetchenhauer, D. (2011). Punitive versus compensatory reactions to injustice: Emotional antecedents to third-party interventions. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 47, 477-480. [LINK] [ABSTRACT]

Research Overview

Justice restoration / Conflict management:
         > Retributive justice
         > Restorative justice
         > Compensatory justice
         > Forgiveness and justice
         > The victim's experience of injustice

Biased and unethical decision-making:
         > Gender bias in organizations