ABSTRACT
Chapters 1 to 6 have described the role of the actor in allocation events. In such events, an actor allocates resources to recipients or among recipients, while the event is scrutinized by observers. The next two chapters will shift the focus from actors to recipients and observers, and investigate how they react to the outcomes of the actor’s allocation decisions. The reaction of recipients and observers to allocation outcomes forms the onset of a new allocation event. In this new event, the recipient-actor and/or observer-actor activates motivations, emotions, and cognitions to engage in a next allocation event. The difference between the new event and the old one—as described in the previous chapters—is the salience of characteristics of the preceding allocation event, such as its allocation outcome. Hence the labeling of recipient as recipient-actor and of observer as observer-actor. So, every time the terms recipient and observer appear in this chapter, I mean recipient-actor and observer-actor.
