AO3 relationships Flashcards
strengths of theories of romantic relationships
Rusbult - longitudinal questionnaire on costs, rewards, investment and comparisons. 17 males, 17 females, results showed cost - benefit analysis applied less to the start of relationship but considered as relationship developed
Spreecher - 101 dating couples. if availability of other partners increased, levels of satisfaction and commitment decreased. suggesting when no alternatives, satisfaction is higher or alternatives are less attractive when individual is satisfied
Utne et al - self report on married couples, measuring perceived equity and contentment / relationship stability. found partners in equal relationships had higher commitment / happier either over or under benefited partners, no sex differences in desire for quality
Rusbult - results showed as a relationship developed investment size increased this resulted in greater commitment and reduction in quality of alternatives
weaknesses of theories of romantic relationships
investment theory explains why many relationships actually stay together when SET and equity theory would suggest they should not, such as abused partners, and why satisfying relationships with low investments and an attractive alternative will end
studies in this area of psychology use self report questionnaires in most research designs and looks for correlations, meaning results could be influenced by variables like social desirability bias, and the relationships may not be casual
SET and Equity theory may be culturally biased, taking a western perspective. collectivist cultures may have less of a focus on personal satisfaction, also shame will be a factor in ending an arranged marriage, however, family will consider a cost benefit analysis in arranging marriage
weaknesses of duck’s model
ducks process model is the same for both men and women, beta bias as different genders experience breakups in different ways and give different reasons, men is often lack of sex, women is often lack of emotional support
strengths of ducks phase model
tashiro and frazer - using self - report survey method of 96 graduate on their breakups. findings indicated that relationships broke down in stages as expected by theory especially grave dressing stage - low population validity
duck improved his model in 2006 and added the resurrection stage - after the relationship partners will focus on recognising themselves as an individual, developing new hobbies and interests
Le Feberve - virtual relationships demonstrated social phase behaviours such as removing tagged pictures and changing relationship status to “its complicated”, also grave dressing stage and resurrection as they post pictures to emphasise them having fun
relationship councillors can support couples and prevent breakups by improving communication styles in the dyadic stage
strengths of virtual relationships in social media
smith and Duggan - survey using 2000 Americans - 53% agree “large number of potential partners helps find a better match” but 53% experienced someone misinterpreting themselves
McKenna and barge - showed that people felt more able to express themselves online, after 2 years 70% of relationships which started online survived, compared to 50% which started in the real world
virtual relationships allow people who may find it difficult to relationships due to social gating mechanisms around class, age, ethnicity and disability to form meaningful relationships, reducing loneliness
