Duck Breakdown Flashcards
Duck identified two categories of causes:
Predisposing factors
Precipitating factors
Predisposing factors
internal factors such as emotional instability of one
partner, irritating or distasteful personal habits,
changing interests etc.
Precipitating factors
external factors such as reduced proximity, other
people (real or imagined), money etc.
A MODEL OF BREAKDOWN
Inequitable relationships are more likely to cause dissatisfaction than equitable ones
Model looks at the stages partners go through when relationships are breaking down.
Identifies ‘thresholds’ or breaking points that will lead to the next stage
BREAKDOWN MODEL
Intra-psychic processes - “I can’t stand this anymore”
Dyadic processes - “I’d be justified in withdrawing”
Social processes - “I mean it”
Grave-dressing processes - “It’s now inevitable”
Resurrection processes - “Time to get a new life”
Intra-psychic phase
The focus of this phase is on cogntitive processes occuring within the individual. The dissatisfied partner worries about the reasons for his or her dissatisfaction, centring mostly on their partner’s shortcomings. The partner mulls their thoughts over privately, and may share them with a trusted friend. They weigh up the pros and cons of the relationship and evaluate these against the alternatives (including beign alone). They begin to make plans for the future.
Dyadic phase
The focus here is on interpersonal processes between the two partners. There comes a point where they cannot avoid talking about their relationship any longer. There is a series of confrontations in which the relationship is discussed and dissatisfactions are aired. These are characterised by anxiety, hostility, probably complaints aobut lack of equity, resentment over imbalanced roles and a rethinking of the commitment that kept the partners together. There are two possible outcomes - a determination to continue breaking up the relationship, or a renewed desire to repair it. But if the rescue attempts fail, another threshold is reached. Ironically, self-disclosures may become deeper and more frequent in this phase as partners express thoughts and feelings they had been witholding in the intra-psychic phase.
Social phase
The focus is now on wider processes involving the couple’s social networks. The break-up is made public. Partners will seek support and try to forge pacts. Mutual friends find they are expected to choose a side. Gossip is traded and encouraged. Some friends provide reinforcement and reassurance. Others will place the blame on one partner or the other. Some may hasten the end of the relationship by providing previously secret information. Still others may pitch in and try to help repair the relationship. This is usuallt the point of no return - the break-up takes on a momentum driven by social forces.
Grave dressing phase
The focus of this phase is now on the aftermath. Once the relationship is dead, the time comes to bury it, by ‘spinning’ a favourable story about the breakdown for public consumption. This allows the partners to save face and maintain a positive reputation, usually at the expense of the other partner, showing them in a bad light. Gossip plays an important role in this phase. It is crucial that each partner tries to maintain some ‘social credit’ by blaming circumstances, your partner or other people, or everything and everyone but themselves. Grave dressing also involves creating a personal story you can live with, which may differ from the public one. This is more to do with tidying up memories of the relationship, with a certain degree of rewriting history. The traits you found endearing in your partner at the start of the relationship are now reinterpreted in a much more negative fashion. A ‘wild and unpredicatable nature’, is now seen as an ‘irresponsible failure to settle down’.The dissatisfied partner finally reaches the threshold, ‘Time to get a new life’.
Resurrection
Ex-partners begin to use what they have learned from the last relationship to prepare for a future one.
This clarifies that movement through the stages is neither linear nor inevitable and partners may return to an earlier phase.
A03 – REAL LIFE APPLICATION (Positives)
It has important applications e.g. For repair of relationships – counselling etc.
It addresses cognitive as well as behavioural aspects
Identifies that breakdown is not just a sudden step but a process
A03 – FOCUS ON HOW RATHER THAN
WHY (Negatives)
Descriptive rather than explanatory
A03 – CULTURE BIAS (Negatives)
Based on research in individualistic cultures.
These are generally voluntary and come to an end.
Relationships in some collectivist cultures are less easy to end.
This means the model’s application is less useful in all cultures.
