Duck's Phase Model

Question 1

What are the 3 proposed reasons that Duck suggests is why relationships break up

Answer 1

Pre-existing doom
Mechanical failure
Sudden death

Question 2

Pre-existing doom

Answer 2

Incompatibility and failure are fairly much guaranteed from the start of the relationship

Question 3

Mechanical failure

Answer 3

Two compatible, well meaning people grow apart and find that they cannot live together any longer

Question 4

Sudden death

Answer 4

Discovery of infidelity or the occurrence of a traumatic incident, such as a huge argument, leads to immediate ending of a relationship

Question 5

What are other factors that contribute to relationship dissolution

Answer 5

Predisposing personal factors
Participating factors
Lack of skills
Lack of motivation
Lack of maintenance

Question 6

Predisposing personal factors

Answer 6

Individuals’ bad habits

Question 7

Participating factors

Answer 7

Love rivals, working hrs, lack of relationship direction

Question 8

Lack of skills

Answer 8

Sexually inexperienced
yup deal breaker 4 me

Question 9

Lack of motivation

Answer 9

Perceived inequality

Question 10

Lack of maintenance

Answer 10

Spending too much time apart

Question 11

Now how are the stages of a break-up

Answer 11

Intra-psychic stage
Dyadic phase
Social phase
Grave-dressing phase

Question 12

Intra-psychic stage

Answer 12

The “I can’t stand this anymore”
Indicates a determination that smth has to change
*me every tuesday at 232pm
Cognitive processes within the individual
Partner assesses adequacy of partner’s role performance; broods on dissatisfaction, centring mostly on their partner’s shortcomings
Weigh up pros and cons and evaluate against the alternatives
Consider cost of withdrawal
Make plans : face ‘express/repress dilemma’ - whether you should express your dissatisfaction or keep it to urself

Question 13

Dyadic phase

Answer 13

Face up to ‘confrontation/avoidance dilemma’
Confront partner
Negotiation through ‘our relationship’ talks; dissatisfaction aired - anger, resentment, etc
Attempt repair and reconciliation?
Assess joint costs of withdrawal or reduced intimacy

Question 14

Social phase

Answer 14

‘I mean it’
Negotiate post-discussion state with a partner
Initiate gossip/discussion in social networks; seek support
Create publicly negotiable face-saving/blame-placing stories and accounts
Some friends will hasten the end of the relationship whilst others may try to help and repair it
Consider and face up to implied social network effect
Point of no return - the break-up takes on a momentum driven by social forces

Question 15

Grave-dressing phase

Answer 15

‘It is now inevitable’
Perform ‘getting over it’ activities
Retrospective, reformative post-mortem attribution; creating a personal story you can live with, which may differ from the public one - tidy up your memories
Publicly distribute own version of break-up; gossip plays an important role and it is crucial that each partner tries to retain some ‘social credit’ - La Gaipa, 1982

Question 16

What is a -ve evaluation of the model involving incomplete

Answer 16

he did not reach completion
It is an incomplete model
Rollie and Duck 2006 - stated that the model is oversimplified
Added the resurrection phase
Ex partners turn their attention to future relationships using the experiences gained from their recently-ended one
Rollie and Duck stated that progression from one phase to the next is not inevitable - you can return to an earlier phase
Processes that occur rather than linear movement

Question 17

What are the methodological issues of the model (-ve evaluation)

Answer 17

Most of the research is retrospective - after a relationship has ended
What is recalled may not be accurate or reliable
Early stages of breakdown tends to be distorted or ignored altogether
It is almost impossible to measure when problems first appear
Researchers can hinder the relationship

Question 18

What is another -ve evaluation regarding what the theory cannot explain

Answer 18

Theory cannot explain why relationships break down
Only a description of how
Flemlee 1995 - ‘fatal attraction hypothesis’ argues the cause of relationship breakdown can be found in the attractive qualities that brought romantic partners together
Caused by getting too much of what we are looking for

Question 19

How is cultural bias a -ve evaluation

Answer 19

Moghaddam et al 1993
relationships in individualist cultures are generally voluntary and frequently come to an end
Collectivist cultures are more likely to be obligatory, involve a wider family and do not end easily

Question 20

How is useful real life applications a +ve evaluation

Answer 20

Model helps us identify and understand the stages of relationship breakdown and offers various ways to reverse the breakdown
Identifies different repair strategies are more effective at particular points in the breakdown
Duck 1994 recommends that people in the intra-psychic phase could be encouraged to focus their brooding on +ve aspects of their partner
Dyadic phase - communication, any attempt to improve this and wider social skills could be beneficial in fostering greater stability