Duck's Phase Model Of Romantic Breakdown Flashcards
What is Duck’s Relationship Breakdown Model?
A process that shows the stages of events when someone in a relationship is unhappy, and their perception of the relationship changes, causing a breakdown.
What are the stages of Duck’s Breakdown Model?
- Intra-Psychic Phase.
- Dyadic Phase.
- Social Phase.
- Grave-Dressing Phase.
What are features of the intra-psychic phase?
-One party begins to feel that the relationship is failing (may be due to feelings of dissatisfaction, a lack of equity, poor communication etc).
-The person may persuade themselves that they are being silly or unreasonable
-The person may dwell on the flaws of their partner, using confirmation bias to reinforce their dissatisfaction.
—The threshold for this phase may be expressed as, ‘I’m so sick of this; things have to change’
What are features of the dyadic phase?
-The dissatisfied party airs their feelings with their partner.
-It is likely that each partner lists the flaws of their other half, and arguments about each others’ shortcomings.
-There are two outcomes to this phase: either the couple decide to work on their relationship or they decide to split.
—The threshold for this phase may be expressed as, ‘Clearly this relationship is not working and I don’t know whether I even want to try to save it’
What are features of the social phase?
-Each partner turns to friends & family for solace and consolation (and as a way of affirming their decision).
-Friends & family may be supportive in reinforcing the person’s decision or they may try to persuade them to try to work things out with their partner.
-It is difficult for couples to decide to reconcile at this phase because they have, essentially ‘gone public’.
—The threshold for this phase may be expressed as, ’This really is happening’
What are features of the grave-dressing phase?
-Each partner tries to tell the best ‘story’ to explain the break-up in a bid to come out of the whole mess looking like the ‘good guy’.
-The most mature and rational response to the break-up is that both partners agree that they were incompatible.
—The threshold for this phase may be expressed as, ’It’s happened; now let’s get on with the next stage of my life’.
How did Duck & Rollie (2006) readjust the Romantic Breakdown Model?
Added an extra phase to the model: the resurrection phase, in which people move beyond the trauma and pain associated with the breakup, and experience personal growth.
How did Lefebrve (2012) study the Romantic Breakdown Model?
Analysis of 208 social media posts showed that Duck’s model was particularly applicable to the social and grave-dressing phases of the relationships.
Evaluation points for Duck’s Romantic Breakdown Model:
-Allows us to identify various stages and actions in a relationship as well as suggesting ways to reverse the stages (people in the intra-psychic phase can be pushed to focus on the positve aspects of their partner).
