L7 - Rusbult’s Investment Model

Question 1

What is the investment model?

Answer 1

• Rusbult extended social exchange theory by proposing the investment model
• Saw commitment as a key factor to sustain a relationship
• Commitment depends on satisfaction, comparison with others and investment

Question 2

What is satisfaction determined by?

Answer 2

• Available alternatives

- Better alternatives = less satisfaction

Question 3

What is investment and what are the two types?

Answer 3

• a deterrent to leaving
• Intrinsic Investment: resources put into the relationship directly e.g time, effort, money
• Extrinsic investment: resources arising out of the relationship e.g children, house, friends

Question 4

Evaluation (+)

Answer 4

(+) Study in Taiwan + Netherlands students and found that high commitment levels were related to high satisfaction, low quality of alternatives and high investment size
(+) Explains infidelity: low satisfaction, high quality of alternative, lessening commitment. Explains abusive commitments: low satisfaction but low quality of alternatives and investment is high e.g children
(+) Applied to different relationships. Rusbult administered investment model scale questionnaires to homosexual couples and found all aspects are important for commitment

Question 5

Evaluation (-)

Answer 5

(-) Difficult to measure factors, Rusbult tried to fix this with self report techniques, but these had social desirability bias
(-) Doesn’t take into account gender differences when looking at relationships. Females tend to report higher satisfaction, poorer quality of alternatives, greater investment and stronger commitment compared to males