Maintenance of relationships

Question 1

Social Exchange Theory (SET)

Answer 1

• Rational choice theory in economics

- Behaviourism in psychology

Question 2

(i) Rational choice theory in economics

Answer 2

• Homans claims that people weigh up the costs and benefits of actions before deciding what they do.
• He says that we consider the actual and potential past, present and future rewards and costs before deciding whether a relationship is likely to be ‘profitable’.
• Choices about relationships are essentially rational economic decisions; we act in a way to maximise the benefits to ourselves.

Question 3

(ii) Behaviourism in psychology

Answer 3

• Operant conditioning claims that behaviours that lead to rewards will be repeated, through the process of positive reinforcement.
• Behaviours that prevent something bad happening will not be repeated, through the process of punishment.
• Therefore, people will act to maximise rewards and avoid costs.
• The rewards provided by a partner will lead to being satisfied and committed to a relationship, while the costs will lead to dis- satisfaction and ending a relationship.

Question 4

The mathematics of SET

Answer 4

Outcome = rewards - costs
(Rewards= anything positive that make us feel valued and satisfied)
(Costs= anything unpleasant that make us feel dis-satisfied

Question 5

Baselines for comparison

Answer 5

• Your comparison level is the standard by which all other relationships are judged (past experience)
• Comparison level for alternatives depends on whether we believe that there is an alternative relationship that can provide us with a better outcome

Question 6

AO1

Answer 6

• Weigh costs and benefits,
• rational choice theory + behaviourism
• maximise benefits / rewards, minimise costs
• outcome = rewards – costs,
• importance of comparison level (+ for alternatives)

Question 7

AO2

Answer 7

• Consistent ‘basic’ evidence in favour, e.g., Rusbult
• but Van Yperen & Buunk and Walster (crucial tests) contradict SET,
• So evidence not wholly consistent

Question 8

Practical application of SET

Answer 8

• By weighing up the costs, you can determine whether the relationship will be beneficial
• Over analysing could lead to creating problems that either aren’t actually there or not be extreme enough to count as a cost

Question 9

General trend in research

Answer 9

-The outcomes of the relationship are a reasonable predictor of relationship satisfaction and commitment, including the likelihood of leaving the relationship

Question 10

Rusbult (1983)

Answer 10

-Used hetrosexual college students in a study which lasted over seven months and involved the completion of questionnaires every few weeks. She found that people’s satisfaction, alternatives and investments all predicted how committed they were to their relationship and whether it lasted.

Question 11

Floyd et al. (1994)

Answer 11

-found that commitment develops when couples are satisfied with and feel rewarded in a relationship and when they perceive that equally or more attractive alternative relationships are not available to them.

Question 12

Sampling issues

Answer 12

• The majority of the research has been based on short-term relationships, often with samples of students in western cultures.
• However, there is a smaller body of supporting evidence using samples of both older, married couples, people in homosexual relationships, and in different cultures.

Question 13

Types of validity that are weak in the majority of research on SET

Answer 13

• Internal validity= order effects (If asked about satisf`ction then costs-benefits), the participants may change their answers subtly to make their scores more consistent.
• Population validity= limited evidence for different types of couples- just heterosexual college students, and western data
• Some temporal validity issues- majority of data is 20 years old, things have changed with time, different types of sexuality is more prominent now so possibly higher satisfaction rates

Question 14

Equity Theory

Answer 14

Equity theory was developed by Walster et al-> development out of some limitations of social exchange theory;

• The outcomes of relationships, i.e., benefits minus costs, are only a reasonable predictor of relationship satisfaction,
• Evidence from experiments showed that people have a sense of fairness; when they are instructed to allocate rewards to participants they do not take the opportunity to disproportionately over- reward themselves

->According to ET, couples keep an eye on what both they and their partner are putting in and getting out of the relationship. If the ratio between inputs and outputs for the two partners is roughly equal they are likely to feel reasonably satisfied with the relationship, so the relationship is maintained.

Question 15

Main equity points

Answer 15

• The equity principle states that people will only consider a relationship to be ‘fair’ and satisfactory if what they gain from a relationship reflects what they put in.
• Equity is not the same as equality. If one partner puts more into the relationship, they should get more out of it. If this is not the case, they feel exploited or that they are taking unfair advantage of their partner.

Question 16

Equity Theory

Answer 16

-ET predicts that a relationship in which a partner is over-benefited or under-benefited will not be a happy one and is less likely to be maintained.
-ET predicts that people will feel moral emotions if their relationship is unfair:
>Under-benefited individuals tend to feel angry, resentful and deprived.
>Those who are over-benefited may feel guilty and uncomfortable. This guilt will lead to lower levels of satisfaction / happiness.

Question 17

Comparison to Social Exchange theory

Answer 17

• SET would argue that more benefits equals better relationship
• ET argues that there should be equality to maintain a stable relationship so the over-benefited would feel guilt

Question 18

Under-benefited feel…

Answer 18

-Anger and resentment

Question 19

Over-benefited feel…

Answer 19

Guilt

Question 20

Practical application to Equity Theory

Answer 20

-Can help you evaluate whether you’re putting in as much as you get out, and could help identify whether the relationship needs improvement.

Question 21

Research evidence for equity theory (Hatfield et al.)

Answer 21

Hatfield et al. (1972) asked over 500 college men and women involved in romantic relationships to judge how equitable this relationship was. After three months, students in inequitable relationships were more likely to have ended them.

• The crucial question is whether it is a better predictor, i.e., whether equity considerations can over- ride the outcome (benefits-costs).
• when people get high benefits from a relationship, social exchange theory predicts that they will be happier, but equity theory predicts that they will feel guilty and this will reduce their happiness.

Question 22

Van Yperen and Buunk (1990)

Answer 22

• Method: longitudinal/ prospective study, sample of 259 couples recruited by a advert in local paper, 86% were married and remainder were cohabiting,
• Measure of equity was Hatfield’s Global Measurement of Satisfaction
• Results: A year later participants were asked how satisfied they were with their relationship, the satisfaction rates were in the following order;
• Those in equitable relationships
• Those in relationships which they over-benefited
• Those in relationships which they under-benefited

Question 23

Van Yperen and Buunk (1990) Evaluation

Answer 23

• These support the equity theory because it shows that those in the equitable relationships were most satisfied.
• Decent sample size
• Local paper; better range of couples than previous studies with students
• Longitudinal; it was at a particular point in time and they compared it to their feelings a year later so they were assessing the progression of the relationship

Question 24

Walster (1977)

Answer 24

• Interviewed 500 university students, who were dating ‘casually’ or ‘steadily’
• First they were asked about the outcomes and the costs and rate their relationship, they were then asked if the pps felt the were getting out what they put in to the relationship
• The authors found that the more equitable a couple relationship, the more content and the happier they were
• Those who felt they are getting far more then they deserve felt guilt and were less happy
• Those who felt they deserve a lot less than they’re getting are more angry.

Question 25

Key numbers from Walster

Answer 25

-The biggest ranges are in the extremes “far more” or “ far less”
-Although those who feel “somewhat more” had the highest happiness scores with 3.69 compared to the person who feels they get what they deserve with 3.61, they had much higher scores of guilt of 1.51 compared to those who feel they get what they deserve with 1.31 (lowest guilt score).
And those who feel they get far more had guilt scores of 1.83 (highest guilt score).

Question 26

Equity theory vs Social exchange theory

Answer 26

• Clark & Mills have distinguished between two types of relationship based on the norms of giving and receiving benefits. In communal relationships there is a principal of concern for the others needs and no expected benefit in return. Whereas exchange relationships expect one benefit in exchange for another.
• They also found that communal couples are happier than exchange couples
• This suggests that SET and ET emphasise exchange norms only apply to certain kinds of relationships and so is less valid in relationships which don’t emphasise ‘economics’ considerations.
• This illustrates that ET is probably a better theory than SET as is considers equality more, but theres another variable such as communality which provides a better explanations than ET.

Question 27

Cultural issues in economic theories (IDA)

Answer 27

• Moghaddam suggests that economic theories of relationships reflect cultural bias
• He says they reflect North American principles of individualism, capitalism and market place orientation (not applicable to other cultures)
• SET and ET may only explain individualistic cultures as concepts of exchange and profit are from capitalist economics
• He pointed out that in other cultures a more important factor is place of the individual within the family and wider social networks
• Most of the research was also conducted in western cultures so therefore the theory and its research can be criticised as ethnocentric.