P3: Relationships Flashcards
What are the theories of romantic relatioships?
Social Exchange Theory
Equity Theory
Rusbult’s Investment Model
What is social exchange theory?
A theory of how relationships form and develop. It assumes that romantic partners act out of self-interest in exchanging rewards and costs.
A satisfying and committed relationship is maintained when rewards exceed costs and potential alternatives are less attractive than the current relationship.
What are the factors of Thibault and Kennedy’s social exchange theory?
Rewards, Costs and Profits
What are the stages of social exchange theory?
Sampling- Explore rewards and costs of associating with others
Bargaining- A process of negotiating in which rewards and costs are agreed
Commitment- Exchange of rewards and acceptance of costs stabilise
Institutionalisation- Norms and expectations are firmly established
What is the comparison level?
The amount of reward you believe you deserve.
Develops out of our experiences in previous relationships which feed into expectations- influenced by social norms.
We consider a relationship if the Cl is high.
What can be used to support the social exchange theory?
Kurdek asked couples to complete a questionnaire measuring relationship commitment and SET variables.
Found that partners who were most committed also perceived the most rewards and fewest costs and viewed alternatives as relatively unattractive.
First study to demonstrate that SET principles are independent.
Confirm the validity of this theory.
What are the limitations of SET?
Claims that dissatisfaction arises only after a relationship stops being ‘profitable.’ Could be argued that we don’t moniter costs and rewards until after we become dissatisfied.
Concepts are vague and hard to quantify.
Costs and rewards are individual and hard to define.
What is equity theory?
An economic theory of how relationships develop. It acknowledges the impact of rewards and costs on relationship satisfaction, but criticises social exchange theory for ignoring the central role of equity.
What is the role of equity?
Walster: Partners must have roughly the same level of profit.
When there is a lack of equity, one partner over or under benefits, this can lead to dissatisfaction and unhapiness.
Satisfaction= perceived fairness
What are the consequences of inequity?
The greater perceived inequity, the greater the dissatisfaction.
What makes us most dissatisfied is the change in inequity as the relationship goes on.
How do partners deal with inequity?
The underbenefitted partner is motivated to make the relationship more equitable as long as they believe it is possible to do so.
Another outcome is cognitive, they will revise their perceptions of rewards and costs so that the relationship feels more equitable.
What study can be used to support equity theory?
Mary Utne who surveyed recently- married couples.
Couples who saw their relationship as equitable were more satisfied than those who over/under benefitted.
What are the limitations of equity theory?
Cultural limitations
Individual differences- not all partners are concerned with achieving equality.
What is Rusbult’s Investment Model?
Commitment depends on three factors.
What are the three factors of Rusbult’s Investment model?
- Satisfaction
- Comparing with alternatives
- Investment
Outline the role of satisfaction in Rusbult’s model:
Based on the concept of the comparison level.
Satisfying relationship is judged by comparing rewards and costs.
It is seem as profitable if it has many rewards and few costs.
Outline the role of comparison with alternatives in Rusbult’s model:
Results in romantic partners asking whether their needs could be met outside the current relationship. Alternatives include not just other relationships but the possibility of not having one.
Outline the role of investment in Rusbult’s model:
Realised CL are not enough to explain commitment.
An investment can be anything lost if the relationship ended.
Intrinstic investments and Extrinsic investments.
What are intrinsic investments?
Resources we put directly into the relationship. Tangible things such as money and possessions.
What are extrinsic investments?
Resources that previously did not feature in the relationship but are now closely associated with it.
How does Le and Agnew’s meta-analysis support Rusbult’s model?
Reviewed 52 studies from late 1970 to 1999 from 11,000 of 5 countries.
Found that all factors sizes predicted relationship commitment.
Relationships in which commitment was greatest were the most stable and lasted longest.
What other type of relationsips does Rusbult’s model explain?
Abusive relationships and why people subjected to IPV stay.
Out of domestically abused women in a shelter, those who had the greatest perceived investments and had the fewesr attractive alternatives were the most likely to return.
Shows that satisfaction on its own cannot explain why people remain in relationships.
What are the limitations of Rusbult’s investment model?
Views investment in a simplistic way.
Goodfriend and Agnew- there is more to it than just resources you have already put in.
Should include investments made in future plans. Motivated to commit because they want their plan to work out.
Original model= limited.
What is Duck’s model of relationship breakdown?
An explanation of the stages people go through when their relationship is not working. Once on partner is dissatified, there are four phases in the process.
