Paper 3: Relationships

Question 1

What are the four theories of romantic relationships?

Answer 1

• Social Exchange Theory
• Equity Theory
• Rusbult’s Investment Model
• Duck’s Phase Model

Question 2

What is the main idea of the social exchange theory in a relationship? What happens when one factor is higher than the other?

Answer 2

The social exchange theory states that a relationship’s satisfaction depends on the difference between the rewards (sex & emotional support) and the cost of the relationship (time, stress & energy). The costs and rewards differs for each person and they may change overtime.

If a person feel the cost of the relationship is higher than the reward, then they’ll think about ending the relationship.

There’s also an opportunity cost - you put in time and energy into a relationship which means you can’t invest this elsewhere.

Question 3

What is the comparison level? How does it measure profit in a relationship?

Answer 3

It is a measure of the amount of reward that a person believes they should get.
It develops out of experience of previous relationships as well as social norms of what soceity expects of partners.

If a person’s comparsion level is high, then the relationship is worthy of pursuing.

Also links to self esteem (Low self esteem = low comparison level and will be satisfied with a small profit)(High self esteem = High comparison level and will only be satisfied with a high profit as they’re worth that)

Question 4

What is comparison level for alternatives?

Answer 4

The Comparison level for alternatives (CLalt) is where rewards and costs are compared against perceived rewards and costs from other possible relationships.
The social exchange theory predicts that people stay in their current relationships only if they believe that it is more rewarding than another relationship would be.

According to Steve Duck, the CLalt we adopt depends on the state of our current relationship.
If the costs of a current relationship outweigh the rewards, alternatives become more attractive.

Question 5

What are the 4 stages of relationship development?

hint: Snake Bites Cause Infection

Answer 5

Sampling - Rewards and costs are assessed across multiple of the person’s relationships

Bargaining - Marks the start of a relatinship where the partners start exchanging various rewards and costs and negotiates whats most profitable.

Commitment - Costs and rewards become more profitable and as the relationship becomes more stable, the rewards increase and the costs decrease.

Instutitutionalism - The partners settle down as rewards and costs are now firmly established.

Question 6

3❌ -Evaluation of the Social Exchange Theory

Answer 6

❌Theory only applies to some types of relationships - Clark argues that the SET fails to distinguish between two types of relationships.
They suggest that exchange relationships (ie work colleagues) do involve social exchange (e.g. I will cover that shift for you if you can cover me next week Friday). However it is argued that in romantic relationships there is more focus on giving and receiving of rewards without keeping scores of who is ahead and who is behind. SET claims that relationship partners return rewards for rewards, costs for costs and that these reciprocal activities are monitored. But if we felt this kind of exchange was going on at the start of a promising relationship, we would probably question what kind of commitment our partner wanted. This all questions the applicability of the SET in explaining romantic relationships.

❌Ignores equity - The central concern of SET is the comparison level, which is the ratio of perceived rewards and costs. But this focus ignores one crucial factor for romantic relationships – this is fairness (equity). There is much research support for the role of equity in relationships, and the view that this is more important than just the balance of rewards and costs.
As the SET neglects this factor it means it offers a limited explanation which cannot account for a significant proportion of research findings on relationships

❌Artificial research - The majority of studies supporting SET use artificIal tasks i artificIal conditions. One common procedure involves two strangers working together on a game-playing scenario and which costs and rewards are distributed. The two partners know nothing about each other and so their relationship depends entirely on the tasks they’re forming together. Most studies that used participants who are in real life relationships have been less supportive of SET, and noted that it doesn’t reflect the properties that are in real relationships.

Question 7

The Equity Theory

Answer 7

According to Walster, what matters most with both partners is that both partners level of profit (the rewards of the relationship minus the costs) is roughly the same.
If there is a lack of equity or fairness, and one partner over benefits whilst the other under benefits, this will lead to dissatisfaction and the ending of a relationship.

Question 8

What are the consequences of inequity?

Answer 8

Problems may arise in a relationship where there is inequity. This could lead to dissatisfaction with the relationship.
At the start of a relationship, someone may be happy to put in more than they receive, however, if this continues, they will become dissatisfied.

Question 9

How is inequity in a relationship is often dealt with in 2 ways?

Answer 9

1) Individuals will be motivated to return to a state of equity by working hard to make the relationship more “fair”. The more unfair a relationship feels, the harder individuals will work to restore equity.
2) Individuals will change their thoughts of rewards and costs so that the relationship feels more equitable to them, even if nothing actually changes. What was once seen as a cost becomes accepted as the norm.

Question 10

evaluation of the equity theory

Answer 10

Supporting research evidence for the equity theory
Utne surveyed 118 married couples measuring equity with 2 self report scales. Couples were aged between 16-45 and had been together for more than 2 years before getting married. Couples who considered their relationship to be equitable were happier than those who saw themselves as being over-benefitted or under-benefitted.
it shows that couples should consider the equity in their relationship rather than over or under-benefitting in order to be happier. This suggests that the equity theory is a valid explanation of romantic relationships.

Huseman, states that some people prefer to over-benefit their partners e.g. ‘benevolents’ (givers) and that these people are more tolerant in instances where they are under-benefitted. On the other hand ‘entitled’s’ prefer to be over rewarded and accept rewards without feeling guilty. This highlights individual differences which the equity theory cannot account for, and that equity is not a feature of all romantic relationships.

There are cultural differences in the link between equity and satisfaction.
Evidence provided by researchers compared couples in a collectivist culture to couples in an individualistic culture.
Couples from an individualistic culture considered a relationship to be good when it was equitable however couples in a collectivist culture were most satisfied when they were over benefitting.
This matters because the claim that equity is a universal need in a relationship is incorrect making the theory limited as it cannot account for cultural differences.

Question 11

What is th rusbult’s investment model?

Answer 11

Rusbult’s Investment Model consists of three factors that are positively associated with commitment to a relationship;

1) Satisfaction Level
2) Quality Of Alternatives
3) Investment Size.

Question 12

1 factors in Rusbult model (satisfaction level

Answer 12

A satisfying relationship is judged by comparing the rewards and the costs. It is seen to be satisfying if it has many rewards and few costs.

Question 13

2 factirs of rusbult model

Answer 13

A comparison with alternatives is where rewards and costs are compared against perceived rewards and costs from other possible alternative relationships.

Question 14

3 rusbult investment size

Answer 14

This refers to the amount and the importance of the resources associated with the relationship.
These resources would be “lost” if the relationship comes to an end.
Intrinsic investments include resources that have been put directly into the relationship such as money, emotions and self disclosures.
Extrinsic investments are resources that did not exist before the relationship such as possessions bought together or mutual friends.
If there is a high level of satisfaction, less attractive alternatives and a lot of investment in a relationship, then partners will be committed to a relationship.

Question 15

evaluation rusbult theory

Answer 15

Supporting research evidence - Le & Agnew reviewed 52 studies of 11,000 participants from 5 countries and found that satisfaction, comparison with alternatives and investment size all predicted relationship commitment.
Relationships in which commitment was greatest were the most stable. These findings were true for both men and women, homosexual and heterosexual couples across the 5 countries.
This suggests that Rusbult’s theory is valid and that these features ARE important factors in a relationship.

Can explain abusive relatonships - Rusbult & Martz studied battered women (victims of domestic violence) in a shelter and found that those most likely to return to a violent relationship (they were committed) were those who felt they had made a big investment to the relationship and had no attractive alternatives.
This model recognises that the key factor in a relationship is not just satisfaction, unlike the SET and equity theory that could not account for this.

Methodoloical strengths - Research on the investment model involved the use of self reports (interviews and questionnaires).
These are appropriate methods to use as they assess an individual’s perception of investment of a relationship. It won’t affect the research if this is not objective (unbiased) as what matters is the individuals belief about their own relationship.
Whether this belief matches the objective reality of the situation does not matter and does not affect the research in a negative way.

Oversimplifies the idea of investment - Goodfriend & Agnew point out that there is more to investment than just the resources one has already put into the relationship.
They extended the original theory to include the investments people make in their future plans.
Couples are motivated to commit to each other because they wish to see their plans for the future work out.
The original model is limited as it fails to recognise the complexity of investment.

Based on correlation research - Correlation does not mean causation. Just because there is a link between the 3 factors and commitment does not mean that investment or satisfaction cause commitment in a relationship.
It could be that the more committed a person is, the more investment they are willing to make or alternatively someone might be commitment phobic by nature individual differences).

Question 16

State the 4 stages of duck’s phase model

Answer 16

Phase 1: Breakdown
This is where one of the partners become distressed with the way the relationship is going. For instance a person in an inequitable relationship are more likely to be dissatisfied and this may be the first step to an eventual breakdown.

Phase 2: Intrapsychic phase
A dissatisfied person would start to consider if they would be better off leaving the relationship. These individuals feel burdened by feelings of resentment and a sense of being under-benefitted. During this stage the individual does not usually say anything about their dissatisfaction to their partner but they may express discontent in different ways e.g. in a personal diary or social withdrawal.

Phase 3 – The dyadic phase
In this stage the dissatisfied individuals confront their partners. Here the partners discuss their feelings and also consider what forces bind them together (e.g. children, home) and the costs of leaving (economic costs and social costs).
At this stage the relationship might be saved if both partners are motivated to resolve their issues. They may even get marital therapy.

Phase 4 – The social phase
At this point the individuals would start to tell family and friends of their dissatisfaction in their relationship. This stage makes it harder for the partners to deny that there is a real problem in their relationship. Others may take sides, or offer advice or try to mend the disputes. The involvement of others can speed the partners towards dissolution.

Phase 5 – The grave-dressing phase
Having left a relationship, partners attempt to justify their actions. Partners strive to construct a representation of the failed relationships that does not view themselves in unfavourable terms. The partners want to leave their social credit intact e.g. they must leave in a way that they are not putting off the prospect of future relationships.

Question 17

evaulation of duck’s phase model 2✅3❌

Answer 17

✅reserach support - Rollin and Duck’s model is supported by observations of real-life break-ups.
Tashiro and Frazier (2003) surveyed undergraduates who had recently broken up with a romantic partner.
They typically reported that they had not only experienced personal distress, but emotional growth. These students reported that breaking up with their partner had given them new insights into themselves and a clearer idea about future partners.
Through grave-dressing process, they were able to put the original relationship to rest and get on with their lives.

useful real life applications - A strength is that this model is able to suggest various ways of reversing the breakdown of a relationship.
This model is especially useful because it recognises different repair strategies that are more effective at particular points in the breakdown than at other points.
For Example, Duck recommends that people in the intra-psychic phase could be encouraged to focus their brooding on the positive aspects of their partner.
Such insights could be used in relationship counselling as a real life application.
Therefore research into the relationships is valuable as it gives us information on ways to salvage a relationship which increases the validity of Ducks model.

An incomplete model - Rollie & Duck later added a fifth phase; the resurrection phase; ex partners turn their attention to future relationships using experiences gained from the previous relationship.
They also state that it is possible to return to an earlier phase at any point during the breakdown of a relationship.
It was a limited explanation as it did not account for the dynamic and complex nature of breakups.

methodological issues - Most of the research is retrospective meaning that what people recall about their relationships by not be accurate.
Often, the earliest stages of a relationship breakdown is the part that is distorted or forgotten completely, and because of this, it is impossible to study this part of a relationship.
This means that part of the model is based on research that has ignored an early part of the process of the breakdown of a relationship; making the model an incomplete explanation of how relationships end.

cultural bias - The model is based on western cultures.
Relationships in individualistic cultures are generally voluntary and frequently come to an end. In collectivist cultures, relationships are more obligatory, difficult to end, involve the wider family and are sometimes arranged.
This means that the process of relationship breakdown only applies to Western individualistic cultures. Also in collectivistic society there tends to be a taboo (negative view) regarding divorce. In such societies if someone divorces they are unlikely to re-marry if they are a woman as they are viewed as tainted goods. They are also likely to feel isolated. These are all issues that are not considered in Duck’s phase model.

Question 18

What is self disclosure in virtual relationships

Answer 18

Self-disclosure is a crucial feature in face to face interactions and researchers have looked into self-disclosure in computer mediated communication (CMC).

Question 19

what is the reflected cues theory in virtual relationships

Answer 19

Computer mediated communication relationships are less effective than face to face ones because they lack nonverbal cues such as tone of voice and eye contact. AND Facial expressions.
This leads to deindividuation (this means you lose your identity) because it reduces people’s sense of individual identity which encourages disinhibition in relating to others.
Because people feel less inhibited, they are more likely to be blunt or aggressive online.
Because of this, people are less likely to self-disclose in computer mediated communication.
Smith & Duggan (2013) report that 54% of people using online dating sites believe they have been involved with someone misrepresenting themselves and 28% have been contacted in a way that made them feel harassed or uncomfortable.
This was more common for females (42%) than for males (17%).
This research supports the view that virtual relationships on social media involve more misrepresentation and harassment that face to face relationships.

Question 20

whats the hyper personal model

Answer 20

Joseph Walther argues that online relationships can be MORE personal and involve greater self-disclosure than face to face ones; this is because computer mediated communication relationships develop quickly as self-disclosure happens earlier and once established, the relationship is intense and intimate.
According to this model, the sender of a message has more time to manipulate the online message than they would in a face to face interaction. This is called selective self-presentation.
This means it is easier to use self-disclosure to get intimate in computer mediated communication relationships by self-presenting in a positive and idealised way.
Anonymity also promotes self-disclosure. If a person is aware that there identity is hidden, they feel less accountable for their behaviour and may disclose more information about themselves.

Question 21

Absence of gating in virtual relationships

Answer 21

A gate is an obstacle.
Face to face interaction is said to be gated as there are many features of interaction that can interference with the early development of a relationship such as stuttering, anxiety, unattractiveness etc.
McKenna & Bargh argue that an advantage of computer mediated communication is the absence of gating meaning that self-disclosure becomes more frequent and deeper.

The absence of gating means that individuals are focused on self-disclosure and less focused on things like looks or other superficial distracting features.
The absence of gating also means that people can create online identities that would not be possible in face to face interaction; shy people can be outgoing online, men can be women etc

Question 22

2✅3❌Evaluation for virtual relationships

Answer 22

✅Research support for hyper personal model - Whitty & Joinson found that questions asked in online discussions were often direct, probing and intimate compared to face to face conversations which often involve “small talk”.
Responses to such questions were also direct and straight to the point.
These findings support the idea that the way we self-disclose in computer mediated communication relationships is to present ourselves in a positive light which helps to form a relationship.

❌Lack of research support for reduced cues theory - The theory is wrong to state that non-verbal cues are missing from computer mediated communication.
Walther & Tidwell point out that people use other types of cues such as style of the message and timing of the message (not responding back too quickly to an online message).
Emoji’s and phrases such as LOL can be used as substitutes for facial expressions and tone of voice.
This shows that computer mediated communication interactions can be just as personal as fact to face interactions.

✅ Support of absence of gating - McKenna & Bargh looked at computer mediated communication in lonely and socially anxious people and found that these people were able to express their “true selves” more than in face to face interactions.
Of the romantic relationships that formed, 70% survived for longer than 2 years. This is a higher proportion than for relationships formed offline. ADD This is a higher proportion than for relationships formed in the offline world.

❌Relationships are multimodal - Relationships are multimodal this is a weakness of virtual relationship theory as relationships are often conducted both online as well as offline ADD (through many different mediums).
For instance, what a person chooses to disclose online will be influenced by the type of relationship they have with that person offline. This is a weakness as the virtual relationship theory does not account for such interactions.

❌Types of computer mediate communications -
There are different types of computer mediated communication.
In the case of social networking sites such as Facebook, people interacting with each other generally know each other in the offline world. Because of this, people may self-disclose more sensitive information about themselves in an online status update than they would disclose in a Business forum such as Linkedin where people are relunctant to share private information.
Whereas in online dating, self-disclosure is reduced because both communicators will be anticipating meeting the other person face to face offline and so, will be careful with what they disclose.
Because this theory recognises only one type of computer mediated communication, it is not a valid explanation of virtual relationships in social media.