relationships👩❤️💋👨 (set) Flashcards
what is the social exchange theory?
idea that if romantic partners are exchanging rewards and costs. relationship maintained when rewards exceed the costs.
what did Thibault and Kelley say?
we want to minimise loses and maximise gains. satisfaction is judged in terms of its profit, defined as rewards minus the costs.
are costs and rewards different for everyone or the same?
they are different for everyone. they can also change in a relationship over time.
what were the rewards and costs?
rewards: companionship, sex, emotional support.
costs: time, stress, energy.
what’s an oppourtunity cost?
investing time and energy In current relationship means using resources that you can’t invest anywhere else.
how do we measure profit in a relationship?
essentially the amount of reward that you believe you deserve to get.
what does comparison level stem from?
our previous relationships and social norms
what is comparison level linked too?
linked to self esteem. if self esteem is low, then their comparison level will be low, therefore will be satisfied with gaining small profit from the relationship. high self esteem means they believe they’re worth much more
how long does the theory believe we’ll stay in our current relationship for?
as long as its more rewarding than the alternative
what did Duck say about the CLalt we have?
it depends on the state of our current relationship. if costs of our relationship outweigh the rewards then alternatives become more attractive
what can you ignore when you’re In a satisfying relationship?
you don’t notice that other alternatives are available.
what is the sampling stage in a relationship?
exploring the rewards and costs of social exchange by experimenting in our own relationships or observing others
what is the bargaining stage?
marks beginning of relationship- start exceeding rewards and costs and identifying what’s profitable
what is the commitment stage?
time continues, costs and rewards become more predictable and the relationship becomes more stable as rewards increase and costs lessen
what is the institutionalisation stage?
partners are now settled down because norms of relationship are established
AO3 SET- direction of cause and effect❌
- SET argues dissatisfaction comes from costs outweighing rewards/alternatives are attractive. Argyle suggests that we don’t measure costs our rewards in relationships nor do we constantly consider attractiveness of alternatives, that’s not until we are dissatisfied with the relationship.
- research supports this that dissatisfaction comes first. miller found that people who rated themselves to be in a highly committed relationship they spent less time looking at attractive people. so ppl in committed relationships ignore even the most attractive alternatives. SET cannot account for the direction of causation in this outcome
AO3 SET- why does set ignore equity?
- there is research for the role of equity in relationships. this view’s more important than just the balance of costs and rewards. neglect of this means that SET is a limited explanation, which can’t account for a significant proportion of the research findings on relationships.
AO3- measuring SET concepts
weakness bc psychological costs and rewards r more difficult to measure than superficial ones. they may vary person to person. CL, and CLalt are also hard to measure as how do we know when someone is dissatisfied and is it the same for everyone?
