Relationships - theories of romance - investment model Flashcards
who made the investment model
rusbult
what is rusbults model a development of
SET
what things effect commitment?
satisfaction level
comparison with alternatives
investment size
what is satisfaction level depending on
comparison level - judging rewards and costs, it is profitable if the rewards outweigh the costs.
comparison with alternatives - is the alternative better ( a different relationship or non at all)
why was the addition of the investment necessary?
because if CL and CLalt were derived from SET were enough to explain commitment then all relationships would end when the costs outwerigh/ theres better alt.
what does investment mean?
the extent and importance of the rescources associted with the relationship. an investment could be anything we would lose if the relationship were to end.
what are the types of investment?
intrinsic
extrinsic
what is an intrinsic investment?
anything we put INTO the relationship
they can be tangible, money
or intangible, emotions, self-discolsures
what are extrinsic investments?
things that were not in the relationship but are now closely associated with it
tangible, car or house
intangible, shared memories
so according to investment why do people stay in relationships
if partners experience high levels of satisfication (because rewards outweigh the costs), the alternatives are less and investments are increasing
for rusbult what is the main reason for staying in a relationship
commitment
explain satisfaction vs commitment
- commitment is why people stay in a relationship not satisfaction
- this is because they have invested so much into the relationship
- they dont want this investment to go to waste
- so they will work hard to maintain the relationship, even if its damaged
what are relationship maintaince mechanisms
everyday behaviours people do to commit to the relationsip
what are the maintainaince mechanisms people use?
accommodation
willing to sacrifice
forgiveness
positive illusions
ridiculing alternatives
which of the 5 are cognitive mechanisms
positive illusions
ridiculing alterantives
what are positive illusions
being unrealistically positive about your partner so that they stay commited
what is ridiculing alternatives
being negative about tempting alternatives and other peoples relationships
what was le and agnews research?
- meta-analysis of 52 studies
- they found that satisfaction, comparison with alt and investment size all predict relationship commitment. across all cultures, genders and couples.
- this suggests there is validity in the claim that these factors are universally important for romantic relationships
evaluate rusbults investment model
1) research support - le and agnew
2) explains why people stay in abusive relationships
3) correlation ≠ cause, a lot of the research finds correlations. This is not evidence of causation and so this means we can question wethere it is actualy investment that causes relationships to last it could be a different factor
4) DOESNT CONSIDER FUTURE RELATIONSHIPS AND HOW THE IDEA OF FUTURE INVSTMENTS MAY LEAD PEOPLE TO WANTING TO STAY TOGETHER
WHAT ARE THE THEORIES OF ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS?
ducks phase model
rusbults investment model
equity theory
SET
