Rusbult’s Investment Model

Question 1

What three factors does commitment depend on?

Answer 1

Satisfaction & comparison with alternatives
Investment Size
Satisfaction vs Commitment

Question 2

What is satisfaction and comparison with alternatives?

Answer 2

Satisfaction is based on commitment
Relationships judged by comparing costs and rewards-rewards high costs low then stay
Each partner generally satisfied if rewards higher & cost lower than previous partner or social norms(comparison level)
ClALT include relationship with others and being alone

Question 3

What is investment size?

Answer 3

Refers to the importance and extent of resources associated with the relationship
Anything we can lose if the relationship ends

Question 4

What is an Intrinsic Investment?

Answer 4

Resources directly put into the relationship
Tangible-money,possessions
Intangible-energy,emotion

Question 5

What is an Extrinsic Investment?

Answer 5

Resources which weren’t previously feature in the relationship
Tangible- children, possessions bought together
Intangible-shared memories

Question 6

How could we confidently predict partners will stay committed to a relationship?

Answer 6

When they experience high satisfaction, alternatives are less attractive and the investments are increasing

Question 7

What is Satisfaction vs Commitment?

Answer 7

Rusbult argues people stay in relationship because they are committed
This important distinction can explain why dissatisfied partners stay
Dissatisfied partner is committed so doesnt want to see their investment go to waste
They will work hard to maintain and repair the relationship

Question 8

What are the relationship maintenance mechanisms?

Answer 8

Commitment expressed in everyday maintenance behaviours
Enduring committed partners promote their relationship and put their partner’s needs first
Committed partners think about each other and clALT in specific ways
-unrealistically positive about their partner and ridicule alternatives much more than less committed partners

Question 9

Evaluation-Research support

Answer 9

Meta-analysis by Le and Agnew had 11k participants from 5 different countries and found that satusfaction, alternatives and investment size predicted relationship committment
Relationships with high level of commitment were more stable and longer lasting
Findings were the same for men & women, homo & heterosexual couples and across all analysed cultures
Provides some validity to Rusbult’s model as three factors are universally important for commitment in a relationship

Question 10

Evaluation-Explains abusive relationships

Answer 10

Valid and useful for explaining abusive relationships
Can be seen as surprising that a rational person subjected to violence would stay in a relationship
Rusbult and Martz-studied ‘battered’ women at shelter most likely to return to abusive partner reported making thr greatest investment and having fewer attective alternatives
Recognises that victim doesnt have to be satisfied to stay in an abusive relationship

Question 11

Evaluation-Oversimplifies Investment

Answer 11

Goodfriend and Agnew- more to investment than resources already put into relationship
In early stages couples make very few investments
Extended model by including investments partners make in their future plans
Motivated to commit as want to see future plans work out
Orginal model was a limited expalnation as it fails to recognise complexity of investment