rusbult's investment theory Flashcards
What is Rusbult’s investment model?
- an economic theory
- the investment model emphasises the central importance of commitment in relationships.
- Commitment predicts the likelihood of the relationship being maintained
What are three factors included in the theory?
- Satisfaction
- Comparison with alternatives
- Investment
What is satisfaction?
Is when rewards exceed costs and if they are getting more out of a relationship than they except (based on previous experience and social norms)
What is Comparison with alternatives?
A judgement partners make concerning whether a relationship with a partner would bring more rewards and fewer costs.
What is investment?
Anything a person puts into a relationship that will be lost if they leave it i.e. emotional energy, time, children, shared friends or money.
- Bigger investment= more likely to stay
What is intrinsic investment?
Any resources we put directly in a relationship i.e. money/ possessions, but also energy/ emotion
What is extrinsic investments?
Things that previously didn’t feature in the relationship, but are now associated with it i.e. possessions bought together, memories, children.
What are maintenance mechanisms
Things done to maintain and repair relationship to avoid losing investment.
What are the 4 maintenance mechanisms?
- Accommodation–promoting the relationship instead of keeping a tally of costs and rewards.
- Willingness to sacrifice – putting partner’s interests first.
- Forgiveness – willing to forgive partner’s mistakes
- Positive illusions– being positive about partner’s qualities.
- Ridiculing alternatives– being negative about alternatives
What is research to support the investment model
P: One strength of the investment model is support from a meta-analysis.
EE: Le and Agnew reviewed 52 studies, which included 11,000 participants from 5 countries. They found that satisfaction, Clalt and investment size all predicted relationship commitment. Relationships in which commitment was greatest were most stable and lasted longest.This applied to both homosexual and heterosexual couples.
L: This suggests that these factors are universally important
features of romantic relationships, increasing the validity of the theory.
What is a strength of investment model in regards to explaining abusive relationships?
P: The maintenance of romantic relationships could be used to explain abusive relationships
EE: Rusbult and Martz (1995) studied women at a shelter who had been in physically abusive relationships. Those who were more likely to return (i.e. more committed) reported the greatest investments and having fewest attractive alternative.
L: Supports Rusbult’s idea that the main factor that causes people to stay in relationships is commitment not satisfaction
What is the limitation of investment model in regards to being oversimplified?
P: One limitation of the model is that it views investment in a simplistic way.
EE: Goodfriend and Agnew (2008) point out that there is more to investment that just the resources you put in. So they extended the model to include future plans as part of investments in relationships partners are motivated to commit so their future plans work out.
L: This means the original model is limited because it fails to recognise the true complexity of investment, specifically how planning for the future influences commitment.
