Social exchange theory

Question 1

Define the term social exchange theory.

Answer 1

Is an example of an ‘economic theory’ of a relationship. Such theories suggest that people in relationships wish to give and receive something, assuming that people act out of self-interest ultimately.

Question 2

What did Thibault and Kelley (1959) suggest?

Answer 2

That relationship satisfaction is judged by considering the ‘rewards’ and ‘costs’ the relationship produces. People seek to minimise the losses and maximise the rewards, leading to ‘profit’ (the ‘minimax principle’). What counts as rewards and costs will vary from person to person. The ‘opportunity cost’ refers to the investment in a current relationship preventing a person investing resources elsewhere.

Question 3

Give examples of rewards.

Answer 3

Sex, emotional support, praise

Question 4

Give examples of costs.

Answer 4

Stress, energy, having to compromise.

Question 5

What is comparison level (CL)?

Answer 5

One measure of profit in a relationship.
Refers to the amount of rewards a person thinks they deserve to get.
Influenced by previous relationship and social norms (affected by the media).
If the person’s CL is high, they will think the relationship is worth pursuing.
High self-esteem = high CL meaning the expectation of reward is greater.
Low self-esteem = low CL

Question 6

What is comparison levels for alternatives?

Answer 6

Second measure of profit.
A person considers whether they would get more rewards, and fewer costs, from another relationship, or from being single.
They will remain in the relationship if they think that the current relationship will give greater profit than alternatives.
Affected by the state of the current relationship - if it is satisfying, there is much less need to consider alternatives.

Question 7

What is the stages of relationship development?

Answer 7

It's another feature of Thibault and Kelly's social exchange theory suggesting that relationships develop through four stages:
Sampling stage
Bargaining stage
Commitment stage
Institutionalisation stage

Question 8

What happens in sampling stage?

Answer 8

We explore and assess the rewards and costs of social exchanges by either experimenting with them in our relationships (this includes friendships) or by observing other relationships.

Question 9

What happens bargaining stage?

Answer 9

This occurs at the start of a relationship where partners exchange a range of rewards and costs and identify what is most profitable.

Question 10

What happens in commitment stage?

Answer 10

The relationship is established and maintained by a predictable exchange of rewards. The relationship becomes more stable as rewards increase and costs decrease.

Question 11

What happens institutionalisation stage?

Answer 11

The norms of the relationship are established and the couple ‘settle down’.

Question 12

What are the strengths of social exchange theory?

Answer 12

Research evidence - Hatfield (1979) and Rusbult & Martz (1995)

Question 13

Explain Hatfield’s (1979) research.

Answer 13

Looked at couples in relationships and found that those who felt they were over-benefited had feelings of guilt and uncomfortableness. They also found that those who felt under-benefited were angry and felt deprived.

Question 14

Explain Rusbult & Martz’s (1995) research?

Answer 14

Victims of domestic abuse often return to their partner.
Looked at women living in a refuge who has been abused by their partner. They found most women were likely to return to their partner because they didn’t have better alternatives. They also had high investments E.g. children. So the cost of leaving (no money, home etc) would be greater than the reward of staying (having a home for their children, money etc)

Question 15

What are the limitations of social exchange theory?

Answer 15

Fails to distinguish between two types of relationship.
Direction of cause and effect.
SET ignores equity.
Artificial research.

Question 16

How does social exchange theory fail to distinguish between two types of relationship?

Answer 16

Clark and Mills (2011) suggests that exchange relationships do involve social exchange as SET predicts. But communal relationships are marked by the giving and receiving of rewards without keeping score of who’s ahead and who’s behind.
If we felt this exchange monitoring was going on at the start of a promising relationship, we would probably question what kind of commitment our partner wanted.

Question 17

State the difference between communal relationships and exchange relationships?

Answer 17

Communal - romantic partners
whereas …
Exchange - colleagues, friends.

Question 18

How does social exchange theory not account for the direction of causation?

Answer 18

Argle’s (1987) points out that we don’t measure costs and rewards in a relationship, nor do we constantly consider the attractiveness of alternatives not until we’re dissatisfied.

Question 19

Explain research that supports Argle’s view.

Answer 19

Miller (1997) found that those who rated themselves as being in a committed relationship spent less time looking at images of attractive people, suggesting that dissatisfaction in a relationship is what leads to the costs/rewards being calculated, rather than the calculation leading to dissatisfaction.

Question 20

What has social exchange theory ignored about equity?

Answer 20

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. Neglect of this factor means that SET is a limited explanation.

Question 21

How is social exchange theory lack mundane realism?

Answer 21

The majority of research into SET is based on studying strangers that are involved in some kind of game-based scenario with rewards and costs variably distributed during the game. For example, Emerson and Cook (1978) designed a laboratory experiment where each of the 112 participants were bargaining with a partner to maximise their personal score in a computer game. The ‘relationships’ between these partners are nothing like real-life romantic relationships, which are based on getting to know another person and establishing trust.