Social exchange theory

Question 1

What is the social exchange theory ?

Answer 1

• Thibault and Kelley
• An ‘economic theory’
• We commit to a relationship if it is profitable
• A relationship is profitable if there is maximum reward and minimum cost

Question 2

What is an example of a reward in a relationship ?

Answer 2

• Gifts
• Affection
• Love
• Humour

Question 3

What are examples of costs in a relationship ?

Answer 3

• Stress
• Money
• Effort
• Time

Question 4

What did Blau say about the social exchange theory ?

Answer 4

• States that relationships are expensive
• Spending resources which means that you can’t spend them on friends, work and family

Question 5

What is a comparison level ? (CL)

Answer 5

The amount of reward you deserve to get.
This idea can be influenced by:
- Past relationships (link to internal working model)
- Parents
- Social media (learning through social norms)

Question 6

What is the comparison levels for alternatives ? (CLat)

Answer 6

• The attractiveness of others outside of your relationship
• We consider if we could gain more profits from an alternative person than the person we are in a relationship with

Question 7

What did Duck say about our CLalt

Answer 7

Our CLalt is dependent on the state of our current relationship

Question 8

What theory did Duck come up with ?

Answer 8

Stages of relationship development: There are 4 stages that relationships develop through

Sampling: Explore rewards and costs of social exchange in our own non-romantic relationships or others relationships

Bargaining stage: The beginning of a relationship when romantic partners begin to exchange various costs and rewards. Negotiating and identifying what is the most profitable.

Commitment stage: As time goes on, sources of costs and rewards become predictable and a relationship stabilized. Costs and rewards decrease.

Institutionalisation: Partners are settled down, norms of costs and rewards are established.

Question 10

What are limitations of the social exchange theory ?

Answer 10

Limitation: Can’t be operationalised
- Not measurable as the information is subjective
- Rewards and costs are difficult to define

Limitation: Correlation rather than causation
- Comparison levels for alternatives may be an effect of being dissatisfied
- Argyle - We only monitor this when we are in an unhappy relationship
- This limits SET because these thoughts only occur after the dissatisfaction is discovered

Limitation: Limited application to romantic relationships
- Can’y explain why people stay in abusive relationships
- Costs outweigh the rewards but people still remain in these relationships

Question 11

What are strengths of the social exchange theory ?

Answer 11

Research support:
- Kurdek
- Heterosexual couples found that satisfaction was correlated with profit
- This satisfaction was associates with the perception of benefits and they saw alternatives as less attractive

Individual differences:
- People will perceive rewards and costs differently
- This is dependent on the person which means it’s good that it can be made subjective.