social exchange theory Flashcards
What is social exchange theory? (SET)
- an economic theory
- in social relationships there is some things we gain, some things we loose, and we have to question if the emotional investment is worth it.
What are the three main parts of social exchange theory?
- Rewards, Costs and Profits
- Comparison level
- Comparison level for alternatives
Who came up with the rewards, cost, profit in relationships ?
Thiabult and Kelley
What did Thiabult and Kelley argue about rewards, costs, profits?
- Rewards/ costs are subjective – the value is different for everyone/ also changes with time
- Behaviour in relationships reflects an exchange
- People try to minimise losses and maximise gains (the minimax principle) and we judge our satisfaction in terms of the profit the relationship yields
In rewards, costs, profits part of SET, What does opportunity cost mean?
Your investment in your current relationship means you cannot invest time and energy elsewhere.
What is comparison level?
Is the amount of reward that you think you deserve to get
What is comparison level developed/ stem from?
- Experience of past relationships
- Social norms (what is considered reasonable in your culture, social media)
- Self esteem (someone with low self-esteem will have a low CL and may be satisfied with gaining just a small profit)
What is Comparison Level of alternatives?
- If the costs outweighs rewards, then alternatives will become more attractive
-> depends on the state of our current relationship
What are stages of romantic development?
- Sampling stage
- Bargaining stage
- Commitment stage
- Institutionalisation stage
What is the sampling stage?
Where people explore potential rewards and costs of relationships, not just romantic ones, either by direct experience or by observing others.
What is the bargaining stage?
- is the first stage of any romantic relationship.
At this stage, partners exchange rewards and costs, figure out the most profitable exchanges and negotiate the dynamics of the relationship.
What is the commitment stage?
When relationships become more stable, and partners become familiar with sources of rewards and costs, and each other’s expectations, so rewards increase and costs lessen.
What is the institutionalisation stage?
The partners are settled in their relationship, because the rewards and costs are firmly established.
What is a limitation of the concepts of SET?
P: Social exchange theory has vague concepts that are hard to quantify.
EE: Real world rewards and costs are subjective and hard to define. Rewards and costs vary from person to person. For example most people would consider ‘receiving gifts/ money’ to be rewarding but this is not considered an important reward for everyone
L: This means the theory is difficult to test in a valid way.
What is a limitation of SET regarding cause and effect?
P: SET ignores how satisfied couples do not monitor costs/ seek alternatives during their relationship.
EE: SET suggests that when the costs outweigh the rewards or the alternatives become more attractive – we become dissatisfied. But Argyle argues it’s the other way around. That is it the dissatisfaction that causes us to weigh up the costs and rewards. He argues that when we are satisfied with a relationship, we don’t monitor costs/rewards and don’t even notice potentially attractive alternatives.
L: This suggests that considering costs/alternatives is caused by dissatisfaction instead.
What is a strength of SET regarding research support
P: One strength is support for aspects of SET from research studies
EE: Kurdek (1995) asked gay, lesbian and heterosexual couples to complete a questionnaire. He found that partners who were most committed = had the most rewards and fewest costs and viewed alternatives as relatively unattractive.
L: These findings match predictions from SET, strongly confirming the
validity of the theory in gay and lesbian couples as well as in heterosexual partners.
