The Maintenance Of Romantic Relationships Flashcards
The equity theory
Equity theory believes people strive to achieve fairness in their relationships and feel distressed if they perceive unfairness. Any kind of inequity has the potential to create distress. People who give a lot and receive little would perceive inequity and would be dissatisfied. Same for those who receive a great deal and give little. The greater the perceived inequity, the greater the dissatisfaction and the greater the dissatisfaction the greater the distress.
An equitable relationship is where one partners benefits minus their costs equals the other persons benefits minus their costs.
Perception of inequality motivates a person to to try to restore it or end the relationship.
Social exchange theory
The social exchange theory views relationship behaviour as a series of exchanges based on rewards, costs and profits. Each person attempts to maximise their rewards while minimising their costs.
Rewards include being cared for, championship and sex.
Costs include effort spent developing relationship, financial investment and time wasted.
Commitment to a relationship is dependent on its profitability with less profitable relationships being more vulnerable to termination.
We develop a comparison level to judge previous relationships against new ones. If potential profit from new one exceeds the CL then it will be judged worthwhile.
The comparison level for alternatives is where the person looks at the level of rewards and punishments they would receive in an alternative relationship.
AO2
The social exchange theory has been used to explain why some women stay in abusive relationships. Rusbult and martz argue that when investments are high (children, financial security), and alternatives are low (nowhere to live, no money) this could be considered a profit situation so they remain in rel.
Support for the cl come from Simpson et al. One way of dealing with a potential threat of an alternative is to reduce them in order to protect the relationship. He asked ppts to rate members of the opposite sex in terms of attractiveness. Those who were already involved in a relationship gave lower ratings. So they’re reducing the threat. But the social exchange theory doesn’t explain why people leave relationships without any alternative.
Duck and sants said The social exchange theory focuses too much on people’s selfish concerns in a relationship and ignores the social aspects of a rel such as how well they communicate and interpret shared events. This might only happen in individualistic cultures.
Dainton et al studied 219 romantic relationships and found those in inequitable relationships were unhappy but they wanted to return to an equitable state suggesting equity was important in maintenance.
Stafford and Canary surveyed 200 married couples concerning equity and relationship satisfaction and they found; relationship satisfaction was highest for spouses who perceived their relationship to be equitable and satisfaction was lowest for spouses who perceived themselves to be most under benefitted in their relationships.
