theories of romantic relaitnships - social exchange theory

Question 1

rewards costs and profits

Answer 1

Thibault and Kelley

claiming that behaviour in relationships reflects he economic assumptions of exchange

minimise losses and maximise gains - minimal principle

judge our satisfaction with a relationship in terms of profit yields - defined as the rewards minus the costs

rewards and costs are subjective

realtionship also incurs an opportunity cost = investment of time and energy in your current realtionship means using resources that you cannot invest elsewhere

Question 2

comparison level

Answer 2

two ways in which we measure the profit in romantic relationships

first - the amount of reward that you believe you deserve to get

develops out of our experiences of previous relationships which feed into our expectations of the current one

also influenced by social norms that determine what is widely considered within a culture to be a reasonable level of reward

often reflected in books films media etc

consider a realtionship worth pursuing if our comparison level is high

someone with low self esteem will have a low cl and will therefore be satisfied with gaining just a small profit from a relationship

Question 3

comparison level for alternatives

Answer 3

second measure of profit - provides a wider context for out current realtionship

do we believe we can gain greater rewards elsewhere etc

social exchange theory predicts that we will sty in our current relaitonshp only so long as we believe it is more rewarding than the alternatives

Question 4

stages of realtionship development

Answer 4

4 stages in which relationships develop

1. sampling stage - we explore the rewards and costs of social exchange by expiementing with them in our own relationships or by observing others doing so
2. bargaining stage - this marks the beginning of a relationship when romantic partners start exchanging various rewards and costs negotiating and identifying what is most profitable
3. commitment stage - as time goes on the sources of costs and rewards become more predicate and the relationship becomes more stable as rewards increase and costs lessen

4, institutionalisation stage - the partners are now settled down because the norms of the relationship in terms of rewards and costs are firmly established

Question 5

strength

Answer 5

research support

Kurdek

asked gay lesbian and heterosexual couples to complete questionnaires measuring realtionship commitment

and social exchange theory variables

found that those partners who were most committed also perceived the most rewards and fewest costs and viewed alternatives as relatively unattractive

this was the first study to demonstrated that the main social exchange theory concepts that predict commitment are independent of each other (indivually have an effect)

these findings match prediction form social exchange theory strongly confirming the validity of the theory in gay and lesbian couples as well as heterosexual partners

Question 6

limitation

Answer 6

direction of cause and effect

its claim that dissatisfaction arises only after a realitonship stops being profitable

according to social exchange theory we become dissatisfied when we conclude that the costs of the relationship outweigh its rewards or that alternatives are more attractive

Argyle - argued we don’t monitor costs and rewards or consider alternatives until after we are dissatisfied

when we are scarified with a relationship and committed to it we do not even notice potential attractive alternatives

suggest that considering costs/alternatives is caused by dissastication rather than the reverse (dissatisfaction causes a person to consider costs/ alternatives)

Question 7

limitation

Answer 7

vague concepts

social exchange theory deals in concepts that are vauge and hard to quantify

rewards and costs have been defined superficially in research such as money in order to measure them

but in real world psychological rewards and costs are subjective and harder to define

example - most people would consider having your partners loyalty to be rewarding

but rewards and costs vary a lot from one person to another

even having loyalty is not a reward for everyone

concept of comparison levels is especially problematic

mean the theory is difficult to test in a valid way