Theories of Romantic Relationship: Rusbult's Investment Model Flashcards
Name the 3 factors in Rusbult’s investment model that lead to the commitment level.
Satisfaction
Comparison with alternatives
Investment
How is satisfaction with a relationship judged?
Rewards and costs are compared to see if the relationship is profitable.
When do partners feel more satisfied with a relationship?
They will feel more satisfied if rewards are higher than in previous relationships.
Explain what comparison with alternatives is.
Romantic partners question whether they could be getting more rewards from a partner elsewhere.
How do partners use investment to judge whether a relationship is worth continuing?
The more investments made, the more likely partners are to continue with a relationship.
How does investment explain why dissatisfied partners stay in relationships?
If a couple has invested lots into a relationship, they may not see the point in ending it.
What are intrinsic investments?
What are tangibles/intangibles?
Resources put directly into the relationship, including money and possessions (tangibles) or time and self-disclosures. (intangible)
What are extrinsic investments?
Resources that previously did not exist in the relationship but are now closely associated with it. Tangibles include cars, and intangibles include memories.
Name 5 relationship maintenance mechanisms.
Accommodation (promoting the relationship), sacrifice, forgiveness, positive illusions, ridiculing alternatives.
Explain the strength of the investment model being able to explain why couples stay in abusive relationships.
Rusbult and Martz asked women living in refuges why they stayed in abusive relationships - why was this?
How does this support Rusbult’s model?
Rusbult and Martz asked women living in refuges why they had stayed with their abusive partners instead of leaving them as soon as the abuse began. As predicted by the model, women felt the greatest commitment to their relationship when their economic alternatives were poor, and their investment was great. Therefore, Rusbult’s investment model is effective at explaining real life relationships.
Explain the strength of there being research support for the investment model from Le and Agnew.
How many studies did they review in their meta analysis? How many PPTs overall? How many different countries?
They found that satisfaction, comparison with alternatives and investment size all predicted what?
The more commitment in a relationship, the longer…
The findings from the meta analysis were applicable to what 2 factors?
This suggests that Rusbult’s theory is v_____.
They reviewed 54 studies conducted over 20 years which included 11000 PPTs from 5 countries. They found that satisfaction, comparison with alternatives and investment size all predicted relationship commitment. Relationships in which commitment was greatest were most stable and lasted the longest. These outcomes were true for both men and women across all cultures in the analysis and for LGBT couples too. This suggests there is validity to Rusbult’s claims that these factors are universally important.
Explain the strength of the methodology used when researching the investment model.
Explain the benefits of self report techniques when studying romantic relationships.
How do self report techniques give us greater insight into investment?
Most of the evidence supporting the investment model uses self-report techniques such as interviews and questionnaires. These methods are generally a weakness, but in this situation, self-reports may actually be the most appropriate technique because its not the objective reality of factors that matter. What matters is the partners perception of these factors. It is your belief that you have made a big investment into your relationship, or your belief that there are no attractive alternatives that could influence commitment. Whether your belief matches the objective reality doesn’t matter. Therefore, these techniques allow us to get an insight to how couples view investment into their relationships.
Explain the limitation that the investment model may oversimplify investment.
What did Goodfriend and Agnew do to extend the investment model after pointing out that there are fewer investments at the start of a relationship?
Why is the original model a limited explanation of romantic relationships?
For example, Goodfriend and Agnew pointed out that there is more to investment than the resources already put into the relationship. After all, in the early stages of a romantic relationship, the partners will have made very few actual investments. Goodfriend and Agnew extended Rusbult’s original model by including investment into future plans. Partners are motivated to commit because they want their plans to work out, such as marriage. The original model is therefore a limited explanation of romantic relationships because it fails to recognize the true complexity of investment.
