THEORIES OF ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS - SOCIAL EXCHANGE THEORY Flashcards

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1
Q

what is social exchange theory?

A

theory of how relationships form and develop, based on idea that romantic partners exchange rewards and costs
committed relationships rewards exceeds costs and alternatives less attractive than current relationships

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2
Q

what did Thibault and Kelley come up with?

A

the minimax principle

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3
Q

what is the minimax principle?

A

behaviour in relationships reflects the economic assumptions in exchange
we want to minimise losses and maximise gains

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4
Q

rewards and costs are…

A

subjective and how values and rewards and costs may change over the course of the relationships

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5
Q

examples of rewards

A

companionship, sex and emotional support

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6
Q

examples of costs

A

time, stress and energy

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7
Q

according to Thibault and Kelley, relationships incur an…

A

opportunity cost where an investment of your time and energy in your current relationships using resources that you cannot invest somewhere else

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8
Q

comparison level

A

develops our exp of prev relationships, feed expectations of current one
influenced by social norms determine what is considered reasonable level of reward
link with self-esteem someone with low self esteem have low CL and satisfied with small profit

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9
Q

CL for alternatives (CLalt)

A

could they do better

could they get greater rewards and costs elsewhere

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10
Q

SET theory believes we stay in a current relationship if….

A

it is more rewarding than alternatives

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11
Q

Duck says…

A

CLalt we adopt depends on state of current relationships
costs in current relationship outweigh rewards, alternatives become attractive
rewards in relationships outweigh costs, x notice alternatives are available

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12
Q

what are the four stages of SET?

A

sampling stage
bargaining stage
commitment stage
institutionalization stage

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13
Q

sampling stage

A

explore rewards and costs of SE by experimenting own relationships or observing others

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14
Q

bargaining stage

A

marks beginning of a relationship when partners start exchanging rewards and costs identifying what is profitable

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15
Q

commitment stage

A

time goes on, sources of costs and rewards become more predictable and the relationship becomes more stable as rewards increase and costs lessen

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16
Q

institutionalisation stage

A

partners settled down because norms of the relationship are established

17
Q

3 evaluation points for SET

A
  • direction of cause and effect
  • SET ignores equity
  • inappropriate assumptions underlying SET
18
Q

direction and cause of effect

A

P- a weakness of SET is that there is no direction of cause and effect
E - Argyle said we don’t assess our relationship till we are dissatisfied
E - SET argues that dissatisfaction sets in when we suspects that costs outweigh rewards or that alternatives are more attractive, when this occur the other way round
L - this is a weakness because SET assumes looking at profit and loss throughout the whole relationship is how they are maintained

19
Q

SET ignores equity

A

P - a weakness of SET is that ignores how relationships need fairness
E - CL ignores what the other person in the relationship feels that they deserve
E - much research for the role of equity in relationships which is more important that the balance of rewards and costs, it only looks at one person
L - neglect of this factor means that SET is limited explanation, cannot account for significant proportion of the research

20
Q

inappropriate assumptions underlying SET

A

P - there are inappropriate assumptions under SET
E- Clarke and Mills found that cost and reward is true for work interactions, but untrue for romantic relationships
E - this is because rewards are distributed freely and not tallied
L - weakened validity for SET as it can only explain a limited range of social relationships