THEORIES OF ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS - SOCIAL EXCHANGE THEORY

Question 1

what is social exchange theory?

Answer 1

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

Question 2

what did Thibault and Kelley come up with?

Answer 2

the minimax principle

Question 3

what is the minimax principle?

Answer 3

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

Question 4

rewards and costs are…

Answer 4

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

Question 5

examples of rewards

Answer 5

companionship, sex and emotional support

Question 6

examples of costs

Answer 6

time, stress and energy

Question 7

according to Thibault and Kelley, relationships incur an…

Answer 7

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

Question 8

comparison level

Answer 8

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

Question 9

CL for alternatives (CLalt)

Answer 9

could they do better

could they get greater rewards and costs elsewhere

Question 10

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

Answer 10

it is more rewarding than alternatives

Question 11

Duck says…

Answer 11

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

Question 12

what are the four stages of SET?

Answer 12

sampling stage
bargaining stage
commitment stage
institutionalization stage

Question 13

sampling stage

Answer 13

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

Question 14

bargaining stage

Answer 14

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

Question 15

commitment stage

Answer 15

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

Question 16

institutionalisation stage

Answer 16

partners settled down because norms of the relationship are established

Question 17

3 evaluation points for SET

Answer 17

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

Question 18

direction and cause of effect

Answer 18

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

Question 19

SET ignores equity

Answer 19

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

Question 20

inappropriate assumptions underlying SET

Answer 20

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