theories of romantic relationships: social exchange theory Flashcards
what is social exchange theory a section of?
the economic theories of romantic relationships
what is the social exchange theory?
a theory of how relationships form and develop. it assumes that romantic partners act out of self-interest in exchanging rewards and costs. a satisfying and committed relationship is maintained when rewards exceed costs and potential alternatives are less attractive than the current relationship.
who proposed the social exchange theory?
Thibault and Kelley
what did Thibault and Kelley claim?
that behaviour in relationships reflect the economic assumptions of exchange. we judge our satisfaction with a relationship in terms of the profit it yields, defined as the rewards minus the costs
what is the minimax principle?
we try to minimise losses and maximise gains
what are some examples of costs and rewards?
•rewards- companionship, sex, emotional support
•costs- time, stress, energy, compromise
what is an opportunity cost?
an investment of time and energy in your current relationship means using resources that you cannot invest elsewhere
what are the two ways of measuring profit in a romantic relationship?
•comparison level
•comparison level for alternatives
what is comparison level?
•the amount of reward that you believe you deserve to get, a judgement of how much profit you are receiving
•we consider a relationship worth pursuing if our CL is high
what factors affect comparison levels?
•learned experiences from previous relationships
•media
•internal perceptions
•social norms that determine what a reasonable level or reward is
how does self esteem affect comparison levels?
•someone with low self esteem will have a low CL and will therefore be satisfied with gaining just a small profit (or even a loss) from a relationship
•someone with a higher self esteem will believe they are worth a lot more
what is comparison levels for alternatives?
•do we believe we could gain greater rewards and fewer costs from another relationship or our current one?
•social exchange theory predicts that we will stay in our current relationship only so long as it is more rewarding than the alternatives
•if the costs of our current relationship outweighs the rewards, the alternatives become more attractive
what are the 4 stages of a relationship in the social exchange theory?
•sampling stage
•bargaining stage
•commitment stage
•institutionalisation stage
what is the sampling stage?
we explore the rewards and costs of social exchange by experimenting with them in our own relationships (not just romantic ones), or by observing others doing so
what is the 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
what is the commitment stage?
as time goes on, the source of costs and rewards become more predictable and the relationship becomes more stable as rewards increase and costs lessen
what is the institutionalisation stage?
the partners are now settled down became the norms of the relationship, in terms of rewards and costs, are firmly established
strength: research support for aspects of SET
•Kurdek asked a range of couples (gay/ straight) to complete questionnaires measuring relationship commitment and SET variables
•found that partners who were most committed perceived the most rewards and fewest costs and viewed alternatives as unattractive
•demonstrates that the SET main concepts predict that commitment independent of eachother (individually have an effect)
•the findings match SET productions and increase the validity of SET and its application to hetero and homo sexual couples
limitation: studies into SET ignore equity
•shortcomings of SET have been addressed by equity theory
•there is much research for the role of equity in relationships, what matters is not just the rewards and costs but whether the partners believe they’re fair
•the neglect of equity means that SET is a limited explanation which cannot account for a significant proportion of the research findings on relationships
limitation: direction of cause and effect
•SET claims that dissatisfaction arises only after a relationship stops being profitable
•we become dissatisfied when we conclude that the costs outweigh the rewards/ alternatives become more attractive
•Argyle argues that we don’t monitor costs and rewards or consider alternatives until after we’re dissatisfied
•when we’re satisfied in a relationship we are committed to it and don’t notice potentially attractive alternatives
•this suggests considering costs/ alternatives is caused by dissatisfaction rather than the reverse (dissatisfaction causes a person to consider costs/ alternatives)
limitation: vague concepts
•concepts are vague and hard to qualify
•rewards and costs have been defined superficially in research (eg money) in order to measure
•real world costs and rewards are harder to define
•the concept of comparison levels is problematic as it’s unclear what the values of the Cl and CLat must be before dissatisfaction threatens a relationship
•this means the theory is difficult to test in a valid way
limitation: inappropriate central assumptions
•SET assumes that relationships are economic in nature (exchange of rewards/ costs/ profit/ loss) consistently monitoring to determine levels of satisfaction
•SET claims these concepts apply to all relationships
•Clark and Mills argued that we cannot apply this to romantic relationships and that romantic relationships are communal based
•romantic partners do not ‘keep score’ because if they did it would destroy the trust that underlies a close emotional relationship
