Theories Of Romantic Relationships - Social Exchange Theory (relationships) Flashcards
What are rewards?
Exchanges for resources that are pleasurable and gratifying.
- Emotional support and companionship
- Affection, love and intimacy
- Financial or practical benefits (e.g. shared living expenses)
What are costs?
Exchanges that result in loss or punishment.
- Time and effort invested in the relationship
- Compromises and sacrifices made
- Emotional distress or conflicts
What are profits to a relationship?
- If rewards outweigh costs, the relationship is maintained.
- If costs outweigh rewards, dissatisfaction may occur, leading to possible breakdown.
How is profit measured?
- Comparison level: Rewards are compared against costs to judge profits.
- Comparison level for alternative relationships: If a better alternative is available, a person may leave their current relationship.
What is social exchange theory?
Thibault and Kelley:
- Relationships ran to business balance sheet principle, they aim to minimise our costs and maximise our rewards (the minimal principle).
Blau:
- Interactions between partners can be ‘expensive’, as they take time, energy and commitment, and can involve unpleasant emotions/experiences.
For a relationship to be maintained, individuals must feel they are receiving more than they put in.
What are the 4 stages of a relationship?
Thibault & Kelley:
- Sampling
- Bargaining
- Commitment
- Institutionalisation
What is sampling stage?
- Explore the rewards and costs of social exchange by experimenting with them in our own relationships, or by observing others doing so.
What is the bargaining stage?
- 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 because the norms of the relationship, in terms of rewards and costs, are firmly established.
What is the research to support the theory of social exchange in relationships?
Kurdek:
- Asked gay, lesbian and heterosexual couples to complete questionnaires
- Measured relationship commitment and SET variables.
- Found partners with most commitment had also perceived the most rewards and fewest costs.
What are the strengths to social exchange theory?
+ Research to support: Kurdek —> found couples with most rewards and least costs had the most commitment
+ Real life application: Rusbult & Martz —> Women who had been physically assaulted by their partners and were living in a women’s refuge were likely to return to their partners as they didn’t have better alternatives (often due to lack of education, no job prospects, little money).
What are the limitations to social exchange theory?
- Research has concentrated on short term consequences of relationships rather than the long term maintenance of relationships.
- Does not explain why some people still leave relationships when there is no other alternatives.
- Focuses too much on the individual’s perspective and ignores social aspects of a relationship e.g. how partners communicate and interpret shared events. –> Clarke and Mills: Romantic relationships are communal based and individuals do not ‘keep score’.
