⭐️ theories - social exchange theory✅ Flashcards
what is the SET?
exchange of reward and costs between partners. a committed and satisfied relationship is maintained when rewards exceed costs.
which 2 psych. came up with the rewards, costs and profits notion?
what the minimax principle?
what do we compare in relatonships?
what is an important thing to remember with rewards and costs?
Give a few examples of rewards and costs?
THIBAULT AND KELLEY
- loses want to be minimised and gains want to be maximised
- we look at the rewards of a relationship and weigh up whether they are worth the costs or not
- they are subjective, what someone sees asa reward some one se may not etc…
eg:
rewards - sex and emotional support
costs- energy and stress
what is opportunity cost?
using your time and effort for rewards that you wouldn’t elsewhere
COMPARISON LEVEL:
what is it?
how does it develop?
what is CL also influenced by?
what us the link between self esteem and profit?
- the amount of reward you believe you deserve
- develops from past Rships … expectations of what we believe we deserve, better then ex
- social norms as to what is a reasonable reward
HIGH SELF ESTEEM = HIGH PROFIT = HIGH STANDARDS
LOW SELF ESTEEM = LOW PROFIT = LOW STANDARDS
COMPARISON LEVELS FOR ALTERNATIVES (CLalt)
what may happen if someones CL gets higher during a relationship?
what did DUCK say about costs and rewards?
- they may look elsewhere where the grass may be greener … could I do better?
- if the costs outweigh the rewards, ppl will look elsewhere if there not happy. if they re satisfied, they wont be any alternatives
what are the stages of a relationship development?
1- SAMPLING = exploring reward and costs by experimenting in our own Rship and observing others
2- BARGAINING = beginning of a Rship when rewards and costs have started to be exchanged …. identifying whats profitable
3- COMMIITMENT = as time goes on the sources of costs and rewards become more predictable and the Rship becomes less stable .., rewards ⬆️ and costs ⬇️
4- INSTITUTIONALISATION = partners are settled and the norms are established
AO3:
❌3 weakness
❌ ignores equity (fairness) The central concern is the comparison level, the ratio of perceived rewards and costs. ignores one crucial factor that may be an overwhelming consideration for romantic partners – fairness (equity). research for the role of equity in relationships, and the view that this is more important than just the balance of rewards and costs. Neglect of this factor means that SET is a limited explanation, which cannot account for a significant proportion of the research findings on relationships.
❌ key concepts are very difficult to define. The notion of rewards and costs is highly subjective. For example, one person may find lots of praise from a partner rewarding, but another person could find it annoying, making it difficult to measure. In addition, it is not clear how much more attractive alternatives should become, or by how much costs should outweigh the rewards, for the person to start feeling dissatisfied with their current relationship.
❌ too deterministic. According to SET, if the costs outweigh the rewards, a person will want to opt out of a relationship. However, there are many cases where people stay in high-cost relationships (for example, when one partner is chronically ill) without feeling dissatisfied. As a result, the predictive validity of SET is very limited; it cannot establish with significant certainty whether a person will feel happy or unhappy in a relationship, based on the costs and rewards they are getting from it. This undermines the scientific claim of SET, as an ability to predict human behaviour with a degree of certainty is one of the main objectives for psychology to be accepted as a science.
