ToRR: Rusbult's investment model Flashcards
1
Q
What type of theory is Rusbult’s investment model and what is a development of?
A
- an economic theory, development of the SET theory
2
Q
What does the investment model emphasise the importance of?
A
- commitment - predicts the likely hood of a relationship being maintained
3
Q
What 3 factors is commitment dependent on?
A
- satisfaction
- comparison of alternative
- investment
4
Q
Explain the first factor of the investment model
A
- SATISFACTION
- based on the concept of comparison level
- satisfying relationship is judged by comparing rewards & costs
- each partner generally satisfied if they are getting way more out of the relationship than they expect
5
Q
Explain the second factor of the investment model
A
- comparison with alternatives, a judgement partners make concerning whether a relationship with a different partner (or alone) would bring more rewards & fewer costs
6
Q
Explain the crucial third factor that influences commitment
A
- investment, anything a person puts into the relationship that will be lost if they leave it e.g. energy, time, money
bigger the investment= more likely to stay
7
Q
What are the two types of investment?
A
- intrinsic & extrinsic
8
Q
What are intrinsic investments?
A
- any resources we put directly in a relationship e.g.
tangible- money & possessions
intangibles- self-disclosure, energy, emotion
9
Q
What are extrinsic investments?
A
- resources that previously did not feature in the relationship but are now closely associated with it
- tangibles= possessions bought together, mutual friends , children
- intangibles = shared memories
10
Q
What does this theory also explain?
A
- why people stay in relationships when they are unhappy - because they are committed & have made an investment that they don’t want to see go to waste
11
Q
What are the 5 maintenance mechanisms to avoid losing investment and explain?
A
- Accommodation (acting in a way that promotes relationships rather than keeping a tally of costs & rewards)
- Willingness to sacrifice (putting partners interest first)
- Forgiveness (both minor & serious mistakes)
- Positive illusions (unrealistically positive about partners qualities)
- Ridiculing alternatives (negative about tempting alternatives)
12
Q
What is strength of the investment model?
A
- research support
- Le & Agnew conducted a metanalysis of 52 studies > which included about 11,000 p’s from 5 countries
- found that satisfaction, CLalt & investment size all predicted relationship commitment
- Relationships where commitment was greater = the most stable, lasted longer
- applied to both homo/hetero
- factors are universally important features of RR
13
Q
What is a counter point to research support strength?
A
- studies in Le & Agnew’s meta-analysis were correlational
- correlational studies don’t allow us to conclude that factors identified by the model cause commitment in a relationship
- could be that the more committed > the more investment you are willing to make in a relationship
- direction of causality may be reversed
- not clear that the model has identified the causes of commitment
14
Q
What is another strength of the investment model?
A
- model is an explanation of abusive relationships
- Rusbult & Martz studied women at a shelter who had been in physically abusive relationships
- those who were more likely to return (more committed) reported greater investments & fewer attractive alternatives
- supports commitment as a central factor
15
Q
What is a limitation of the investment model?
A
- views investment in a simplistic, one-dimensional way
- Goodfriend & Agnew point out that there is more to investment than just resources you put in
- extended the model to include investment partners make in their future plans
- they are motivated to commit to each other because they want to see plans work out
- original model= limited >fails to recognises true complexity of investment
