ToRR: social exchange theory Flashcards
Who proposed the social exchange theory and what type of theory is this?
Thibault and Kelley (1959)
- economic theory that reflects the economic assumptions of exchange
What is the minimax principle?
-The idea that partners in romantic relationship strive to minimise losses and maximise gains
- We judge our satisfaction in terms of the profit the relationship yields (rewards minus costs)
List potential rewards & costs when entering a relationship
rewards
- emotional support
- sex
- companionship
costs
- time
- energy
- compromise
- stress
What does the SET theory argue about costs and rewards?
- that they are subjective - what one person considers as a significant reward, might be viewed by someone else as less valuable
- e.g. one might see receiving praise from partner as a reward but partner may not
- they may also change over the course of relationship > what is seen as rewarding in the early stages may become less so as time goes on
What other cost does a relationship incur and what is this?
- an opportunity cost
- Your investment of time and energy in your current relationship means using resources that you cannot invest elsewhere
What is the first measure of profit in a romantic relationship and what is influence by?
- Comparison level
- this is the amount of reward that you believe you deserve to get
developed by; - experiences of previous relationships (feed into our expectations of current one)
- social norms (what is considered reasonable level of reward in culture reflected in films, books, TV etc.)
- self-esteem (someone with low self esteem will have a low CL & may be satisfied with gaining a small profit compared to someone with a high self-esteem)
What is the second measure of profit in a romantic relationships?
- Comparison level for alternatives
- Based on if you believe that you can get greater rewards and fewer costs from another relationship (or from being on your own)
What does Duck argued the CLalt we adopt depend on?
- the state of our relationship
>if the costs of our relationship outweighs the rewards, alternatives become more attractive
What are the four stages in which a romantic relationship develops?
- sampling stage
- bargaining stage
- commitment stage
- institutionalised stage
What happens in the sampling stage?
- we explore the rewards & costs of SET in our own relationships or by observing others
What happens in the bargaining stage?
- marks beginning of relationship where partners start exchanging various rewards & costs
- these are negotiated in order to work out what is the most profitable
What happens in the commitment stage?
- sources of costs & rewards become more predictable & the relationship becomes more stable as rewards increase & costs lessen
What happens in the institutionalisation stage?
- partners are now settled down because costs and rewards have been firmly established
What is the strength of the SET theory?
- from research studies
- Kurdek asked gay, lesbian & heterosexual couples to complete questionnaires measuring relationship commitment & SET variables
- found that partners who had the most rewards & fewest costs were the most committed & viewed alternative as unattractive
- findings match prediction of the SET» increases validity
What is a counterpoint to the research support?
- studies into SET ignore one crucial factor that may be a overwhelming consideration for romantic relationships > equity
- what also matters is that rewards and costs are fair
SET = limited explanation > look at the equity theory instead
What is a limitation of the SET theory?
- limitation is the SET’s claim that dissatisfaction arises only after a relationship stops being ‘profitable’
- SET states that we become dissatisfied when we conclude that the costs of relationship outweighs its rewards and seek alternatives
- Argyle argued that when in a satisfying relationship we don’t monitor costs & rewards or consider alternatives until after we are dissatisfied
- suggest that considering cost and rewards is caused by dissatisfaction not the reverse
What is another limitation of the SET?
- SET deals in concepts that are vague & hard to quantify
- rewards & costs have been defined superficially in research (e.g. money) in order to measure them
- real- world psychological rewards are subjective & hard to define
- e.g. loyalty may be rewarding for some but not for everyone
- theory difficult to test in valid way
