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Theories of romantic relationships - Coggle Diagram
Theories of romantic relationships
Social exchange theory
An economic theory of romantic relationships
Thibaut and Kelly use the economic terminology of profit (reward) and loss (cost) and base it on operant conditioning
Comparison level (CL) : T and K use comparison to assess how profitable their relationships are
Based on a persons idea of how much reward they expect to receive in relationships, this is based on their previous romantic experiences and cultural norms of what is appropriate to expect from relationship
Comparison level for alternative (CLalt) : Concerns a persons perception of whether other, different, potential relationships would be more rewarding then being in their current one
According to SET people will stay in their current relationships as long as they find them to be more profitable than the alternatives
A03
S: Supported by research, e.g Sprecher found that CLalt were a strong predictor of commitment in a relationship, based on these findings it can be concluded that some people appear to base their evaluation of RR on rewards and costs therefore it would appear that some people do stay in relationships whilst it remains more profitable
L: Confusion of what is a cost and benefit, what might be considered rewarding to some many be seen as punishment to another, in addition what might be seen as a benefit at one stage may be see as a cost later on, suggesting SET is subjective and its concepts are difficult to accurately quantify making it difficult to produce valid research
PA: SET may have useful real life applications, one example of this could be (IBCT) Integrated behaviour couples therapy, according to research about two-thirds of couples that were treated using this reported their relationship having significantly improved, this shows that SET can be used to help distress couples in real life demonstrating its real world application and benefit for relationships
Equity theory
Another economic theory based on the idea of fairness for each partner
Emphasises the need for each partner to experience a balance between the effort they put into the relationship and the benefits they recieve
Developed in response to the criticism of SET suggesting being in a profit state was the reason why people stayed in relationships
If one partner perceives it as unfair because they are either over-benefitting or under-benefitting they will be dissatisfied with the relationship (more benefits out = guilt, shame) (less benefits = angry, unfairness)
A03
S: Research to support by Stafford and Canary, over 200 married couples answered questions designed to measure equity in their relationship, researchers discovered that satisfaction was higher in relationships which couples believed were equitable, demonstrating support for the equity theory
L: Individual differences in perception of equity, researcher developed the idea of equity sensitivity which determines the extent to which an individual will tolerate inequity, there are people who are less sensitive to inequity and are prepared to give more into the relationship, whereas others believe they deserve to over-benefit this means findings cannot be reliably applied to all people with confidence
Another L: Cultural differences show that concept of equity is more important in wester cultures than non western cultures, they found that both men and women from non western cultures claimed to be most satisfied with their relationship when they were over benefitting from it not when the relationships were fair, these results highlight a culture bias in this area of research
Rusbult's investment model
3 major factors that lead to commitment
Satisfaction: based upon the notion of comparison level, partners will have a higher level of satisfaction if they receive more rewards and fewer costs
Comparison with alternatives: Also the same principle as within SET judgement made by one or both concerning weather or not they could receive greater satisfaction by terminating the current relationship
Investment: anything a person puts into a relationship that will be lost if they leave
Intrinsic investments: resource put directly into a relationship e.g money
Extrinsic investment: resource that did not originally feature in the relationship but now do e.g children, mutual friends
A03
S: Research by LE and Agnew's supports, a meta analysis was conducted of 52 studies, each piece of research had explored satisfaction, CLalt, investment and their impact on commitment it was found satisfaction, CLalt and investment all correlated significantly with commitment to that union indicating support for the investment model
L: Potential methodological issues with studying this, most evidence comes from questionnaires and interviews which are known to be subjective and unreliable, and majority of research is correlational meaning they cant conclude that investment causes commitment, these issues limit the validity and fail to predict which type of investment and how much is needed for a long term relationship to develop
Ducks phase model of relationship break down
Stage 1: Intra-psychic phase - when a person admits them themself that they are dissatisfied with their relationship and will spend a lot of time thinking about the reasons for this dissatisfaction and possible ways to move forward
Stage 2: Dyadic phase - person confronts their partner and voices their dissatisfaction
Stage 3: Social phase - involving friends and relatives by making this distress public, once the conflict reaches this stage it is more difficult for a couple to mend their relationship
Stage 4: Grave dressing phase - construct their version of why their relationship broke down usually minimising their faults but at the same time trying to show themselves as trustworthy and loyal in order to attract a new partner
A03
S: Supported by scientific research, Tashiro and Frasier showed that viewing the situation, rather than own faults, as being responsible for ending the relationship helps people to see the break up in a more positive lights and move on, this shows how people deal with break ups trying to leave their 'social credit' intact providing support for ducks grave dressing phase, this strengthens the claims made by the model