Social Exchange Theory

• Social Exchange Theory


  Views romantic relationship behaviour as a series of exchanges based on rewards, costs and profit
• Rewards, costs and profits

  • We try to minimise losses and maximise gains
  • Exchange occurs when someone receives rewards and they can reciprocate
  • Costs include investment, time and energy
  • Rewards include emotional support and sex
• Comparison Levels

  • Based on previous experiences of relationships where it is your expectations of a relationship
  • Someone who has a history of unpleasant relationships may themselves have a low CL and may be happy to maintain a poor relationship
  • People who have had good relationships and high CL would have a high expectation for the quality of their relationships and exit any relationship that did not meet this high expectation
• Stages of relationship development

  • Sampling Stage- exploring relationships
  • Bargaining Stage- start exchanging costs and rewards
  • Commitment stage- costs lessen and rewards increase
  • Institutionalisation stage- partners are settled down as the rewards and costs have been established
• AO3 Social Exchange Theory: Cultural Bias

  • Been based on primarily western couples and then generalised to all other relationships
  • Individualistic culture focuses on the needs of individuals with the primary focus being on profits for each person
  • In collectivist cultures SET may not necessarily apply
  • Arranged marriages still take place with the focus being on the bringing together of families and not the desires of each individual and for this reason this theory lacks generalisation
• AO3 Social Exchange Theory: Research Support

  • Longitudinal study of 101 couples was conducted
  • Results found that the exchange variable was associated with commitment
  • In relationships where alternatives were high the satisfaction tended to be low
  • This supports social exchange theory as those who lack alternatives are likely to remain committed
  • May not be representative of other age ranges so the findings may not generalise to the wider population
• AO3 Social Exchange Theory: Vague Concepts

  • It portrays relationships purely on a profit and loss basis which lacks face validity
  • Another criticism is how costs and benefits are determined as what one person deems a cost
  • The dynamic nature of relationships means what was once seen as a benefit at one point may eventually be seen as a cost at a later point
  • This makes it difficult to classify all events in such simple terms as “benefits” or “costs” and challenges the view that all relationships operate in this way
• AO3 Social Exchange Theory: Direction of cause and effect

  • SET claims dissatisfaction only arises after the relationship stops being profitable
  • We become dissatisfied once our costs are high and alternatives are better
  • However we may look at costs and rewards once we are dissatisfied
  • If we are satisfied we would not even consider costs so maybe dissatisfaction causes you to look at costs
• AO3 Social Exchange Theory : Lack of research support

  • The communal couple give out of concern for the other and the exchange couple keep a mental record of “point scoring”
  • There are different types of relationships and SET may lack external validity
  • Proposes partners return rewards for rewards and costs for costs and these reciprocal exchanges are monitored
  • Based on faulty assumptions on how relationships are maintained and cannot generalise to most romantic relationships
  • Not possible to quantify emotional investment or explain how “love” fits in