Theory: social exchange

• Social exchange theory-

  Thibault + Kelley - 1959

  • Economic theory - compared to business affairs
  • People only stay in a relationship if its profitable - looking for maximum rewards with minimal costs + can be influenced by operant conditioning + past relationships
  • Can’t explain abusive relationships
  • Blau = relationships are expensive + take away resources forever
• Social exchange theory-

  • comparison levels = CL
  • the amount of reward you believe you deserve
  • influenced by past relationships (IWMM), parents, media, self-view
  • Comparison level for alternate = CLALT
  • attractiveness of others outside of your relationship
  • occurs when arguing, hatred, lowered rewards
• Social exchange theory-

  Stages of relationship development = Duck 1994

  • sampling - experimenting rewards + costs in personal relationships trough observations
  • bargaining - start of the relationship + partners exchange rewards + costs to see if its profitable
  • commitment - predictable and stable rewards + costs where rewards increase and costs decrease
  • institutionalisation - settled partners with solid rewards and costs
• Social exchange theory-

  S- kurdek - all couples that are most satisfied had most profit

  S- individual differences - shows how costs and rewards being perceived differently

  W- subjective categories cant be measured

  W- Argyle - pros and cons listed after being unhappy = shows correlation not causation

  W- limited application - abusive relationships

  W- simplistic model - humans aren't as rational as they think with their hearts not heads most of the time