Social exchange theory

• What is the social exchange theory?

  A theory of how relationships form and develop that assumes that romantic partners act out of self-interest in exchanging rewards and costs.
• A satisfying and commited relationship is maintained when rewards exceed costs and potential alternatives are less attractive than the current relationship.
• What is profit?

  Rewards - costs
• Thibault and Kelley (1959) proposed SET

  • claim that behaviour in relationships reflected the economic assumptions of exchange
• What is the minimax principle?

  The idea that we try to minimise costs and maximise rewards
• How do we judge our satisfaction in a relationship?

  in terms of how much we profit from it
• What is an example of a reward?

  Affection, attention, companionship, sex etc
• Examples of costs

  Stress, time, energy, emotional discourse etc.
• What is the comparison level?

  The amount of profit you believe you deserve and expect to receive in a relationship.

  We compare this to our actual profit level to determine if you are satisfied.
• How do we form our comparison level?

  Through our past experiences

  • previous relationships
  • social norms

  Over time our CL changes as we acquire more data to set it by
• What CL does someone with high self esteem have?

  A high CL
• What CL does someone with low self esteem have?

  low CL
• When do we feel satisfied?

  If current profit exceeds our expected profit from our CL
• What is the comparison level for alternatives?


  Expectations about the potential outcomes of alternative relationships or being single.

  If current profit exceeds CLalt we experience satisfaction.

  If current profit is lower than CLalt we experience disatisfaction.
• Rewards and costs are subjective

  • what constitutes a reward and cost for one person may not for another
  • perception fo what is a reward and cost can change over time
• A relationship incurs an opportunity cost

  • your investment of time and energy in your current relationship means using resources that you can’t invest elsewhere
• What are the stages of relationship development?

  Sampling stage

  • explore costs and rewards of social exchange by experimenting

  Bargaining stage

  • At the beginning of a relationship where we negotiate between rewards and costs

  Commitment stage

  • sources of rewards and costs become more predictable- rewards increase and costs lessen

  Institutionalisation stage

  • partners settle so norms and expectations of rewards and costs are firmly established
• Research support- A03

  Kurdeck (1995)

  • interviewed homo and hetero Sexual couples
  • commited partners perceived they had most rewards and fewest costs and viewed alternatives as unattractive

  This study also showed that the main SET concepts predicting commitment are independent of each other

  • individually had an effect

  Findings confirmed predictions of SET

  • supporting the validity of the theory in gay and lesbian as well as heterosexual couples
• Ignore the role of equity- A03

  Studies into SET ignore the role of equity

  What matters in a romantic relationships isn’t the balance of rewards and costs but the partners’ perceptions that this is fair

  So SET is a limited explanation as it can’t account for a significant proportion of research findings that confirm the importance of equity
• Dissatisfaction may actually cause comparison- A03


  SET claims that we become dissatisfied after we perceive costs outweighs rewards or alternatives seem more attractive

  But Argyle (1987) argues that dissatisfaction comes first when we start to perceive costs and alternatives

  • committed partners don’t even notice alternatives

  so considering profit level is caused by dissatisfaction rather than the reverse

  • not predicted by SET
• Vague concepts- A03

  Real world costs and rewards are much more subjective and hard to define because they vary

  • e.g. having your partners loyalty may not be rewarding for everyone

  Also comparison levels are problematic

  • It’s unclear what the values of CL and CLalt need to be before individuals feel dissatisfied

  So SET is difficult to test in a valid way
• Inappropriate central assumptions- A03

  SET assumes that all relationships are based on costs and rewards and constant monitoring of satisfaction.

  But Clark’s and mills (2011) argue that romantic relationships aren’t exchange based but communal based

  • partners don’t keep score and commitment would be questioned if they did

  This suggests that quite a few relationships might not be exchange based

  • e.g. those where trust is a fundamental component