The investement model of relationships

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    • Intro
      The Investment Model was put forward by Rusbult et al as a development of Social Exchange Theory, siuggesting other factors why couple remain together
    • what are the three factors
      According to Rusbult's proposal, there are three major factors that maintain commitment in relationships: 
      • satisfaction level, 
      • comparison with alternatives 
      •  investment size.
    • Satisfaction level and comparison with alternatives are based on the idea of comparison levels from Social Exchange Theory
      • there will be a high level of satisfaction if there are more rewards than costs and
      • if there are less alternatives there will be more comittment
    • the most important factor that maintains commitment to a relationship is investment.
      Investment refers to the number of resources, both tangible, like money or possessions, and intangible, like happy memories, that people will lose if they leave relationships.
    • The model proposes two types of investment: intrinsic and extrinsic. -
      • Intrinsic investment comprises the things we put directly into the relationship, such as effort, money, possessions, self-disclosure.
      • Extrinsic investment refers to the things that are brought to people's life through the relationships, such as children, friends and shared memories.
    • Rusbult et al. concluded...
      the bigger the investment, the more likely people are to stay in relationships as it increases dependence in teh relationship
      • Le and agnew
      • Meta- analysis of 52 other studies (1970s-1990s)- over 11,000 participants from 5 countries 
      Findings
      • Satisfaction level, quality of alternatives and investment size highly correlated with relationship commitment.
      • Largest correlation was between satisfaction and commitment
    • Quality of alternatives-
      an individuals assessement of whether their needs may be better fulfilled by somebody other than their current partner
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