Social Exchange Theory

• All social behaviour is a series of exchanges where individuals attempt to maximise their rewards and minimise their costs.
• Rewards from a relationship can include companionship, being cared for and sex.
• Costs of a relationship can include effort, financial investment and time wasted.
• Rewards-costs equal the outcome for that relationship.
• Social exchange theory is a concept in social psychology that explains relationships as a process of exchange, where individuals evaluate their partners based on the rewards and costs they provide.
• Commitment to a relationship is dependent on the profitability of this outcome.
• The social exchange theory of romantic relationships is evaluated in terms of its strengths and weaknesses.
• The social exchange theory of romantic relationships outlines how individuals evaluate their partners based on the rewards and costs they provide.
• Research into the social exchange theory of relationships has focused on understanding the dynamics of this process, including the role of emotion in decision-making.
• Thibaut and Kelly: comparison level is a product of experiences in other relationships and general views of what is expected from this particular exchange.
• If potential profit in a new relationship exceeds the comparison level, it is judged as worthwhile and the other person will be seen as attractive, but if negative, a relationship will be seen as less attractive.
• A person with an unpleasant relationship may have a low comparison level, so may be perfectly happy in a relatively poor relationship, but someone with rewarding relationships and high comparison level would have high expectations for future relationships.
• Comparison level for alternatives involves weighing up a potential increase in rewards from a different partner removing any costs with ending the current relationship, and a new relationship can take the place of a current one if its anticipated profit level is significantly higher.
• If alternatives to a relationship are more appealing, there will be a temptation for the individual to leave the current relationship and start a new one.
• The more rewarding the alternatives are, the less is that individual’s dependence on their current relationship, making relationships less stable if either partner has a low level of dependence on that relationship.
• Although they may recognise an unfavourable ratio of benefits to costs their relationship standard means they continue to provide benefits to their partner and simply put up with the costs.
• Gottman and Levenson found that in successful marriages the ratio of positive to negative exchanges was around 5:1 but in unsuccessful marriages the ratio was 1:1 or less.
• The study found that the problem of costs and benefits is subjective, as what might be considered rewarding to one person may be punishing to another.
• Integrated Behavioural Couples Therapy attempts to increase the proportion of positive exchanges within a relationship and decrease the proportion of negative exchanges, helping partners to break the negative patterns that cause problems and make each other happen.
• Key study: Kurdek and Schmitt involved 185 couples, including 35 co-habiting, 44 heterosexual married couples, 50 same-sex male couples and 56 same-sex female couples.
• Reliance on profitable outcomes as an indication of relationship satisfaction ignores other factors that play some role in this process.
• The problem of assessing value is also subjective, as the relative value of costs and benefits to the individual tends not to be the same as in commercial and economic relationships where social exchange theory is more typically applied.
• Christensen has treated over 60 distressed couples using ICBT, and around 2/3 reported significant improvements in the quality of their relationships as a result.
• Sprecher conducted a longitudinal study of 101 dating couples at a US university, finding that the exchange variable most highly associated with a relationship commitment was partners’ comparison level for alternatives.
• They may have the belief that if you have committed yourself to a relationship, you live with what it brings.
• The study showed that when the comparison level for alternatives was high, commitment and satisfaction tended to be low.
• Social exchange alone cannot explain relationship satisfaction- individual differences.
• An individual’s own relational beliefs may make them more tolerant of a relatively low ratio of benefits to costs within their relationship.
• Each couple in the study lived together and didn’t have children living with them.
• Each couple completed a questionnaire without discussing the answers with each other.
• For each of the 4 different types of couple, greater relationship satisfaction was associated with the perception of many benefits of current relationship, seeing alternatives to the current relationship as less attractive, and factors that predict satisfaction in same-sex couples are the same as in heterosexual couples.