investment model

• who developed the investment model of relationships?

  Rusbult
• what three things determine whether or not a person remains in a relationship?

  • satisfaction level
  • investment size
  • quality of alternatives
• describe how satisfaction determines commitment to a relationship

  • satisfaction level- refers to the positive vs negative experiences in the relationship
  • influenced by the extent to which each partner fulfils the other's most important needs- for example, domestic/sexual needs
• describe how quality of alternatives determines commitment to a relationship

  • the extent to which an individual's most important needs might be fulfilled outside the current relationship
  • perceiving that an alternative might lead to better outcomes than in the current relationship could turn an individual away from the current one
  • however, if no alternatives are present an individual persists in a relationship because of a lack of better options
  • having no relationship may seem more attractive than staying in the current relationship
• describe how investment size determines commitment to a relationship

  • measure of the resources attached to the relationship
  • eg- time, energy, money, children
  • investments increase dependence on the relationship as they increase connections with each partner that would be costly to break, causing people to persist in a relationship
• describe how commitment level determines commitment to a relationship

  • likelihood that an involvement will persist
  • high in romantic partners who are happy with their relationship, low in those who aren't
  • those who are committed anticipate little gain and more cost out of leaving a current relationship
  • commitment is specifically a consequence of increasing dependence on investments tied to the relationship or the lack of alternatives
• what is commitment level?

  the likelihood that a relationship will persist
• evaluation of Rusbult's model?

  • 😊real world application- explaining abusive relationships- Rusbult and Martz- alternatives and investment size strong indication of whether battered women at a shelter returned to their partners
  • 😊variables of investment model difficult to measure quantitatively- Rusbult developed investment model scale to counter this- high in reliability and validity
  • ☹️investment model scale based on self-report, people can lie- social desirability bias
  • 😊Le et Agnew- meta-analysis of 52 studies, found satisfaction level, QLA and investment size highly related to commitment. Correlation of satisfaction and commitment stronger than of QLA or investment size to commitment