Evaluation

• Research Support- Kurdek (1995) asked a variety of gay, lesbian and straight couples about their commitment to relationships via questionnaires. He found that partners who were most commited also received the most awards and fewest costs. These findings match the predictions of social exchange theory and strongly confirms the validity of the theory in gay and lesbian couples as well as heterosexual. The credibility of this study is enhanced because it has high temporal validity; carried out recently.
• Counterpoint- Studies into social exchange theory including Kurdeks ignores the crucial factor, equity. This, however, is addressed by the equity theory and alot of support is present for the role of equity in relationships. The balance of rewards and costs matters, but also the partners perception of fairness.
• x- direction of cause and effect - According to the SET, we become dissatisfied when we find that costs outweigh the benefits but Argyle (1987) argued that we don't monitor the costs or rewards until after we are dissatisfied. We potentially may not even notice alternatives. This suggests that considering costs/alternatives is caused by dissatisfaction than reverse. This also has real world application to some extent.
• x - Vague concepts - Rewards and costs have been defined superficially in research and money is used to measure them. However, real-world psychological rewards are subjective and hard to define. They can vary alot from person to person eg. loyalty can be seen as a reward but it is hard to establish the level of loyalty which is preferred due to comparison levels. This means that the theory is difficult to test in a valid way.
• Free will - Reciprocation when receiving rewards.
• Determinism - Environmentally determined actions through past experiences and exposure to social media.