Social exchange theory

• What is the social exchange theory?

  • Thibault and Kelley (1959): in relationships we minimise losses and maximise gains
  • We make judgements about relationships based off of the rewards (what we get out of it) and the costs (what we give up/negative feelings)
• What is the comparison level? What is the comparison level for alternatives?

  • Comparison level is the amount of reward we believe we deserve - this is based off of previous relationship experiences and can be influenced by social norms e.g. low self-esteem -> low CL
  • Comparison level for alternatives is making the judgement of whether or not we gain greater rewards and less cost from our own relationship or alternative potentials e.g. we will stay in our relationship if it is more rewarding than leaving
• What is Thibault & Kelley's 4 stage model of relationship development?

  1. Sampling - consider potential rewards and costs, compare these to alternatives
  2. Bargaining - giving and receiving rewards to decide whether the relationship is worthwhile
  3. Commitment - relationship increases in predictability, partner knows how to elicit rewards so this lowers costs
  4. Institutionalisation - norms of the relationship are developed, establishing patterns of reward and cost for each partner
• What is one strength of the social exchange theory?

  • Research support: Kurdek (1995): gay, lesbian, and heterosexual couples completed a questionnaire measuring relationship commitment with SET variables
  • Found that partners who were the MOST committed saw more rewards and fewer costs + alternatives as relatively unattractive
  • Confirms main concepts of SET that predict commitment are independent of each other
• What is one limitation of the social exchange theory?

  • Argyle (1987) argues we are non constantly monitoring costs and rewards until after we are dissatisfied - in committed, satisfactory relationships we don't even notice potentially attractive alternatives
  • SET claims dissatisfaction only arises after a relationship stops being 'profitable' but it may be the reverse
• What is another limitation of the social exchange theory?

  • Vague concepts: real-word psychological rewards and costs are highly subjective and vary from one person to another, everyone has different standards for their costs and rewards
  • Unclear what the values of CL and CLalt must be before dissatisfaction threatens a relationship
  • Theory is difficult to test in a valid way