social exchange theory (SET)

• profit + loss

  • one major assumption that applies to all social relationships is that they are based on a form of exchange
  • we maximise the rewards of the relationship whilst minimising costs
  • rewards from relationships include: being cared for, companionship + sex
  • costs: effort, financial investment + time expended
  • both partners try to give minimal costs in order to gain enough rewards to make the relationship profitable
• thibault + kelley (1959):

  behaviour in a relationship reflect economic assumptions of exchange

  • try to minimise losses + promote gains
  • judge satisfaction with a relationship in terms of profit it yields
  • rewards + costs are subjective - may be different to others and change overtime
• comparison levels

  • thibault + kelley = we have certain comparison levels that we judge all our relationships against
  • this CL is based on our expectations from previous relationships
  • is profit from a new relationship is deemed above CL = relationship is worthwhile
• what if this was their first relationship?

  get comparison level from:

  • parents
  • social media
  • friends
  • movies/tv shows

  SET predicts we will stay in our current relationship only so long as we believe is more rewarding than alternatives

  duck 1994 = comparison level of alternatives, we adopt will depend on state of current relationship

  if costs outweigh pros, then see others as alternatives
• stages of relationship development

  thibault + kelley suggested relationships develop in 4 stages:

  1. sampling - experimenting with costs + rewards of social exchange in our own relationships/observations of other relationships
  2. bargaining - romantic partners exchange various rewards + costs, identify + negotiate which is more profitable
  3. commitment - costs + rewards become more predictable. costs reduce and rewards increase due to relationship stability
  4. institutionalisation - partners are now settles due to norms of a relatiomship being firmly established
• evaluation - supporting research

  • Joel et al (2020) conducted a meta-analysis of 43 longitudinal studies of couples,
  • Two of the top five predictors of relationship success were 'sexual satisfaction' and 'conflict'.

  HOWEVER...

  • Joel et al. also found that another two of the top five predictors of relationship success were 'perceived partner commitment' and 'perceived partner satisfaction
  • SET does not take perceptions of a partner's happiness into account at all.
  • This suggests that it is an oversimplistic model of relationship success.
• methodological difficulties with measuring benefits and costs in SET

  • Rewards and costs are difficult to quantify.
  • They can be entirely subjective and emotional
  • They have often been defined superficially in order to measure them e.g. money
  • This makes it very difficult to accurately quantify whether benefits might outweigh costs or not

  BECAUSE OF THIS...

  • Clark and Mills (2011) suggest that the theory only works for relationships where it is easier to 'keep score'
  • Exchange relationships (coworkers) do involve SE, but Communal relationships (romantic partners) do not.
• evaluation - ignores equity

  • There is much more research support for equity
  • Neglect of this factor means that SET may be a limited explanation
  • E.g. Stafford and Canary found that over-benefitted partners were less satisfied that partners who perceived their relationship as equitable