Theories of romantic relationships

• Social Exchange Theory

  Relationships can be explained in terms of the economic principle of profit and loss
• Profit

  Rewards - Costs
• Minimax principle

  Individuals will attempt to maximise rewards while minimising costs
• Profitable relationships


  Will be maintained
• Unprofitable relationships


  Will fail
• Rewards in a relationship

  • Companionship
  • Status
• Costs in a relationship

  • Time
  • Stress
• Comparison Level (CL)


  A standard against which our relationships are judged, determined by relationship experiences and norms
• If we judge the potential profit of a relationship to exceed our CL

  The relationship will be judged as worthwhile and maintained
• Comparison Level for Alternatives (CLalt)


  The judgement of whether an individual believes they 'can do better'
• If the anticipated profit is significantly higher in the alternative relationship

  There will be a temptation to leave the current relationship
• Four stages of relationships

  1. Sampling stage

  2. Bargaining stage

  3. Commitment stage

  4. Institutionalisation stage
• Sampling stage


  • Exploring rewards and costs by experimenting in our relationships and observing others
• Bargaining stage


  • Romantic partners negotiate around costs and rewards
• Commitment stage


  • Relationships become more stable, costs reduce and rewards increase
• Institutionalisation stage


  • Partners become more settled because the norms of the relationship in terms of rewards and costs are established
• Research support evidence

  • Importance of social exchange in romantic relationships
• Kurdek & Schmitt (1986) investigated relationship quality in 185 couples; each couple was cohabiting but fell into two of four categories: married or not married, and heterosexual or same-sex partners
• Using individually completed questionnaires, Kurdek et al (1986) found greater relationship satisfaction was strongly associated with the perception of type and quantity of benefits in the current relationship (CL) and seeing alternative relationships as less attractive than the current relationship (CLalt)
• This research not only supports social exchange theory as an explanation of romantic relationships, but also shows that the factors which predict satisfaction are the same in different types of relationships, giving further credibility to the theory
• Costs and benefits

  Rather than being fixed entities, they are often fluid or perceived differently by different people
• What may be perceived as a cost or benefit at one stage of a relationship

  May alter at a different stage of the relationship
• It is almost impossible to decide the satisfaction of a relationship by the 'costs' and the 'benefits' as these factors are simply too difficult to operationalise and measure, thus social exchange theory is seriously undermined
• Social exchange theory

  A practical application is its usefulness in couples therapy
• Gottman and Levenson (1992) found a major difference between satisfied and unsatisfied marriages was the ratio of positive to negative exchanges
• In satisfied marriages, for every negative exchange there were five positive exchanges
• In unhappy marriages this ratio was one to one or less
• Integrated Behavioural Couples Therapy (IBCT)


  Utilises the principles of social exchange theory to increase the number of positive exchanges and decrease the amount of negative exchanges within a relationship
• IBCT helps partners to break negative patterns and leads to a more satisfying relationship
• Christensen et al (2004) used IBCT on 60 couples and found two-thirds of them reported significant improvements
• This demonstrates how social exchange theory can be applied to help improve troubled relationships
• Social Exchange Theory


  A theory that suggests individuals are out to maximise their profit in a relationship
• A major weakness of social exchange theory is it ignores 'fairness'
• Equity


  The principle that you get out what you put in
• Social exchange theory ignores the principles of equity


  The theory has significant shortcomings
• Individuals who feel over-benefitted and under-benefitted

  • Over-benefitted individual (put in a little, received a lot)
  • Under-benefitted individual (put in a lot, but received a little)
• Inequity in profits


  Leads to dissatisfaction regardless of who benefits
• The suggestion that relationship satisfaction comes from profit maximising as social exchange theory proposes is disputed
• Equity theory

  An economic theory of relationships developed in response to criticism of Social Exchange Theory, which suggests that people want fairness in a relationship, not just maximising rewards and minimising costs
• Equity theory

  • People want to ensure fairness in their relationship, where each partner experiences a balance between their costs and their rewards
  • The goal of the relationship is not for profit but for fairness
  • If one partner puts in a lot and gains a lot and the other partner puts in less but gains less, the profitability for each partner is said to be equitable