A03

• * evidence from le & agnew 2003?

  • reviewed 52 studies from 1970s-1999 which included 11000 p & 5 countries
  • found that satisfaction, comparison with alternatives & investment size correlated with commitment
  • also those rs with most commitment lasted longest
  • was true for both men & women, all cutures, hetero/homosexual rs
  • population
  • shows that commitment is major part of maintaining rs & that its universal in all rs so can be generalised to wider population
• * explains real life behaviour of infidelity?

  • theory allows psychologists to explain why cheating occur in romantic rs as one of factors that affect commitment is comparison with alternatives
  • shows that people cheat as quality of alternative is high & they have less commitment
  • has real life practical application to help us understand infidelity
  • with this knowledge we can try & support couples
  • eg in marriage counselling by identifying why alternative partner may be more desirable & how to ensure levels of commitment are equal in order to maintain rs
• * explains all relationships?

  • allows us to explain maintenance of abusive rs as it explains why people stay together even though they are being abused
  • eg if they have high extrinsic investment - child makes couple more committed to one another & could potentially lose child if their rs breaks down
  • explains maintenance of all rs including ones that appear to be unfair/not profitable by suggesting factors that affect commitment levels are more superior in maintenance of romantic rs
• * better more complex than than SET?

  • model not only considers rewards & costs in rs but it also considers factors that affect commitmnet in rs
  • eg intrinsic & extrinsic investments
  • considers deeper factors which can better explain how couples successfully stay together & maintain their romantic rs
• X use of questionnaires?

  • used to measure levels of commitment
  • people may suffer from social desirability when answering questions on how commited they are in rs & may say theyd never leave/cheat on someone even if they have as theyre committed to rs
  • ? internal
  • findings of research in to this area may be inaccurate reflection of levels of commitment required in maintenance meaning we cannot generalise findings to real life rs
• X correlational?

  • can see relationship between commitment & maintenance but we cannot establish cause & effect relationship between variables
  • we dont know if its commitment causing maintenance of rs/if its maintaining rs that causes them to be more committed
  • ? internal
  • dont know which factor is affecting which & cannot establish cause & effect between commitment & formation & maintenance of romantic rs