Social Exchange Theory

• Thibault and Kelley(1959) contend that the behaviour in relationships reflects the economic assumptions of exchange. We try to minimise losses and maximise gains (minimax principle). We judge our satisfaction in terms of the profit it yields.
• Rewards and costs are subjective, what one person considers a reward may be less valuable to someone else. Also, the values of rewards and costs may change over the course of a relationship.
• In the language if Blau (1964) , relationships can be 'expensive' , a relationship also incurs opportunity cost, your investment of time and energy into one relationship means you can't place that energy elsewhere.
• One of the ways we measure the profit in a romantic relationship is through comparison level which is the amount of reward you believe you deserve to get.
• Comparison levels develop out of our experience of previous relationships and is also influenced by social norms that is determine what is widely considered within a culture to be a reasonable level of reward which may be reflected in the media.
• We consider a relationship worth pursuing is our CL is high, there is an obvious link with self esteem here. Someone with low self esteem will have a low CL and will be satisfied with a small profit or even a loss.
• Another measure of profit provides wider context for our current relationship. Do we believe we could gain greater rewards and fewer costs from another relationship? This is given that in our culture romantic relationships are typically exclusive.

  Being in a satisfying relationship means we may not even notice alternatives.
• Another feature of SET concerns the 4 stages through which relationships develop.
• Sampling stage - We explore the costs and rewards of social exchange by experimenting with them in our own relationships or by observing others do so.
• Bargaining stage - This marks the beginning of a relationship, when romantic partners start exchanging various rewards and costs, negotiating and identifying what is most profitable.
• Commitment stage - As times goes on, the sources and costs of rewards become more predictable and the relationship becomes more stable as rewards increase and costs lessen.
• Institutionalisation stage - The partners are now settled down because the norms of the relationship, in terms of rewards and costs are firmly established.