MAINTENANCE - created from Mind Map

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SOCIAL EXCHANGE

maximise rewards & minimise costs, make a profit

companionship, care

effort, financial investment

reward - costs = outcome. commitment to a relationship depends on the profitability of this outcome

develop comparison level- standard against all relationships are judged. assess whether one person offers better or worse than others could.

if potential profit exceeds our CL, relationship is worthwhile and other person is seen as an attractive partner

comparison level for alternatives- weigh up potential increase in rewards from different partner minus costs of ending the current relationship

doesn't specify how great the disparity in CL need be to become unsatisfactory.

does not explain why some leave relationships despite having no alternative

explains why some women stay in abusive relationships. when investments are high and alternatives are low, can still be considered a profit for the woman.

focus too much on individual's perspective and ignores social aspects of a relationships e.g. how partners communicate & interpret shared events.

selfish theory. are people motivated to maintain relationships only for selfish reasons? maybe only apply to individualist cultures, if at all, so culturally biased.

Rubin believed although people not fundamentally selfish, attitudes towards others are determined to a large extent by how rewarding we think they are for us, supporting the theory.

unselfishness is most evident in those emotionally closest to us. individuals can support their partners' self systems when faced with failure/other stressful life events. therefore this view is simplistic & inaccurate.

true love is giving as opposed to false love where people expect to have favours returned.

EQUITY

strive to achieve fairness in relationship & feel distressed/dissatisfied if they perceive unfairness.

research findings revealed satisfaction was highest for spouses who had equitable relationships, followed by over-benefited partners & lowest for under-benefited. these are consistent with predictions made by the theory

can contribute different amounts & can still be equitable. fairness is a subjective opinion for each partner.

gender difference in judging equity: husbands who earned more than their wives, judged their job as more important than the wife's job, women also did this. where the woman's income exceeded the husband's, neither partner rated their career more important. concluded that wives tendency to seek less for themselves than comparable men, delayed the achievement of equality at home.

perceived inequality gives motivation to restore it e.g. changing demands and amount we put into relationship.

'incomplete rendering of the way in which married people behave with respect to each other' i.e insufficient theory to explain marital maintenance.

close relationships are too complex for precise assessment of various rewards/costs involved in establishing equity.

interdependence theory says intimate relationships are diverse & complex and partners' motives can clash & converge, producing many outcomes. this theory goes beyond individual partners, considering the harmony or conflict between attitudes, value, goals etc of people in social relationships.

research distinguished between exchange (colleagues) and communal relationships (friends/lovers). communal are governed more by desire to respond to the other's needs. there is concern with equity but partners tend to believe it will eventually even out.

equity seems more important to females suggesting it is not applicable to both genders as research found that women do most of the work to make relationships equitable.

culturally biased as research found that while US students prefer equity, European students prefer equality. suggesting the theory reflects the values of US society

exchange & equity only apply to western cultures & only to short term relationships & individuals with high mobility e.g. students who are very mobile & experience many short romances. little time for development of long term commitment makes sense to be concerned about give and take. long-term relationships in other less mobile populations will value security more.

real world application of exchange: in successful marriages, ratio of positive to negative behaviour exchanges was higher than in unsuccessful marriages. IBCT helps partners break the negative patterns of behaviour, and 2/3 of those treated reported improvements in the quality of their relationship.

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