Topic Summaries

Theories of romantic relationships

A-Level > Psychology > AQA > A-Level Psychology Topic Summaries > Relationships > Theories of romantic relationships
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  • The social exchange theory: in relationships, there is a series of exchanges. We aim to maximise rewards and minimise costs/losses.
  • The satisfaction of a relationship is reliant on the profitability of the relationship. Rewards and costs are subjective (e.g.money, sex, friendship, quality time).
    • Comparison levels: in a relationship we are judging whether our partner is living up to our expectations and the relationship provides what we expect it to. These expectations can be based on previous relationships, media influences, social norms, and how we view other relationships. It also depends on levels of self-esteem; for example, people with low self-esteem are more likely to stay in bad relationships and believe they don’t deserve better.
    • Comparison levels for alternatives: assess if we are better off with someone else/alone. This is where we weigh up the potential increase in rewards with another partner and the potential costs if we leave our current partner. If we view a different person as better, we may leave our current partner.
  • Equity theory: claims that the success of a relationship isn’t based on rewards vs.cost, but on satisfaction and how equal partners feel within the relationship.
    • Equity is not the same as equality – partners don’t need to gain the exact same rewards vs. costs but want to find a fair balance of rewards and costs. Equity leads to romantic satisfaction.
  • 👥 Rusbult’s (2001) investment model: seen to be a development of social investment theory as it includes satisfaction and comparison of alternatives. This model stipulates that investment has a greater impact on comparison levels than satisfaction. It explains why dissatisfied partners choose to stay in a relationship that they have heavily invested in – they would rather choose to fix an unsatisfactory relationship they have spent time in rather than move on and feel like their time was wasted.
    • Satisfaction: high or low based on the comparison of rewards vs. costs.
    • Alternatives: other people we may deem as suitable partners if our partner isn’t meeting our needs.
    • Investment: the level of time, money, and commitment put into a relationship.
  • 👥 Duck’s (2007) phase model of relationship breakdown: there are 4 main phases of a relationship breakdown:
    • Intra-psychic: this is where a person begins to feel dissatisfied in their relationship and spends a lot of time thinking about the reasons why. This is only internal – they do not share their feelings with their partner at this stage.
    • Dyadic: where the dissatisfied partner confronts their partner and initiates the break-up. There are typically many complaints from initiating partner. They also begin to look at alternatives and weigh up the costs vs. rewards.
    • Social: where both partners turn to their social groups in order to gain support in the break-up. There are many complaints to their friends, and it is hard for reconciliation to take place after this phase.
    • Grave-dressing: both partners create ideas of why the relationship broke down – often making themselves seem better and their partner appear worse. This signifies the end of a relationship and gives the person the feeling of needing to move on.

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