Describe Theories Of Relaitonships
2 a) Outline two theories relating to the formation and/or maintenance of relationships (e.g. social exchange theory, reward and/or need satisfaction).
Social exchange theory (Thibaut and Kelly, 1959) is about the exchanges and interaction made between two people both before and during a relationship. These exchanges are all based on the individual aim to increase rewards and minimise costs, which can be applied to all social situations. When we gain more rewards than costs, we earn a profit, which is what we primarily look for in a relationship. The costs of a relationship, such as time, money and effort, need to be outweighed by the benefits, such as companionship, gifts and care, in order for the relationship to be profitable.
According to this theory, we create a comparison level (CL) to make sure that we choose the correct people for a profitable relationship. It is a standard, or level of expectation, created from previous relationship experience and observations of relationships around us. If we believe a relationship will exceed this standard with someone we have met, we will be attracted to them. If it turns out the relationship would be at a standard lower than the CL, we will lose the attraction towards this person. This concept is linked to the comparison level for alternatives, which is about how we supposedly evaluate the worth of rewards we may get in a different relationship, in comparison to the costs of ending the present one. If there is more of a profit level, the current relationship can be replaced with a new one.
This theory covers the development of a relationship in four separate stages.
The first stage is sampling, which is when we observe the costs and rewards of relationships that others have and base our own potential costs and rewards on them.
The second stage is bargaining; partners test whether or not the relationship is worth continuing by judging its profitability on how much each person...
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