Theories of romantic relationships: Duck's phase model Flashcards
What is Duck’s phase model?
Steve Duck proposed a model of relationship breakdowns.
It is an explanation of the stages people go through when their relationship is not working. Each phase is marked by one partner or both reaching a threshold. (a point at which their perception of the relationship becomes worse).
What are the four phases of relationship breakdown in Duck’s phase model?
Intra-psychic phase
Dyadic phase
Social phase
Grave dressing phase
When does the road to break up begin?
Once one partner realises that they are dissatisfied with the relationship and distressed about the way things are going.
What is the Intra-psychic phase?
Threshold: ‘I cant stand this anymore’, indicating a determination that something has to change.
The focus in this phase is the cognitive processes occurring within the individual.
The dissatisfied partner worries about the reasons for his or her dissatisfaction. They will keep this private or tell a close friend.
They weigh up the pros and cons of the relationship and evaluate these against the alternatives.
Some start making plans for the future.
What is the Dyadic phase?
Threshold:They eventually come to the conclusion,’I would be justified in withdrawing.’
The focus of this phase is on interpersonal processes between the two partners. There comes a point when they cannot avoid talking about their relationship any longer.
This leads to a series of confrontations in which the relationship is discussed and dissatisfactions are aired.
At this point there are 2 possible outcomes: Carry on breaking up the relationship or a renewed desire to repair the relationship.
At this stage, self-disclosures become deeper and more frequent in this phase as partners express thoughts and feelings they had been withholding in the intra-psychic phase.
What is the social phase?
Threshold: The dissatisfied partner concludes, ‘I mean it’
The focus is now on wider processes involving the couple’s social networks.
The break-up is made public. Partners will seek support and try to forge pacts.
Mutual friends find they are expected to choose sides.
The social forces then take action and provide reassurance or place blame on the other partners..
This is usually the point of no return.
What is the grave dressing phase?
Threshold: ‘It is now inevitable’
The focus of this phase is on the aftermath. Partners will spin a favourable story about the breakdown for public consumption. Allowing partners to maintain a positive reputation, usually at the expense of the other partner.
It also involves creating a personal story you can live with, such as tidying up memories of the relationship.
Evaluation: Real-world application- The model suggests ways in which relationship breakdown can be reversed.
The model is useful because it recognises that different repair strategies are more effective at some points in the breakdown than others.
Duck recommends that people in the intra-psyhic phase could focus their worrying on the positive aspects of their partner.
Plus, a feature of the dyadic phase is communication, any attempt to improve this and wider social skills could be beneficial in fostering greater stability in the relationship.
These insights can be used in relationship counselling to help people through difficult times.
Evaluation : Cultural limitations
The model is based on research on individualistic cultures (US)
But relationships in collectivist cultures are less every to end and involve the wider family.
This means the model’s application would not be useful in all cultures.
Evaluation: incomplete model- Resurrection phase
One limitation is that the model is an incomplete explanation of breakdown.
Duck added a fifth phase (resurrection phase)
Where ex-partners apply to future relationships the experiences gained from their recently-ended one.
Plus, the researchers also argued that the progression from one phase is not inevitable because it is possible to return to an earlier point in any phase.
Therefore, the model does not account for the complexity of breakdown and its dynamic nature.
Evaluation: Early phases are less understood
Another limitation of the model is that it underexplains the early phases of breakdown.
This is because much of the research is retrospective. participants in research studies generally reported their experiences some time after the relationship had ended, so what they recall may o be accurate or reliable.
Partners can spend a long time in the intra-psychic phase so recall could be distorted.
This means that the model may not explain the early part of the breakdown process as well as later phases.
