theories of romantic relationships: investment theory

Question 1

what does the investment model of relationships propose

Answer 1

• economic theory
• devised to adress weaknesses of SET
• in model Rusbult emphasises the importance of commitment in rleationships - model states there are 3 variables which influence xommitment, which inturn influences whether or not relationship is liekly to continue

Question 2

what are 3 investments

Answer 2

1. satisfaction - extenet to which romntic partners feel the rewards of the relationship (emotional support etc) outweigh the costs (arguments, time etc)
2. alternatives - what romantic partners feel they deserve and what they could get
3. investments - assessment of loses associated with ending the relationship ( happy memories, money). investments increase dependence on the relationship becuase they increase connections with partner that would be costly to break

Question 3

what is the commitment level

Answer 3

• intention or desire to maintin and continue with the relationship
• a high commitment level would result from hgih levles of satisfaction, lowerquality of alternatives, and increased investments

Question 4

what are instrinsic investments

Answer 4

comprimise things we put directly into the relationship such as effort, money, possessions, self disclosure

Question 5

extrinsic investments

Answer 5

refers to the things that are brought to peoples life thorugh the relationship such as children, friends, shared memories

Question 6

strength: supporting

Answer 6

I: evidence that supports the investment model of relationships
E: Le and Agnew carried out a meta analysisof 52 studies from 5 different countries. across all studies satisfaction level, qual of alternatives, and investment size were highly correlated with relationship commitment. relationship with greater commitment were more stable and lasted longer
C: investment model has lavlidty in explaining romantic relationship maintence. higher population validity too

Question 7

Strength: explanatory

Answer 7

I: model has strong explanatory power
E: victims of abuse experience low satisfaction in their relationship, yet many stay with their abuser. ivestment model would explainthis becuase investments made may be high ie: home and stability for children. committment may be made to maintain the relationship, despite low satisfaction
C: increases the validity of model by showing its ability to account for real life relationships

Question 8

Weakness: cause and effect

Answer 8

I: problems establishing cause and effect
E: investment model argues that investment size determines commitment, however relationship commitment may be caused by other factors ie: family pressure, cultural beleifs
C: the validity of the investmnt model is reduced as it cannot explain why all relationships are maintained

Question 9

weakness: general point for all economic theories

Answer 9

I: measuring the concepts of economic theories is difficult
E: becuase its difficult to measure objectively define what constitues a ‘reward’. some are fairly straightforward to measure if they are tangible, such as money. other psychological rewards are more abstract, so harder to quantify eg: emotions
C: reduces the validity of the theoriesbecause it is hard to test them in a consistent way