Social Exchange Theory Applied to RomanticRelationshipsEmily Wang9.00 Paper III: Rewriting the TextbookDecember 4, 2004Notes on Revisions MadeI added articles written by Carpenter and Betzig, and these articles are cited in my list ofsources. Small edits I made were the correction of the method of citation and the rewritingof awkward or unclear sentences that had been highlighted. I also added some sentences inplaces where I felt the transition between paragraphs had been too choppy. I decided not toelaborate on other theories for the differences seen between men and women in relationships,as this essay was mean to be included in the chapter in Gleitman that had already discussedalternate ways of looking at the differing roles of men and women in romantic relationships.I did try to investigate homosexual relationships, as this was a suggestion made duringthe discussion of possible revisions, but the literature on this particular topic was limited–as stated in Carpenter, most studies of sexual perceptions and sexual activity have beenlimited to heterosexual relationships, as they are the majority of relationships observed inour society. Homosexual and bisexual men and women are less commonly found and are notevenly distributed in the population, making it hard to find interviewees for these studies.The Carpenter study was one of the few I found that considered homosexual relationships,and it did so in the context of what virginity meant to different adults and young adults. Mycoverage of homosexual relationships was therefore limited to the specific topic of attitudestowards virginity. I had originally included a sentence on this topic, but I elaborated on thistopic in the revised version of my essay.I also expanded my essay by discussing the issue of infidelity in marriage, a subtopicI had not covered in my original essay. This topic was covered in one of my original four1sources and also in the addition source by Betzig. This subtopic was another demonstrationof how female sexuality is more valued by society than male sexuality, and was related tothe topic of female virginity vs. male virginity.2While idealistic views of sex in romantic relationships f ocus on sex as a private actbetween two equal partners who care about e ach other, it is the unfortunate fact that sexualdouble standards do exist, more obviously in the past but still to some extent today. Earlierin this chapter, we focused on evolutionary theory as one way of explaining the differencesbetween men and women. Another way of trying to explain the discrepencies between theway sex and romantic relationships are viewed by females and males is through applying theidea of social exchange theory to romantic relationships.Social exchange theory analyzes interactions between two parties by examining the costsand benefits to each. The key point of the theory is that it assumes the two parties areboth giving and receiving items of value from each other. Under this theory, interactions areonly likely to continue if both parties feel they coming out of the exchange with more thanthey are giving up–that is, if there is a positive amount of profit for both parties involved(Baumeister and Vohs 5).Rewards and costs are important concepts that form the basis of most social exchangetheories. Rewards are exchanged resources that bring pleasure and satisfaction, while costsare exhanged resources that are perceived as a loss or punishment.The social exchange framework is useful for understanding sexuality within a relationalcontext; it focuses on what each partner gives and receives from the other. It allows one toanalyze why people choose each other as romantic partners in the first place, which partnerhas more influence in the sexual activities the two engage in, and whether or not one or bothpartners might seek sexual activity outside of the relationship (Sprecher 32).The basis of the social exchange theory as applied to romantic relationships is that sex in aheterosexual community is a valuable commodity that a woman gives to a man in exchange3for other commodities. Compensation for sexual intimacy might be given in the form ofrespect, commitment, love, or items of monetary value (Sprecher 32]). Explained in thisfashion, sex is primarily a female resource, and hence women would seek to keep the price oftheir resource high, while men would seek to lower the price. There are three specific socialexchange models that are particularly relevant to sexuality that will be discussed in thissection: equity theory, outcome-interdependence theory and investment model,and the interpersonal model of sexual satisfaction.Equity theory can be summed up with four main points (Sprecher 33): (1) Individualswill try to maximize their outcomes by maximizing the difference between perceived rewardsand costs. (2) In order to maximize individuals’ rewards, the collective individuals involvedwill tend to create systems where resources can be fairly partitioned among members of agroup. To maintain this system, individuals who treat others fairly will be rewarded, whilethose who do not will be punished. (3) Inequalities in relationships will cause the participantsto be unhappy to a degree proportional to the amount of inequality. (4) Individuals will tendto work to balance out inequalities; the greater the inequality, the harder they will work toameliorate it.Proof for the equity theory is given by evidence that shows the most stable relationshipsoccur when neither partner feels that they are receiving fewer benefits than they deserve(Sprecher 36). Also, research show s that relationships where partners felt they were either“greatly underbenefited” or “greatly overbenefited” were less likely to have advanced tosexual intercourse. In addition to this, those men and women who felt they were in equaland reciprocal relationships were more likely to say that sexual activity had begun becauseboth members involved desired it. This would lead to less awkwardness in a relationship and4less need to negotiate for differing levels of sexual desire, again suggesting that a relationshipwhere both parties feel equal tends to be a stable relationship.The outcome-interdependence theory focuses on the rewards and costs that an in-dividual derives from a relationship. The factors that determine a individual’s evaluationof a relationship include the actual rewards and costs, the individual’s expectation for whathe or she should receive (comparison level),