Social Exchange Theory: The Intimate Relationship In Couples

While discussing the intimate relationship in couples, it is very significant to discuss the Social exchange theory. This theory has three broad categories i.e reward, costs and resources. Rewards and resources are the benefits exchange in social relationships. Rewards can be defined as the pleasures, satisfactions and gratifications that a person enjoys while participating in a relationship (Thibaut & Kelley, 1959). Resources, on the other hand, are any possessions, objects or emblematic, that can be transmitted through interpersonal behavior (Foa & Foa 1980).
Costs of social relationships involve the energy invested in the relationship, the course of action or the punishments involved (Blau, 1964). These categories have their implications