Social exchange theory
Social exchange theory is a psychological and sociological framework that suggests social behavior is fundamentally a process of exchange, where individuals seek to maximize personal benefits while minimizing costs. Originating in the early 1960s, the theory posits that people evaluate their social relationships through a metaphorical balance sheet, weighing the perceived rewards—such as companionship or financial gain—against the costs involved, which can include emotional effort, time, and potential lost opportunities. This approach highlights that the value of rewards is subjective; what one person sees as beneficial, another might not. Consequently, individuals are likely to shift their social engagements toward relationships that offer the most favorable balance of rewards and costs.
Social exchange theory has broad applications across various fields, including family science, psychology, anthropology, and political science, examining topics from marital stability to online interactions on social media platforms. In the digital age, the theory is particularly relevant as users often engage in low-cost exchanges and establish social status through actions like virtual gifting. Overall, this theory helps to explain how and why individuals select specific social relationships based on an ongoing assessment of personal gain and investment.
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Social exchange theory
Social exchange theory contends that social behavior results from a process of exchange based on maximizing personal benefits and minimizing personal disadvantages. Individuals weigh the rewards against the costs to select the most beneficial social relationships in which to engage, according to the theory. It has been applied widely in the field of family science to assess topics as diverse as marital stability to family member violence. It also has strong applications in the fields of anthropology, psychology, business, and political science.
Overview
Social exchange theory emerged in the early 1960s as an approach that applied economic principles to social relationships. By creating a metaphorical balance sheet, individuals can assess their own profits and losses associated with social situations and relationships and select those that maximize the benefits to themselves. The theory assumes that individuals regularly make these balance sheet calculations before deciding which social ties will best meet their specific needs.
On the profit side are the rewards an individual receives as a result of a social relationship, such as fun, friendship, or even financial gain. Whatever the benefit, the perception of it as a reward is highly individual. More specifically, the thing that motivates one individual as a reward may not be considered by another person to be a benefit at all. For example, fame may be an incentive in one person’s social relationship, while another individual may place fame in the loss column.
In cases where social rewards are lacking, individuals will seek out exchanges in which costs are the least prevalent. The types of costs associated with social exchanges fall into three main categories: expenditure of energy and emotion; investment of time, money, and resources; and lost opportunities from potential rewards from other relationships.
Individuals engaging in social exchange behavior typically have a threshold beyond which the exchange is no longer considered appealing. The concept is similar to a minimum pay wage that a person will accept for performing a certain job; anything offered below the wage threshold would not be considered acceptable and the person would likely decline the job. The scenario is essentially the same with social exchanges: Any interaction offering a lesser reward than a person is willing to accept in that exchange likely means the end of that relationship. Likewise, when the real benefits of a social interaction fall below the perceived benefits of another relationship, individuals will likely shift their exchange to the relationship with the most perceived reward.
According to the theory, social exchanges that deliver rewards to individuals result in patterns of social interaction that shape both the types of social relationships sought by an individual and the ways in which that individual is viewed by others who are also assessing their own social exchange balance sheets. Because all social interactions require an outlay of energy—a cost—only those behaviors that are adequately rewarded or that generate the smallest cost expenditure tend to be repeated, creating a pattern of consistency in social relationships. Within those relationships, the theory asserts, the individuals who offer the greatest advantages hold the greatest power in the social interaction.
With the growth of the internet, social exchange theory has also been applied to the virtual realm, particularly to those online interactions that occur on social networking websites such as Facebook. On such sites, users' behaviors are far more visible to researchers than are readily accessible for study in the real world. Researchers have found that users are likely to engage in online interactions because of the low personal cost associated with maintaining connections and that reciprocity in sending messages was prevalent. The practice of sending virtual gifts has also been associated with increased social status for the gift-giving user, which, according to social exchange theory, is motivated by the sender doing so in return for social reward.
Bibliography
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