Outline and Evaluate a Theory Into the Formation of Relationships.

563 Words3 Pages
The Reward-Need Satisfaction theory was first introduced by Byrne and Clore. It refers to the formation of relationships using the behaviour conditioning of classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Classical conditioning is when the individual forms a relationship due to association of positive events to a neutral stimuli being the other individual as the positive event had caused positive feelings, they feel the positive feelings when they see the individual, being the reward. Operant conditioning is when the individual seeks to gain positive reinforcement such as the reward and avoid punishment. Byrne and Clore said the balance of feelings was crucial in formation of relationships. A study to support RNS would be by Griffit and Guay. They found that the participants who received positive feedback rated the onlookers positively. This supports the RNS because participants had associated their positive event of being rated highly to their positive feeling of being happy and therefore rated others positively. Another study to support RNS would be the biological support presented by Aron et al. They found those who rated their current romantic relationship highly in terms of rewards, also found strong activity in the ventricle tegmental area. This supports RNS because there is a strong correlation between level of reward and activity in the brain, therefore implying that rewards are a deterministic factor in forming relationships. However, contradictory research conducted by Hays found that we gain satisfaction by giving rewards as well as receiving. Therefore RNS is inconclusive. Problems with Griffit and Guay’s research would be how research has been conducted in an artificial lab setting. This lacks ecological validity because relationships occur in natural environments and are ever-changing. Therefore it lacks external validity. This means that lab
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