Rusbult's investment model: commitment, satisfaction, comparison with alternatives and investment
Rusbult's investment model explains why people stay in relationships. It says commitment depends on how satisfied you feel, what alternatives exist, and how much you have already put in.
Real World
Many people stay in unhappy marriages partly because of shared mortgages, children, and decades of shared memories — these sunk investments increase commitment even when satisfaction is low, exactly as Rusbult's model predicts.
Exam Focus
Explain how the model accounts for staying in abusive relationships via high investment and low alternatives — this earns strong AO2 application marks.
Evaluation Scaffold
A four-step framework for high-quality evaluation. Use this for 'assess', 'evaluate', and 'to what extent' questions.
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