Section 1:
The case I picked was that of Celia, a 35-year-old Hispanic female. Celia is married to Carlos, and they have a 7-year-old son together. Even though the duo have lived together for some time, the two keeps encountering trouble revolving around the issue of intimacy. Carlos is not comfortable in the relationship because Celia does not want to give him his conjugal rights ( Hyde & DeLamater, 2008) . The matter between the couple worsened because Carlos suggested that their marriage should become an open one where they could both see people outside the marriage. Carlos sees that this is the best option, but Celia is skeptical about this whole issue citing that she finds it weird if they both had sexual relationships with other people while they were still married. In this case, the population concerned are individuals who are not satisfied in their marriage and feel that their partner is not living up to their promise to stay faithful. The issue affects this population because one party thinks that they are giving rewards in the relationship but do not get appreciation in return ( Cropanzano et al., 2017) . For instance, Carlos feels that he loves Celia and would want to engage in sexual activities with her because they are married. However, Celia does not seem to be giving back the reward because she does not want to engage in sexual intimacy with her husband.
Section 2:
The chosen theory for the analysis of this case is the social exchange theory. According to the social exchange theory, human sexuality is often depicted in a manner that relates to economics ( Wright, 2015) . In essence, individuals are often trying to maximize reward while attempting to minimize the cost at the same time. In this regard, the theory posits that human interaction is a series of exchanges where individuals who give rewards feel that the other person is obligated to reciprocate the actions. Relating the theory to Celia and Carlos's case, it can be elucidated that men have more sexual desires than their female counterparts. As such, men feel that women are supposed to be ready for any sexual activity whenever a man is ready. The situation that arises from this case is referred to as the principle of least interest ( Wright, 2015) . The principle of least interest stipulates that the party with the least interest in any relationship is the one that wields the most power.
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Therefore, as has been discussed in the previous section, women have the most power in sexual relationships because they are the ones with the least interest, according to the social exchange theory. Since women have more negotiations in such relationships, they sometimes ask for additional rewards in the form of affection or even money and other favors from the man ( Jonason & Middleton, 2015) . The social exchange theory is most prominent in communities where there is inequality between men and women in terms of access to education or even political representation. Since the couple in the case are Hispanic, it is easy to conclude that their sexual relationship fits perfectly into the social exchange theory. Hispanic societies are known to disadvantage women in ways that make them have fewer opportunities compared to their male counterparts ( Cook et al., 2013) . It is noticeable that Celia has more negotiating power when it comes to matters of sex in their relationship than her husband, which is why Carlos keeps complaining about their sexual relationships.
Section 3:
The behavior in the case that I would like to know more about is Celia refusing to give in to sexual advances by her husband while still insisting that they cannot have an open marriage. The research question that arises from this concern would be “What is the impact of a balance of rewards on partner satisfaction and relationship stability?” This question comes up because the case gives a hint that the imbalance of sexual rewards in the marriage between Carlos and Celia is threatening to explode into a breakup. One can already notice that Carlos is dissatisfied and seeking unconventional alternatives to his sexual woes after consulting a friend. Thus, this research question would be an excellent starting point when inquiring about the role that the balance of rewards plays in partner satisfaction and relationship stability.
Section 4:
The research question could be answered by going through relevant literature on various research directories. This means that one has to take a qualitative approach to explore the past research done on the topic. Peer-reviewed journals are particularly important for this purpose because many scholars have carried out experiments along these lines. Even better, one could perform a literature review where they would need to search and find relevant articles that say something about the balance of rewards, partner satisfaction, and relationship stability. Once a person finds the right directory to check the articles, they will inevitably come across the answer to the research question upon a critical synthesis of the materials.
References
Cook, K. S., Cheshire, C., Rice, E. R., & Nakagawa, S. (2013). Social exchange theory. Handbook of social psychology , 61-88.
Cropanzano, R., Anthony, E. L., Daniels, S. R., & Hall, A. V. (2017). Social exchange theory: A critical review with theoretical remedies. Academy of Management Annals , 11 (1), 479-516.
Hyde, J. S., & DeLamater, J. D. (2008). Understanding human sexuality . McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
Jonason, P. K., & Middleton, J. P. (2015). Dark triad: The “dark side” of human personality.
Wright, J. (2015). International encyclopedia of the social & behavioral sciences . Amsterdam: Elsevier.
