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Theories of Love

In: Social Issues

Submitted By kchaddick
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Summarize the psychological research on love between romantic partners.
Exactly what is the meaning of the word love? Webster’s Dictionary terms love as: A deep, tender, ineffable feeling of affection and solicitude toward a person, such as that arising from kinship, recognition of attractive qualities, or a sense of underlying oneness. This, among other “definitions” is a rudimentary and simplified thought of the word love. However, love does not have a finite meaning. One can love in a multitude of diverse ways. An example, one could say, “I love my sibling,” and I might also say “I love my television.” Yet, do I really love my television, like I love my sibling? One would hope that I do not. There are various and unalike types of love and furthermore many ways to love. Sternberg’s Theory of Love in the last two decades (Robert Sternberg a psychologist at Yale University) has prepared a plethora of work in an attempt for labeling love and determining what makes a love relationship successful. (Ainsworth, 1978)
Sternberg suggests three components of love and various combinations of these modules and components forming the different types of love, in which are; intimacy, passion, and commitment. (Sternberg, 2006)
Intimacy: Intimacy is the emotive portion in Sternberg's love triangle. The emotional intimacy dimensional element of love is best termed by feeling love for someone, as opposed to being "in love.” The emotional intimacy portion is primarily focused on fondness, friendship, trust and feelings of emotional propinquity that results from an ability to share one's personal and private, thoughts and feelings with a partner. Intimacy is the emotional sense of attachment, connectedness, close-ness.
Passion: Passion, being the motivational piece of Sternberg's love theory, can most easily be characterized by intense feelings of arousal, arising from physical

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