Psychology Facts

▲ Triangular Theory of Love ▲

》The triangular theory of love explains the topic of love in an interpersonal relationship. Psychologist Robert Sternberg's theory describes types of love based on three different scales: intimacy, passion, and commitment.

》According to Sternberg, these three components of love combine to create eight kinds of love: nonlove, liking, infatuated love, empty love, romantic love, companionate love, fatuous love, and consummate love

》Intimacy:

the closeness each partner feels to the other and the strength of the bond that binds them together. Partners high in intimacy like value and understand their partners. The intimacy component plays a medium role in short-term relationships but plays a larger role in long-term relationships

》Decision/Commitment:

represents cognitive factors such as acknowledging that one is in love and committed to maintaining the relationship. The decision/commitment component tends to play a very small part if any part, in short-term relationships and a large part in long-term relationships

》Passion:

"The drive that leads to romance, physical attraction, sexual consummation, and related phenomena in loving relationships." This includes "those sources of motivational and other forms of arousal that lead to the experience of passion in a loving relationship," The passion component of love tends to have a large role in short-term relationships and only a medium role in long-term relationships

》According to Sternberg, the 3 components (intimacy, passion, commitment) are fundamental to what love is and interact in different ways to create -

》8 types of love:

Nonlove

The first type of love that Sternberg introduces is nonlove, which is when none of the three components of love are present in a relationship
Nonlove can be seen in the "casual interactions" in our everyday lives and actually "characterizes the large majority of our personal relationships." These relationships and interactions contain a complete lack of love, as none of the components of love are involved.

Liking (also called friendship)

The second type of love that Sternberg introduces is liking, which is when the intimacy component of love is present in a relationship, but the passion and decision/commitment components are not (Sternberg, 1986).
According to Sternberg, liking involves feelings of "closeness, bondedness, and warmth toward the other, without feelings of intense passion or long-term commitment"
Liking can be seen in the relationships in our lives that we refer to as friendships

Infatuation

The third type of love that Sternberg introduces is infatuated love, which is when the passion component of love is present in a relationship, but the intimacy and decision/commitment components are not (Sternberg, 1986).
Sternberg's Fatuous Love is a type of love that combines Passion (physical and romantic attraction) and Commitment (decision to maintain the relationship) but lacks Intimacy (deep connection and understanding).

This love type is often characterized by whirlwind romances driven by passion but lacking true depth. Sternberg places "love at first sight" in this category of love, which according to him, involves "a high degree of psychophysiological arousal, manifested in somatic symptoms such as increased heartbeat or even palpitations of the heart, increased hormonal secretions, erection of genitals (penis or clitoris), and so on" This kind of love develops very quickly, without time for any intimate feelings to grow or for a commitment to be made

Empty Love

The fourth type of love that Sternberg introduces is empty love, which is when the decision/commitment component of love is present in a relationship, but the intimacy and passion components are not (Sternberg, 1986).
This type of love can commonly be found in some long-term relationships where the couple has lost feelings for one another.

However, Sternberg points out an interesting phenomenon regarding this kind of love: "In our society, we are most accustomed to empty love as it occurs as a final or near-final stage of a long-term relationship," but "in other societies, empty love may be the first stage of a long-term relationship" (such as in an arranged marriage)

Romantic Love

The fifth type of love that Sternberg introduces is romantic love, which is when the intimacy and passion components of love are present in a relationship, but the decision/commitment component is not (Sternberg, 1986).

This kind of love can also be thought of as "liking with an added element, namely, the arousal brought about by physical attraction and its concomitants"
Romantic love can also be found towards the beginning of some long-term relationships before the involved parties have committed to a long-term relationship with the other person.

Companionate Love

The sixth type of love that Sternberg introduces is companionate love when the intimacy and decision/commitment components of love are present in a relationship, but the passion component is not (Sternberg, 1986).

Sternberg's Consummate Love refers to the ideal form of love that combines three components: Intimacy (deep connection and understanding), Passion (physical and romantic attraction), and Commitment (the decision to maintain love in the long term). It's considered the most complete and balanced form of love.

Sternberg describes this type of love as "a long-term, committed friendship, the kind that frequently occurs in marriages in which the physical attraction (a major source of passion) has died down" Because marriages typically involve such large amounts of the intimacy and decision/commitment components of love, they can often become forms of companionate love when the "spark" or the passion in the relationship is lost, commonly over time.

Fatuous Love

The seventh type of love that Sternberg introduces is fatuous love, which is when the passion and decision/commitment components of love are present in a relationship, but the intimacy component is not (Sternberg, 1986).

According to Sternberg, fatuous love "is the kind of love we sometimes associate with Hollywood, or with whirlwind courtships, in which a couple meets on Day X, gets engaged two weeks later, and marries the next month", where "a commitment is made on the basis of passion without the stabilizing element of intimate involvement"

Because the intimate component of love takes time to develop, these relationships lack that aspect of love and their relationship may therefore be more likely to fail

Consummate Love

Finally, the eighth type of love that Sternberg introduces is consummate love, which is when all three components of love are present in a relationship. Nowadays, when one thinks of love, they are most likely thinking about consummate love. Additionally, consummate love is seemingly the type of love that most people aim to find. Outside of romantic interests, an example of consummate love can be found in many parents" love for their children, often dubbed "unconditional love"