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Chapter 14: Problem 3

Differentiate the different kinds of love. Passionate love is characterized by intense physiological arousal, intimacy, and caring, while companionate love is characterized by respect, admiration, and affection. Psychologist Robert Sternberg suggests that three components of love (intimacy, passion, and decision/commitment) combine to form eight types of love through which a relationship can dynamically evolve.

Short Answer

Expert verified
Passionate love is characterized by intense physiological arousal, intimacy, and caring, while companionate love is defined by respect, admiration, and affection. The different types of love are formulated based on the three components of love: intimacy, passion, and decision/commitment. Understanding how these components interact with each other helps to differentiate the various kinds of love as suggested by Sternberg.

Step by step solution

01

Understand the components

First, familiarize yourself with the definition and meaning of the three components of love, according to Sternberg. 'Intimacy' refers to feelings of closeness, connectedness, and bondedness. 'Passion' refers to the drives that lead to romance, physical attraction, and sexual consummation. 'Decision/Commitment' refers to the decision that one loves another, and the commitment to maintain that love.
02

Formulate the types of love

Next, identify the eight types of love formulated by Sternberg. These include: nonlove, liking/friendship, infatuated love, empty love, romantic love, companionate love, fatuous love, and consummate love. Each of these types of love is characterized by the presence or absence, to varying degrees, of the three components of love.
03

Highlight Key Differences

Finally, highlight key differences between these types of love. For instance, 'Passionate love' is characterized by strong feelings of intimacy and passion but may lack commitment. On the other hand, 'Companionate Love' involves high levels of intimacy and commitment but may lack passion. Differentiating between these types of love involves understanding how these components interact with each other.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

List factors that influence the choice of a career in early adulthood. A model developed by Ginzberg suggests that people typically move through three stages in choosing a career: the fantasy period of youth, the tentative period of adolescence, and the realistic period of young adulthood. Other approaches, such as that of Holland, attempt to match people's personality types with suitable careers. This sort of research underlies most career- related inventories and measures used in career counseling.

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