Robert Sternberg's Theory Of Love

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As the prompt addresses, there are many ways one could describe the concept of romantic love. Many people have formed their opinions about romantic love, however there has been a great amount of research that includes factual information about the concept. Robert Sternberg is considered a pioneer in the concept of love and has developed a theory. This theory is called the triangular theory of love. This theory is considered to be one of the best researched and is used most often. To understand the two situations presented in the prompt, one must first understand Sternberg’s theory. Then one can identify the type of love in each situation and compare the similarities and differences between them. Robert Sternberg’s theory of love involves …show more content…
However, one must first understand the 3 base qualities. The first fundamental quality as mentioned before is passion. Passion is mostly centered around physical attraction and sexual desire. Not only does passion have physical aspects, but emotional as well and it involves feelings of anxiety, delight, anger, and also jealousy. The next quality is intimacy. Intimacy is based around attachment. It is the feeling of closeness and emotional attachment, specifically. It involves mutual understanding and support, as well as open communication that is only discussed between the two. Commitment is the final fundamental quality and ultimately is what sustains a long-term relationship. It is the pledge to love someone in the long run, no matter the problems that occur. All three of these qualities make up the seven forms of love. To understand how the couples vary to Sternberg’s theory, one needs to know the forms of love that follow the different combinations of the 3 base qualities. The seven forms of love are liking, infatuation, empty love, romantic love, …show more content…
Julie and Jack know each other very well and share a mutual desire on what’s best for the two of them. They are committed to staying together but they are not sexually active and feel no romantic connection. The second situation is between a couple named Susan and Sam. They are connected on a deep level and are very close in the emotional sense. They understand each other well and admire each other deeply. They spend a majority of there time together having sexual relations. According to Sternberg’s theory, the first couple involves a lot of intimacy and commitment. However, they do not possess the quality of passion. The second couple, according to Sternberg’s theory, involves a lot of passion and intimacy, but no commitment. The couple’s are different in the sense of the three base qualities. They both share the quality of commitment, however, Couple 1 has no passion and Couple 2 has no commitment. The first couple could be classified as companionate love. This is because they have intimacy and commitment. In the example, the couple shows that they are connected and committed to staying together, however, they are not sexually active so therefore they don’t have a lot of passion. The second couple could be classified as romantic love. This is simply because their relationship involves passion and intimacy but no commitment. In the example, the couple has strong admiration for each other and have

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