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Dec 6, 2023 · The Triangular Theory of Love, proposed by psychologist Robert Sternberg, suggests that love consists of three components: Intimacy (emotional closeness and connectedness), Passion (romantic and physical attraction), and Commitment (decision to maintain the love in the long term).
Oct 14, 2023 · Sternberg’s Triangular Theory of Love suggests that love comprises three components: Intimacy, Passion, and Commitment. Each component plays a unique role in forming a loving relationship, and couples with a strong sense of all three components often feel a deep sense of fulfillment and satisfaction.
- Friendship. This type of love is when the intimacy or liking component is present, but feelings of passion or commitment in the romantic sense are missing.
- Infatuation. Infatuation is characterized by feelings of lust and physical passion without liking and commitment. There has not been enough time for a deeper sense of intimacy, romantic love, or consummate love to develop.
- Empty Love. Empty love is characterized by commitment without passion or intimacy. At times, a strong love deteriorates into empty love. The reverse may occur as well.
- Romantic Love. Romantic love bonds people emotionally through intimacy and physical passion. Partners in this type of relationship have deep conversations that help them know intimate details about each other.
Aug 29, 2020 · Developed throughout the '80s and '90s by psychologist and professor Robert Sternberg, Ph.D., the triangular theory of love identifies three main components of love: intimacy, passion, and decision/commitment. Each of the three encompasses different emotions, with all three resulting in what Sternberg calls complete or consummate love.
Sternberg's triangular theory of love provides a strong foundation for his later theory of love, entitled Love as a Story. In this theory, he explains that the large numbers of unique and different love stories convey different ways of how love is understood.
The triangular theory of love holds that love can be understood in terms of three components that together can be viewed as forming the vertices of a triangle. The triangle is used as a metaphor, rather than as a strict geometric model. These three components are intimacy, passion, and decision/commitment.
The Triangular Theory of Love does not suggest that all love exists within a perfect, equal triangle. As you will see, the different aspects of love may appear or not appear in a loving relationship. The idea of a triangle, says Sternberg, is merely a metaphor.
