Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Love
Sternberg, 1986
• Sternberg believed that the type and strength of
one couple’s love could be determined by
measuring the relative strength of the 3
components of Love…
1. Intimacy – feeling of closeness between two
people…
2. Passion – drive leading to romantic
attraction, physical attraction and
eventually sexual involvement…
3. Commitment
– decision to
stay with the
person and forgo
similar
relationships
with others…
3 Components…
• The ideal ‘balanced’ situation would exist when each
side of the ‘Love Triangle’ has been experienced with
sufficient intensity.
• Though ‘perfect balance’ is difficult to achieve, so
Sternberg developed a ‘Typology of Love
Relationships’ in order to accommodate these
interactions between the 3 components (Intimacy,
Passion & Commitment)
Intimac Passion
y
Commitme
nt
Balance?
• Different types of love exist – depending on the
presence/absence of intimacy, passion or
commitment.
• E.g. There can be relationships with intimacy and
passion only or even passion on its own.
• Types of love can be classified according to the
Typology below…
Intimac Passion
y
Commitme
nt
Love as a Story