Interpersonal Relationships of Love
Love
What is love? What are the major kinds of love? What is the effect of love on communication? How does love vary in different cultures and between men and women?
What is love? What are the major kinds of love? What is the effect of love on communication? How does love vary in different cultures and between men and women?
- Love is a feeling that may be characterized by passion and caring and by intimacy, passion, and commitment.
- Types of love:
- Eros love focuses on beauty and sexuality, sometimes to the exclusion of other qualities.
- Ludus love is seen as a game and focuses on entertainment and excitement.
- Storge love is a kind of companionship, peaceful and slow.
- Pragma love is practical and traditional.
- Mania love is obsessive and possessive, characterized by elation and depression.
- Agape love is compassionate and selfless, characterized as self-giving and altruistic.
- Verbal and nonverbal messages echo the intimacy of a love relationship. With increased intimacy, you share more, speak in a more personalized style, engage in prolonged eye contact, and touch each other more often.
- Members of individualist cultures are likely to place greater emphasis on romantic love than are members of collectivist cultures.
- Men generally score higher on erotic and ludic love, whereas women score higher on manic, pragmatic, and storgic love. Men generally score higher on romanticism than women.