In this article, Sternberg proposes that love
can be conceptualised as consisting of three primary components:
passion, intimacy and commitment. These can be conceptualised as a
`love triangle` with the three components forming the vertices.
| Passion |
`the drives that lead to romance,
physical attraction, sexual consummation, and related phenomena` (p.
119) |
| Intimacy |
`feelings of closeness, connectedness,
and bondedness in loving relationships` (p. 119) |
| Commitment |
`the decision that one loves someone
else and ... the commitment to maintain that love` (p. 119) |
These components may be combined to
characterise eight kinds of love.
| Kind of love |
Passion |
Intimacy |
Commitment |
| Nonlove |
- |
- |
- |
| Liking |
- |
X |
- |
| Infatuation |
X |
- |
- |
| Empty love |
- |
- |
X |
| Romantic love |
X |
X |
- |
| Companionate love |
- |
X |
X |
| Fatuous love |
X |
- |
X |
| Consumate love |
X |
X |
X |
Sternberg notes that the relative emphasis of
each component changes over time as an adult romantic relationship
develops.
| Passion |
Passionate arousal tends to occur at
the beginning of relationships, peaks relatively quickly and then
reduces to a stable level as a result of habituation. Following
relationship termination, an individuals capacity for passion appears
to go negative for a period of time, as the individual overcomes
feelings of loss. |
| Intimacy |
Intimacy tends to peak slower than
passion and then gradually reduces to a relatively low level of
manifest intimacy as interpersonal bonding increases. Changes in
circumstances, however, tend to activate latent intimacy, which can
cause the manifest level of intimacy to return or exceed its earlier
peak. |
| Commitment |
In successful relationships, the level
of commitment rises relatively slowly at first, speeds up, and then
gradually levels off. Where relationships fail, the level of commitment
usually decreases gradually and descends back towards the baseline. |
Sternberg goes on to compare his theory with
existing research and to consider a how partners love triangles could
be compared, that an individual may have both ideal and real triangles,
self and other triangles and interactions between all these.
This model of love is primarily of interest
here as it was used by Levy and Davis (1988)
when investigating adult romantic attachments.