Triangular Theory Of Love

What is Love?

“If music is the food of love, play on,” said Shakespeare. The theme of love is contained in most literature, film, and arts. It is a popular topic and scientists have tried to capture the essence of love through psychological research. This essay describes the main theories of love and the importance of love in interpersonal relationships. Based on the triangular theory of love, the essay describes how sexual attraction is part of love. The thesis of the essay is that love is an important component of human behaviour and that sexual attraction is one of the components of love.

Definition of Love

One of the early pioneers of research into love as a psychological construct was Zick Rubin, who developed a psychometric

Sternberg (1986) views love as consisting of three components: passion, intimacy, and commitment. Intimacy occurs when two people confide in each other and discuss their personal lives (Sternberg, 1986). Intimacy can be shown in friendships and romantic relationships (Sternberg, 1986). Commitment is more long-term and shows an agreement between two people that the relationship is enduring and permanent (Sternberg, 1986). Sexual attraction is also part of love, and this is when two people have a passion for each other. Passionate love is seen in the first phase of a romantic relationship and can be viewed as infatuation as well as romantic love (Sternberg, 1986). Sternberg’s (1986) three components of love fused together can produce different usages of love. In fact, all methods of love have changeable combinations including the three parts to the triangle (Sternberg, 1986). When people do not love each other, none of these components are included in the assessment. For example, liking only includes intimacy when two people share confidences with each other, such as friendship. Companionate love includes intimacy and commitment. The best kind of love is consummate love that includes all three components (Sternberg,

Love and sexual attraction are distinct factors yet are also related because the research shows that passionate love involves sexual attraction. Author Diane Ackerman discusses how the hormone, oxytocin, is important in the role of romantic love because it is encouraging physical touch and pleasure during lovemaking (Ackerman, 1994). The hormone very well sensitizes the nerves and increases sexual arousal (Ackerman, 1994). However, it is possible for love and sexual desire to be distinct because deep friendships can develop without sexual attraction (Ackerman, 1994). Research has been attentive to the neuroscience of love to enable a deeper understanding of the differences between love and sexual attraction. In a study that examined cortical activity, Bartels and Zeki (2000) linked the brain activity of individuals in the sample as they looked at an image of the person whom they love greatly with their friends. The researchers found distinctions in neural activity suggesting that there is a distinction between love and sexual desire. The intimacy experienced for friends appears to be different than romantic or passionate