The 7 types of love, according to psychologists

What is love? A very complicated question that has been asked for a long time by philosophers and other scholars. In the 1980s, American psychologist Robert Sternberg developed a theory called the ‘triangular theory of love’, which includes intimacy, passion and commitment. According to him, love, described in infinite ways in books and songs, is composed of these 3 aspects. Thanks to Sternberg’s work, it was possible to define 7 types of love, and today we are going to talk about each of them.

Before, however, it is important to mention that our feelings are not always the same. Often, what we feel for a person can fit into a type of love, but that doesn’t mean it will always be the same.

It’s that period when people still know each other for a short time, but they feel a strong attraction to each other. Often, people still don’t know if they really have much in common, but they want to be together.

According to psychologists, over time passion becomes something more complete, but not always. Many couples do not pass this stage and remain in this type of love.

It’s a kind of love that allows people to always be themselves. Typically, people share interests, worldviews, and a sense of mutual understanding. Psychologists believe that this kind of passionless intimacy can lead to friendship rather than romantic love.

Couples who live this kind of love have only commitment, but do not share intimacy or passion. Sometimes this type of relationship happens after a great passionate love, sometimes the opposite, people who feel an empty love change to another one that is much more charged with passion.

It includes commitment and passion, and is well known to couples. It’s that case where people really feel passion and are ready to follow traditions, like a true marriage and a lot of commitment.

Psychologists estimate that these couples can live together for a long time, but it’s hard to say if they’re really happy. The thing is, people rarely see their spouses as true friends.

This type of love includes passion and intimacy.. These couples like each other and feel comfortable with each other, but they are not ready to make serious commitments. Often, these relationships don’t last long, and they don’t end up in marriage.

Sociable love is founded on commitment and intimacy. These relationships are much stronger than a normal friendship, since among people there appears a stronger and truer affection. But they do not include love. Psychologists say that she appears after many years together, of knowledge and exchanges of experience.

This type of love is formed by 3 pillars: passion, intimacy and commitment. Of course, they don’t always have the same intensity, but ideally they are similar. These relationships don’t appear often, but people can build something in that direction, especially when they love and care for each other. Most likely, people who live this love enjoy their marriage a lot and live together for a long time.

Psychologists are sure that a person experiences different types of love many times during his lifetime. This can happen with the same person, as the level of intimacy changes, for example. Sometimes this happens to different people. But people don’t live in two kinds of love at the same time.

This division can help a person determine the type of relationship they are in., and assess if this is what you need. The best way to deal with this issue is to talk, so that people discover together what is the best way to live love for them.

And you, have you ever felt more than one type of love? Share your experience in the comments.