Triangle Of Love

A noted psychologist researches the make-up of love, citing three main ingredients--intimacy, passion, and commitment--that determine the success of a relationship and offers guidelines for enhancing personal relationships

According to this Yale psychology professor's "triangular theory of love," every love relationship has three componentsintimacy, passion, commitmentand how these elements match up and change determines a couple's closeness and longevity. Here is a handy geometrical explanation for fatuous love (passion + commitment), companionable twosomes (commitment + intimacy), stagnant duos that go on for years with commitment but no passion, and the rare, consummate romance which combines all elements of the triangle. Sternberg, author of The Triarchic Mind , often daunts the general reader with love scales, lists, diagrams and tedious summaries of scientific research on love. His own investigations yielded surprising conclusions: passion and sex increase rather than decrease in importance over the first few years of a marriage; whether a person comes from a loving family is a poor predictor of how much she or he will love you.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Yale psychologist Sternberg provides an intelligible overview of theory and research on the psychology of heterosexual love. Growing out of his own and others' empirical investigations, Sternberg's "triangular" concept of love comprises three key componentsintimacy, passion, and commitment. Sternberg gives guidelines for analyzing these components, whose strength vary over time, and for enhancing relationships. Without jargon or condescension he uses pithy anecdotes to explain the implications of key discoveries from the new field of love research to refute common myths about love. An illuminating book, highly recommended for general collections. Cynthia Widmer, Williamstown, Mass.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.