Question

Julie describes how she feels about Mark: "I’m very physically attracted to him, but we aren’t what you would call emotionally close. I love being with him, but I don’t know that this will be a long-lasting relationship." According to Robert Sternberg’s theory of love, which type of love is Julie experiencing?
a. romantic love
b. passionate love
c. sexual love
d. companionate love

Answer 1

Answer:

b. passionate love

Explanation:

Robert Sternberg proposed a theory of love according to which love has 3 main components:

• Intimacy: Refers to feelings of closeness between the couple.
• Passion: Refers to physical attraction or sexual attraction that exist in the couple.
• Commitment: Refers to the commitment to maintain that love.

According to this theory, there are many types of love depending on which components are present.

In this example, Julie says she is physically attracted to Mark (she has passion), but they are not emotionally close (no intimacy) and she doesn't think it will be a long lasting relationship (no commitment). Thus we can see that this love has only the element of passion. Sternberg called this love: Infatuation or passionate love.