Psychology of Love 101

"Reflecting the breath of love's myriad effects and possible causes, as well as the relatively recent volume of systematic scientific inquiry into these, the love literature is sprawling and unruly. Sternberg, however, hasdone an excellent job of selecting representative approaches and findings and presenting them to students in an organized, scholarly, and engaging way."

Ellen Berscheid, PhD
Regents' Professor of Psychology Emeritus
University of Minnesota

While many people view love as a nebulous concept that is difficult to study scientifically, there exists a substantial psychological discipline that studies intimate relations. This incisive text provides a comprehensive tour of both classic and contemporary theories and research on the how and why of human love. In addition to presenting the major biological, social, and cultural theories that have been developed on this topic, the book looks at what research has shown us about such essential issues as basic attraction, the life course of relationships, how personality and environment affect love, and how therapeutic interventions can sometimes improve relationships. Both scholarly and practical, the book is unique in also helping readers to understand their own relationships.

Concise and accessible, the text illustrates how a love relationship can be measured and explores the questions posed by psychologists in their quest for understanding: Is love simply a function of human biology? What part do our individual personalities play in attracting and maintaining love relationships? Can people stay in love? How does being in a close relationship affect our mental and physical health? The book not only covers the most relevant research that the discipline of psychology has developed on intimate relationships, but also aims to help readers put this research into a practical context to help them understand their own love relationships. The book concludes with a review of various therapeutic approaches to improving love relationships. Case studies and questionnaires illustrate key points.

• Offers a brief, accessible, and up-to-date survey of theory and research on the psychology of love
• Discusses how love relationships can be measured
• Includes short quizzes that readers can take and self-score to help them understand their own ways of engaging with love
• Provides concrete and practical suggestions, based on scholarly research, on how readers can improve their own relationships.
• Written for undergraduate students

1 Introduction: The Nature of Love

1.1 Why is love important?

1.2 Approaches to studying love

1.2.1 Philosophical approaches

1.2.2 Literary approaches

1.2.3 Early psychological approaches

1.2.3.1 Reinforcement theories

1.2.3.2 Cognitive-consistency theories

1.2.3.3 Clinical approaches

1.3 When is it love?

1.4 Why is love important anyway?

2 Love from a Biological Perspective

2.1 Evolution of sexual preferences

2.2 Excursion: Sexual orientation

2.3 Love as decision-making biases

2.4 Love from an attachment perspective

2.5 Love and our brain

3 Are There Different Kinds of Love? Taxonomic Approaches

3.1 Lee and the Hendricksí theory of styles of romantic love

3.2 Sternbergís duplex theory of love

3.3 Clark: Communal Responsiveness as love

3.4 Excursion: Friendship

3.5 Berscheidís four kinds of love

4 Cultural Theories of Love

4.1 Is romantic love universal?

4.2 Why do we fall in love with someone?

4.3 What does it mean to be in love with someone?

4.4 Individualism, collectivism, and love

4.5 The impact of culture on our experience of love

4.6 The impact of number of children on marital satisfaction across cultures

5 A Primer on Methods: Constructing a Love Scale

5.1 Steps in constructing and assessing a love scale

5.2 Conclusion

6 Interpersonal Attraction

6.1 Proximity ñ Liking the ones who are close by

6.2 Familiarity ñ Liking the ones we know

6.3 Similarity ñ Liking the ones who are like us

6.4 Reciprocity ñ Liking the ones who like us back

6.5 Personality ñ Liking them for who they are

6.6 Physical appearance ñ Liking someoneís looks

7 Stages of Relationships: How Relationships are Formed, Maintained, and Ended

7.1 Different kinds of love and their development

7.2 Excursion: A new way to find a mate: Speed-dating

7.3 Living together

7.4 Relationship maintenance

7.5 Breaking up with premarital partners

7.6 Breaking up in marriage - divorce

8 Online Dating

8.1 How does online dating work?

8.2 How is online dating different from conventional dating?

8.3 Is online dating better than conventional dating?

8.4 Saying ìnoî online

8.5 Does the internet really level the field?

8.6 The dangers of online dating

9 Love and Personality

9.1 Similarity vs. complementarity

9.2 Big Five personality traits

10 Relationship Challenges: Questions and Answers