Track 9

Unit 6

Anthropology/biology

The science of love

Page 55

Try it out!

All right now one well-known psychologist, Robert Sternberg has proposed a theory of love in the context of interpersonal relationships. He proposes that there are three kinds of interpersonal love.

The first is intimacy, which concerns feelings of closeness and connectedness. Most of us feel this type of love with friends and family. The second is passion. As you might expect this involves feelings of romance and physical attraction toward another person. The third and final type of love is commitment. This means that there is a commitment to maintain the relationship over a long period.

Sternberg believes that relationships based on at least two of these types will last much longer than relationships based only on one of them.