Love triangle - Truth or myth

Does the love triangle really exist

Psychologists wouldn't be themselves if they didn't try to investigate it. Thus, theoretical models of love emerged, one of the most famous being Robert Sternberg's triangular theory of love.

Robert Sternberg is an American psychologist who studied the topic of love relationships.

He formulated a model that can describe different types of relationships based on the presence or absence of three components:

• first. Intimacy - the feeling of closeness, emotional connection, and belongingness to another person.
• second. Passion - the feeling of being in love and sexual attraction to the person.
• third. Commitment - in the short term, it's the decision to stay with the partner, and in the long term, it's the presence of shared plans for the future and responsibility towards each other.

If you diagram these components, you'll get an equilateral triangle that can describe 8 types of relationships.

Of course, real relationships won't perfectly fit into any one described type, and they can change over time. However, this model is convenient for describing how love manifests in a couple and which component can be developed to make the relationship more harmonious.

The first type of relationship will be:

Absence of love (when there is no intimacy, no passion, no commitment between people). Such relationships can be called businesslike or distant.

For love, even one component is enough:

• Liking: people feel close to each other, but there is no mutual attraction or obligations. This is pleasant communication that can grow into something more or remain as it is.
• Infatuation: here, there is a clear passion for the other person, but there is no intimacy or commitment. This kind of love can be called blind obsession because often a person is completely consumed by feelings, and they may not even be interested in the partner's reaction. Passion can grow into deep relationships if emotional closeness develops.
• Empty love: often relationships end up here. This is love without intimacy or passion, but partners continue to fulfill promises to each other. Such relationships can also occur in arranged marriages and may even develop into stronger feelings.

The love triangle: Truth or myth? (photo: Freepik)

Often, relationships arise with the presence of the following components:

• Romantic love: This includes both intimacy and passion but lacks mutual commitments, especially long-term ones. This is the honeymoon phase love, characterized by strong infatuation with each other, butterflies in the stomach, and the feeling that the partner is the one.
• Companionate love: Partners feel close to each other and have commitments to one another, but there is no passion in the relationship. In such cases, partners may seek excitement elsewhere or find ways to rekindle the spark within the couple.
• Fatuous love: This involves strong passion and commitment but lacks intimacy. There is a spark between partners that can drive actions, but it usually fades quickly and does not lead to truly deep relationships.
• Consummate love: This contains all three components: partners feel close and can share their experiences and feelings with each other, they have a passionate attraction to one another and can maintain it over a long period, and their commitments to each other are clear and mutually upheld.

Such feelings rarely arise spontaneously. The development of a relationship requires conscious involvement and effort from both partners to achieve consummate love.