PSYCH-225 Lecture Notes - Lecture 26: Color Wheel Theory Of Love, Victorian Era, Autonomic Nervous System
25 Sep 2020
School
Department
Course
Professor
Leo Ellis
Social Psych
Psych-225
Theories of Love
● Love
○ Historically not a reason to get married
○ Money, power, stats
○ In the Victorian Age love became a more common reason for why people got
married
○ Investment Model doesn’t talk about love that often- falls under satisfaction
○ Love usually encompasses a strong sexual desire and companionship- a need
to be with someone
○ Love doesn’t necessarily predict what people do in their relationships-
commitment does
● Passion vs. companion love
○ Measure of how intense your passionate and companionship with your partner
is
○ Passionate- autonomic nervous system arousal
○ Compassionate- finish each others sentences, well matched, there for each
other
○ Passionate love rises early in a relationship and then drops off
■ Some couples get through it others break up
■ Predictive of whether people break up
○ Had couple do pleasing things vs. exciting things then brought them back to
the lab and measured their passion vs. companionship
■ Couples who did exciting things reinvigorated their passionate love
○ Companion love is not systematically related to how much time you spend in
a relationship but it predicts divorce
■ More predictive of longevity
● Sternberg’s Triangle Theory of Love
○ Love is made up of 3 components
■ Passion
■ Intimacy (companionship)
■ Commitment
○ Shape of the triangle, whether your high or low on each area will dictate the
type of love you are experiencing
○ For full blown love you want to be high in all areas
○ As a result of these 3 things you can have 8 different types of love
○ Research on the model showed some support- related to other measures of
love
○ Did not generate a lot of research so it faded off as a theory of love
● 3 Colors of Love (love styles)
○ Thinks of love as personality style or a schema for love
■ Eros- passionate love
Document Summary
Historically not a reason to get married. In the victorian age love became a more common reason for why people got. Investment model doesn"t talk about love that often- falls under satisfaction. Love usually encompasses a strong sexual desire and companionship- a need. Love doesn"t necessarily predict what people do in their relationships- to be with someone is. Measure of how intense your passionate and companionship with your partner. Compassionate- finish each others sentences, well matched, there for each. Passionate love rises early in a relationship and then drops off other. Some couples get through it others break up. Predictive of whether people break up the lab and measured their passion vs. companionship. Had couple do pleasing things vs. exciting things then brought them back to. Couples who did exciting things reinvigorated their passionate love. Companion love is not systematically related to how much time you spend in. Love a relationship but it predicts divorce.
