Discuss the extent to which psychologists have been able to explain love

Sternberg proposed a theory to explain love-‘triangular theory of love.’ His theory consists of three components; intimacy, passion and commitment. The relative strength of each determines the kind of love. E.g. companionate love is low on passion whereas romantic love is low on commitment. Sternberg believed that individuals all have two triangles. One triangle represents what they would want their ideal relationship to be like, often based on their childhood conceptions (books, films, parents). The second triangle being what their current relationship is like. If the two triangles are similar, the better the relationship will be and the happier the person will be. A relationship with intimacy, passion and commitment is believed to be the strongest.

Sternberg’s typology of love was based on extensive interviews with student and adults in real-life relationships, unlike most studies that are based on hypothetical relationships. Further support for this study come from  Fehr (1988), who asked people to describe love in their own words. He found that the emergent categories mapped closely onto the typology suggested by Sternberg. Sternberg also found gender differences such as women preferring the travel story “love is like a journey”; men prefer art ‘Physical attractiveness is essential.’ These can be related to evolutionary explanations. There are cultural differences a person in western society would find passion to be an important factor of love, whereas those who have arranged marriages commitment and security is important. The triangular theory can be criticised of being too mechanical. The three factor theory of love is simpler. Hatfield and Walster- physiological arousal is labelled as love in presence of an appropriate love object. This is easier to understand but still not a good enough explanation. According to this theory, we love anyone we desire or is infatuated with, which is not true. Most research that has taken place is western and therefore biased to the nation as whole.

As you can see, psychologists have tried to explain love and it can be seen as true to an extent. Some models concentrate on differentiating between different types of love, which is useful and does give a greater understanding To define what love truly is however, is far too complicated. Psychologists can only go by what they are told & what they observe physically. In the end, love is love and there are no other words for it.