love scale

a measure of the strength of one person’s feeling of love for another. Because love is a complex state occurring in many different forms, the various scales that have been devised do not always recognize the same components of this multifaceted emotion. As examples, the measure assessing passionate love developed by U.S. social psychologist Elaine Hatfield (1937– ) concentrates on items dealing with sexual desires as well as other, more cognitively oriented items, reflecting a preoccupation with the love object and idealization of this person, whereas the romantic love scale devised by U.S. social psychologist Zick Rubin (1944– ) involves elements of both passionate and companionate love and includes items dealing with willingness to confide in the loved person and the desire to be with him or her. See also liking scale.

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Psychology term of the day

May 8th 2024

cooperative learning

1. learning in small groups, to which each student in the group is expected to contribute using interpersonal skills and face-to-face interaction. Students also participate in regular assessment of the group process.

2. a formal method of acquiring information that combines knowledge obtained in a classroom setting with that obtained in a work or applied setting. Typically, the formal classroom aspect of instruction is focused specifically on the actual work experience. See also cooperative training.