triangular theory of love
the proposition that the various kinds of love can be characterized in terms of the degree to which they possess three basic components that together can be viewed as forming the vertices of a triangle. The intimacy component refers to feelings of closeness, connectedness, and bondedness, which give rise to the experience of warmth in a loving relationship. The passion component refers to the drives that lead to romance, physical attraction, sexual consummation, and related phenomena in loving relationships. The commitment component refers to the decision that one loves someone and desires to maintain that love; it thus includes the cognitive elements that are involved in decision making about the existence of and potential long-term commitment to a loving relationship. See companionate love; erotic love; passionate love; romantic love. [advanced in 1986 by U.S. psychologist Robert J. Sternberg
(1949– )]