![[Sternberg's Triangular Theory of Love.png\|500]]
- Core Types of Love
- Intimacy (friendship): feeling close, connected, and bonded. It involves, understanding each other, open communication, depth of sharing, emotional connection and empathy
- Commitment (empty love): loyalty, fidelity, and dedication. It involves working through hardship, relationship preservation focus, and cognitive aspect of love.
- Passion (infatuation): romance, attraction, and sex. It encompasses arousal, physicality, and intense longing
- Secondary Types of Love
- Romantic Love (Intimacy + Passion): Common in early stage relationships. Feeling connection and desire.
- Companionate Love (Intimacy + Commitment): Long-term marriages or enduring close friendships. Mutual emotional support. Lacks the intensity of physical passion
- Fatuous Love (Passion + Commitment): whirlwind romances or "shotgun weddings". Should work to build intimacy as passion fades
- Consummate Love (Intimacy + Commitment + Passion): Seen as ideal, `complete`, love in romantic relationships. Requires effort to maintain.