Psychologists and researchers have proposed a number of different theories of love. Love is a basic human emotion, but understanding how and why it happens is not necessarily easy. In fact, for a long time, many people suggested that love was simply something that science couldn't understand.
The following are four of the major theories proposed to explain liking, love, and emotional attachment.
Scales of Liking and Loving
The nature of love has been explored by a number of theorists. The first researchers to develop and instrument designed to empirically measure love is Zick Rubin a Social psychologist. According to Rubin, romantic love is made up of three elements:
Attachment
The need of to be cared for and be with the other person. Physical contact and approval are also important components of attachment.
Caring
Valuing the others happiness and needs as much as your own.
Intimacy
Sharing private thoughts, feelings, and desires with the other person.
According to the view of romantic love, Rubin developed two questionnaires to measure these variables. The results allowed Rubin to identify 13 questions for 'liking' and 13 questions for 'loving' that were reliable measures of these two variables.
Rubin's Liking and Loving Scale are as the following examples are similar to some of the questions used in:
Items Measuring Liking
I feel that _____________ is a very stable person.
I have confidence in ______________'s opinions.
I think that ______________ is usually well-adjusted.
__________ is one of the most likeable people I know.
Items Measuring Loving
I feel strong feelings of possessiveness towards ____________.
I like it when __________ confides in me.
I would do almost anything for _____________.
I find it easy to ignore __________'s faults.
Love is not a concrete concept and is therefore difficult to measure. However, Rubin's scales of liking and loving offer a way to measure the complex feeling of love. In