Triangular Theory of Love

SOCIAL BEHAVIOR AND PERSONALITY, 2004, 32(7), 683-690 < Society for Personality Research (Inc.) B

DESCRIBING THE NEOCLASSICAL PSYCHE EMBEDDED IN STERNBERG S TRIANGULAR THEORY OF LOVE

RHETT DIESSNER, NELLIE FROST, AND TITUS SMITH

Lewis-Clark State College, Lewiston, ID, USA
Stemberg 's Triangular Theory of Love was examined to identify the structure of the psyche implied in that theory, Stemberg 's theory posits three components of human functioning to explain the phenomenon of love in close relationships: intimacy, passion, and commitment. Analysis of these three components indicates that they align with a neoclassical model of the human psyche, A neoclassical psyche consists of at least three fundamental, irreducible capacities: cognition, affect, and conation, Stemberg 's commitment component relies on the capacity for cognition (and conation), the passion component is derived from conation (and affect), and the intimacy component is derived from emotional investment or the capacity for affect (and cognition). Therefore, Stemberg 's overall Triangular Theory of Love ontologically presupposes a neoclassical structure to the psyche.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the structure of the human psyche that is implied in Stemberg 's Triangular Theory of Love, with its three nodes of intimacy, passion, and commitment. Therefore the authors of this paper aimed to answer the question, "What must be the structure of the psyche in order for love to consist of intimacy, passion and commitment?" The central hypothesis in this paper is that the structure of the psyche, implied in Stemberg 's work, is "a neoclassical psyche," a psyche that consists of at least these three fundamental, irreducible, capacities: a) cognition, b) affect, and c) conation (Hilgard, 1980; LeDoux, 2002; Tallon, 1997).

Rhett Diessner, Professor of Psychology and Education, Nellie Frost and Titus Smith, Lewis-Clark State College, Lewiston, ID, USA, Appreciation is due to reviewers

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