Author Question: Identify and describe the components of Sternberg's theory of love. ... (Read 66 times)

bobypop · **on:** Aug 23, 2018

Identify and describe the components of Sternberg's theory of love.

ANSWER:

Question 2

Briefly discuss factors that lead to a decrease in the number of friends found between young adulthood and old age.

ANSWER:

bbburns21 · **Reply #1 on:** Aug 23, 2018

Answer to Question 1

Sternberg (2006) proposed that love had three basic components. The first is passion. Passion is an intense physiological desire for someone. The second is intimacy. Intimacy is the feeling that one can share one's thoughts and actions with another. The third is commitment. Commitment is a willingness to stay with another through good and bad times. Ideally, a love relationship has all three of these
elements. Their presence seems to have a developmental course. For example, young relationships are characterized by high levels of passion and low levels of intimacy and commitment. This is the stage of infatuation. There is a risk of jealousy and miscommunication at this stage. As passion fades, a relationship develops intimacy, or it is likely to end. Trust, honesty, and openness must be present in a relationship for it to progress to romantic love. As the length of the relationship continues, passion and intimacy decline, but commitment increases.

Answer to Question 2

This relates to the life-span theory of socioemotional selectivity. This theory postulates that social contact is motivated by a variety of goals such as information seeking, self- concept, and emotional regulation. These goals vary over the life span. For example, young people tend to be more information seeking. In late life, emotional regulation is the more salient goal. As such, older people become increasingly selective in whom they choose to interact with. Research indicates that, as people age, they orient more toward the emotional aspects of life and personal relationships. Older adults don't tend to replace any relationships they lose. They are more selective and have fewer opportunities to make new friends.