Eros. This style is typically experienced as a romantic, fairytale-type love. Physical beauty is important to this love style. Attraction is intense and immediate (“head over heels”), and the Eros lover feels an urgent drive to deepen the relationship emotionally and physically.
Agape denotes the strongest form of communication. Both partners desire to give to their partner more than they expect to receive, which establishes this symbiotic nature of the relationship.
Agape (universal love)
Agape is selfless love, like the kind you might associate with saintly figures like Mother Teresa or activists like Malala. Hallett describes this love as a compassionate love for everyone, also known as universal loving-kindness.
An interpersonal relationship characterized by passion, intimacy, trust and respect is called love. Individuals in a romantic relationship are deeply attached to each other and share a special bond. Must have in a Romantic relationship: Two partners must trust each other in this relationship.
He has categorized the types of love into primary styles of love and secondary styles of love, as follows: Primary styles of love: Eros, Ludus, and Storge. Secondary styles of love: Mania, Pragma, and Agape.
People with a ludic style view love as a game that they are playing to win. Often this can be a multiplayer game! Ludic individuals are comfortable with deception and manipulation in their relationships. They tend to be low on commitment and are often emotionally distant.
A relationship that isn't serious or isn't taken seriously by one or both partners is a superficial relationship. From the very name of such a type of relationship, the bonding or intimacy of such relationships is wholly on the surface level. Such relationships are almost entirely based on physical attractiveness.
There are many different types of relationships. This section focuses on four types of relationships: Family relationships, Friendships, Acquaintanceships and Romantic relationships.
The purest form of love is selflessness.
Agape — Selfless Love. Agape is the highest level of love to offer. It's given without any expectations of receiving anything in return. Offering Agape is a decision to spread love in any circumstances — including destructive situations.
Altruistic love is demonstrated by compassion for the suffering, sympathy for those suffering unfairly, acting for the well-being of others, being present at the moment of needs, and addressing social injustice (p. 51).
Fatuous love can be exemplified by a whirlwind courtship and marriage in which a commitment is motivated largely by passion, without the stabilizing influence of intimacy.
Pragma, or longstanding love
Pragma is about making compromises to help the relationship work over time, and showing patience and tolerance. There is in fact little evidence that the Greeks commonly used this precise term themselves, so it is best thought of as a modern update on the ancient Greek loves.
Interestingly, the Ancient Greeks describe four different kinds of love: Eros – emotional and sexual love. Storge – family, e.g., the love that parents naturally feel for their children. Agape – unconditional love.
The three loves that she came up with are the following: Lust, Passion, and Commitment. These three loves occur in different parts of the brain and occur independently from each other. For instance, you can be “in lust” with someone but have no perceived commitment to them (e.g., one night stands).
Gottman studied more than 2,000 married couples over two decades and found four attitudes that most predict the dissolution of a relationship, especially in combination. They are criticism, defensiveness, contempt and stonewalling — the four horsemen of the apocalypse.
Healthy relationships involve honesty, trust, respect and open communication between partners and they take effort and compromise from both people. There is no imbalance of power. Partners respect each other's independence, can make their own decisions without fear of retribution or retaliation, and share decisions.
Emotional intimacy is the degree to which you and your partner are willing and able to connect on a deep, meaningful emotional/feelings level. It's more than just saying how you feel: emotional intimacy requires trust and willingness to be open and vulnerable in expressing deeper thoughts, feelings, and needs.
Friendship: This is the Purest and Strongest of Human Feelings.
The truest and deepest experiencing of love between two people resides at the level of the soul, that inner, mysterious part of ourselves that can only be accessed by another through acts of goodness and kindness and expressions of love.