It’s quite often that we as people can recognize certain behaviors and patterns that we all experience at some point in our lives. There are several different types of love, and they can evolve over time in a single relationship. In Robert Sternberg’s Triangular Theory of Love, it is built on three key points that form the “love triangle”, which includes passion, intimacy, and commitment. It deals with both the nature of love and the lover in the specific relationship. Based on this theory, there are eight different types of love that define the ultimately infinite ways we express ourselves in a relationship. 

The components of love differ due to the number of their properties. For example, the emotional and intimacy component seems to be more stable in close relationships and if it’s short-term. The importance of all three components of love may shift over time within a relationship as well as across relationships at any given moment. The components of love and their interrelationships can be better understood by considering the kinds of love that exist.

Taxonomy of Types of Love 

1. Non-love

Non-love refers to the absence of all three components of love. This type of love involves indifference toward another person, and it is usually the default for most first-time, casual interactions.

2. Liking

Liking is a result of when one person only experiences the intimacy component of love in the absence of the other two components. It is not merely to describe the feelings you have toward a casual person in your life, but it sets the emotions you have that can truly be titled as a friendship. You feel the warm intimacy, close bondedness, without any need for long-term commitment or intensity. 

3. Infatuation

Infatuated love is “love at first sight!” It is the experience of passionate arousal without the feelings of intimacy or commitment in mind. It can be called delusional, as well, since it is easier for others around you to spot, but harder for you to recognize. They are quick emotions, arising and then dissipating almost immediately. This is what most people think of when they have a crush or experience love at first sight. You may not know someone on a deeper level, but whenever you see or think about the person you’re attracted to, you might feel anxious or a long stretch of desire. It is somewhat psycho physiological as these feelings manifest in your heart. 

4. Empty love

This sad kind of love forms through the decision that one person in the relationship has a commitment to that love without the intimacy and passion. It occurs in stagnant long-term relationships that have lost both the emotional attachment and physical attraction that was once alive. For example, in certain societies where marriages are arranged, the commitment to love each other is there existing, but there is no other component of love to back that up. 

5. Romantic love

This love derives from the combination of the intimacy and passion components of love. It is like liking with an extra physical element. Romantic lovers are not only drawn to each other physically, but they are also bonded emotionally. This is the most known love, the view that is found in classic works of literature and media. 

6. Companionate love

This love evolves from a combination of intimacy and commitment. It works in a long-term, committed relationship when the physical attraction has died down. This type of love is like an elevated form of liking, and even romantic love in some people’s eyes. It could be a friendship that has lasted years, or certain relationships who platonically build their lives together without sexual or romantic involvement. 

7. Fatuous love

Fatuous love results from the combination of passion and commitment. It is the kind of love that maybe people associate with Hollywood movies or fictional stories. It is a race to get to a big stage of commitment in which people meet, gets

engaged two weeks later, then get married within a few months. It is fatuous how a commitment is made with that passion, but without any stability or sense of intimate involvement. 

8. Consummate love

This love results from the complete combination of all three components. It is the love that we all hope to achieve in life, especially in romantic relationships. This is “the gold standard” in love, and it requires the perfect balance of intimacy, passion, and commitment. The bond between two people is what truly completes consummate love.

What do you think of the eight types of love? Which do you see yourself in? Let us know in the comments below!