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Not to Bore You on My Academic Life, but It's Exciting to Me....

Last week I completed my final course in the Ph.D. Psychology program. I now move immediately into comprehensive exams and dissertation. My working title for my dissertation is, Love American Style: The Effect of Intimacy, Passion and Commitment on Relationship Satisfaction. It is original research, will yield about 400 pages of writing and include a national survey of individuals who are in a couples relationship. I'm setting up a website dedicated to the research. For those not completely snoozing yet, here's a brief synopsis of the idea...

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The proposed quantitative research seeks to determine the effect of perceptions of intimacy, commitment and passion in heterosexual couples’ relationships, on how satisfied individuals report they are within categories of love perceptions. More importantly, this research questions the differences between men and women and also generational, ethnic and geographical differences among individuals.

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The proposed research is based on previous theoretical literature by Robert J. Sternberg, in his Triangular Model of Love (1988), which defined love within 3 major components with a total combination permutation of 8 love styles. Noting limitations of that work, replication and expansion of his study is planned. Twenty years ago, Sternberg found a strong connection between high love-scale ratings and satisfaction with one’s relationship. Albeit his work was limited to a study of Northeastern Americans in the State of Connecticut only, it is desired to determine if his findings ring true with new generations of couples across a wider geography (e.g. nationally) and if differences between males and females, cultures and generations exist. This research will identify love styles between groups and investigate people's satisfaction with their relationship’s style noting differences between groups.

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BACKGROUND

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Sternberg developed the Triangular Theory of Love, which is described within 3 components: (1) intimacy, which is the emotional component involving feelings of closeness and liking, (2) passion, which is a motivational component of the internal drives for attraction, romance and sexual desires, and, (3) commitment, which is cognitive and includes the decision to make a long-term commitment (Sternberg, 1986). In Triangular Theory, a couple's love is determined by an individual’s strength in each of the 3 components and in combination with the all components. When the combinations are included as sub-types, a total of 8 basic love types complete the triangle: (a) non-love, (b) liking/friendship, (c) infatuation, (d) empty love, (e) romantic love, (f) companionate love, (g) fatuous love, and (h) consummate love.

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I think I'll stop there for blogging this....

2 comments:

Roger D. Curry said...

Sounds like interesting research. I wonder, though: What do you expect your research to show about those situations where she promises undying eternal devotion, draws you into her mind, takes your heart in her hand, looks up at you, smiles shyly, winks, and then rips your heart in two, THROWS IT ON THE FLOOR AND STOMPS ON IT WITH HER GOLF SHOES, AND THEN DOUSES IT WITH LIGHTER FLUID AND LIGHTS IT AND MANIACALLY LAUGHS WHILE THE ODOR OF YOUR MANGLED LIFE FILLS THE ENTIRE COUNTRYSIDE AND YOU ARE THE LAUGHING STOCK OF THE COUNTY, AND SHE PROCEEDS TO OPENLY AND GAILY CAVORT WITH SOMEONE ELSE WHILE YOU SIT IN YOUR DARK, COLD, MISERABLE FORMER "LOVE NEST" HOLDING YOUR CAT AND WISHING THAT YOU WOULD HAVE A HEART ATTACK AND SUFFER HORRIBLY BEFORE YOU DIE?

Just wondering. I am so interested in romance, you see.

R

mavis sidebottom said...

Love is just an illusion to make the less slutty of us feel less guilty about wanting sex

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