Passionate and companionate love
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In psychology, a distinction is often made between two types of love. Elaine Hatfield & G. William Walster define them as:
- Passionate love, "a state of intense longing for union with another. Reciprocated love (union with the other) is associated with fulfillment and ecstasy; unrequited love (separation) is associated with emptiness, anxiety, or despair."
- Companionate love, "the affection we feel for those with whom our lives are deeply entwined."
Passionate love is also called "romantic love" in some literature, especially fields of biology, but the term "passionate love" is most common in psychology. Academic literature has never universally adopted a single term. Other terms compared to passionate love are being "in love", having a crush, obsessive love, infatuation, limerence and Eros.
Companionate love is commonly called "attachment" (sometimes in relation to attachment theory, but not all authors agree) or compared to strong liking, friendship love or Storge.
Passionate love feelings are most commonly measured with a psychometric instrument (a questionnaire) called the Passionate Love Scale (PLS); however, a study by Sandra Langeslag and colleagues found that the PLS has some questions which measure companionate love. This led the team to develop the Infatuation and Attachment Scales (IAS), measuring what they call:
- Infatuation (similar to passionate love), "the overwhelming, amorous feeling for one individual that is typically most intense during the early stage of love (i.e., when individuals are not (yet) in a relationship with their beloved or are in a new relationship)."
- Attachment (similar to companionate love), "the comforting feeling of emotional bonding with another individual that takes some time to develop, often in the context of a romantic relationship."
The IAS is designed for more refined measurements than the PLS, but infatuation and attachment can otherwise be considered synonymous as a concept with passionate and companionate love.
Evolutionary theories of passionate and companionate love suggest these two types of love exist for different purposes and thus follow different mechanics. Passionate love is said to usually only be present in the early stage of a relationship with companionate love often following after; however, in a phenomenon called long-term romantic love, intense attraction can remain much longer than is typical for passionate love, but without obsessional elements.
Both passionate and companionate love contribute to relationship satisfaction. Passionate love is associated more with satisfaction in the early stage of a relationship. Companionate love is associated with satisfaction in the long-term more than the short-term.
Passionate and companionate love can also be further distinguished from a third important type of love, compassionate love, which is love focused on caring about others.