Week 12 Post 2

In Chapter 19, I enjoyed reading the section titled "Romantic Partners" and in particular the subdivision called "The Dimension of Love". Before reading this chapter, I had never learned about most of the information in this subdivision but found it very interesting. Robert Sternberg described the three distinct aspects of love to be passion, intimacy, and commitment. He believes that  relative presence or absence of these three components indicates one of the seven different forms of love. Passion is evident in falling in love and is characterized by an intense physical, cognitive, and emotional onslaught of excitement, ecstasy, and euphoria. Intimacy is knowing someone well, sharing secrets and nakedness, and engaging in sexual activity. Intimacy should be reciprocal with each partner gradually revealing more about himself or herself as well as accepting more of the other's revelations. Commitment takes time and grows gradually through decisions to be together, mutual care giving, shared possessions, and forgiveness. Maintaining a close romantic relationship over the years takes dedication and work. I was intrigued by the seven forms of love. I did not realize that  there were so many different forms of love in relationships or that love could be characterized in such ways. Before reading this section, I did not think of  "liking" as a form of love in which there is only intimacy and no passion or commitment as this is usually associated with hookups. I believe  that consummate love is the best form of love because all three components of passion, intimacy, and commitment are present.