Four Types of Relationships – is yours One of These?

If you are in love you might want to see if you fit into one of these four categories of love. While some might say there are as many types of love as there are couples, it’s also true that long-term romantic relationships tend to fall into certain categories.

According to Robert Sternberg, who developed the Triangular Theory of Love, there are exactly seven of those categories. Here we’ll take a look at four types most would consider love.

Romantic Love

This is what Hollywood wants us to think love is. The foundation is passion, that swept-off-your-feet feeling. Along with that, there’s often a sense of emotional closeness so strong you feel like one with your partner. The problem with this type of love is that there’s no commitment. Once the excitement wears off and the day-to-day routine sets in, this love can easily fizzle. There are better types of relationships between people and more permanent, loving ones.

Fatuous love

This is Vegas drive-through-chapel love. Love that makes you think you should spend a lifetime together after you’ve only known each other a week. As with the romantic variety, there’s plenty of passion, but there’s also a sense of commitment (hence the instant wedding). What’s lacking however, is intimacy. The two people involved hardly know each other. That’s not a good way for a “permanent” relationship to start.

Companionate love

This is the elderly couple walking hand in hand through the park. It’s also the ornery old pair who always seems to have regular spats, yet wouldn’t dream of leaving each other. Even after the passion has died down, the closeness and commitment are stronger than ever. Of course, that’s not to imply that all older couples lack passion or that this love is reserved only for the elderly.

Consummate love

Here is the love of all loves. This is the love most of use dream of finding some day. It’s everything all rolled into one: deep emotional intimacy, passion to die for, and a rock-solid commitment. People who share this type of love often consider their partner their best friend or the “one thing” they can count on. Naturally, this relationship is bound to hit a few snags along the way. However with consummate love the couple has everything they need to weather those stormy times without sustaining any serious damage.

Other types of love

There are other types of love, but we cannot cover them in this article. Are any of these the type of love you experience? Are you high on romantic love? What about being settled into a comfortable companionship, is that you? Maybe, you’re one of the fortunate couples who’ve found true consummate love.

In any case, most types of relationships will fall into more than one of these categories or a different category altogether. Analyze your relationship and decide or discover what type of love relationship you are experiencing.