PDF Version. While popular culture often idealizes romantic attraction as love at first sight—sudden initial sparks and passionate lightning bolts—real life and relationship science show that durable loving relationships frequently follow different paths. The Storge style of love represents a … Continue reading
Category Archives: close relationship
The Slow Path to Love: Mere Exposure, Familiarity, and Sequential Interpersonal Discovery
How does familiarity turn acquaintances into life partners? An examination of the psychological mechanisms driving gradual attraction, from mere exposure and uncertainty reduction to sequential interpersonal discovery and vulnerability. Continue reading
A Tribute to Ellen Berscheid, a Prominent Researcher in the Social Psychology of Love and Relationship
PDF Version. With profound sadness, the Institute of Love Studies shares news that Ellen Berscheid, an American social psychologist and one of the pioneering figures in the studies of love and interpersonal relationships, passed away on May 22, 2025. Ellen … Continue reading
Why Do Loving People Share Beds?
PDF Version. People loving each other often sleep together. Many social animals and humans live in groups and sleep together in groups, families, or in pairs. Why is that? Such co-sleeping could be evolutionarily beneficial in several regards, both physiologically, … Continue reading
Love and Co-Sleeping in Childhood
PDF Version. Sharing a bed with another individual is commonly associated with love and loving. Like other animals that live in groups, many humans sleep together, although this can vary based on culture and age. In many cultures, co-sleeping, or … Continue reading
‘Strangers’ When Reuniting after Living Apart Together Transnationally
PDF Version. In recent years, the global job market and migration have made many partners live apart together, even transnationally. They often opt to live apart and reside in different countries to manage careers and the restrictions that immigration status … Continue reading
Revisiting the Romeo and Juliet Effect on Love Feelings
Authors: Victor Karandashev and Ernest Light PDF Version Contemporary young men and women appear to feel autonomy in their selection of romantic partners. However, individuals’ social networks and family members seem to substantially influence their romantic preferences. Researchers have explored … Continue reading
The Need to Belong is the Need for Love
PDF version People have a vital human need: the need for love. They want to be loved and nurtured. It is. It involves both receiving and giving love. The need to belong is also the need for love. It implies … Continue reading
Love as Affiliation: Who Crave for It, Who Doesn’t
PDF Version Many people, as social animals, experience the need for love as longing for affiliation with others. Why do some men and women experience this need for connection more intensely than others? Why do some crave affiliation in love … Continue reading
How to Love When You Experience Insecure Attachment?
Developing and maintaining a relationship with a significant other is difficult since many of us are dealing with high personal stress, anxiety, and psychological insecurity. We all want to feel satisfied with our relationship with our partner. But what if … Continue reading