The theory of six love styles became popular among love scholars in the 1980s. Numerous researchers investigated the love styles proposed and investigated by Canadian sociologist John Alan Lee in the 1970s (Lee, 1973, 1976). His theory and research made significant contributions to this field of study (Karandashev, 2022).

John Lee conceptualized and empirically explored this theory of six love styles. Through years of research and publication, the original author’s descriptions of the six love styles he proposed have been condensed and simplified. These shortened characteristics have replaced Lee’s original interpretations of the love styles. In this and other articles, I have provided a more detailed description of each of these love styles.

I described the Eros, Ludus, Storge, Mania, and Agape love styles. The following excerpts from my books elaborate on the Pragma love style.

Lee’s Theoretical Description of the Pragma Love Style

“Individuals with the Pragma love style deliberately consider how suitable a potential beloved is for their prospective relationship. They look for a compatible match, taking into account the age, religion, education, vocation, and other demographic characteristics of a prospective partner.”

(Excerpt from Karandashev, 2022, p. 78).

This Is What the Pragma Love Style Looks Like

In-depth interviews with 120 participants using the “love story card sort” technique generated around 100,000 data points. The factor analysis found 32 individual characteristics that set apart the six love styles. This analysis allowed to portray the distinctive characteristics of the Pragma love style as follows,

“Participants of the Pragma love style are as manipulative and controlled as Ludus. They also experience companionate feelings like those with the Storge love style. They have not been lucky enough to find a friend with similar interests or a loved one with whom the relationship can grow in love. Therefore, they decide, more or less consciously, to find someone who might be their companion and a suitable partner. They do not wait for an appeal of nature; they build a relationship.

Having in mind the desired qualities of a prospective mate, they look for an opportunity to meet a partner of their choice. In the case of arranged marriages, the parents, rather than an individual, experience the pragmatic love style. In modern times, matchmaking on the Internet does the same work.”

(Excerpt from Karandashev, 2022, 2022, p. 82).

The Pragma Love Style is a Love Type rather than a Variable

This illustrative portrayal demonstrates that the Pragma love style is a complex combination of attitudes and traits that men and women bring to relationships. These features make this love style stand out from other types of love. They represent people’s core beliefs and attitudes towards love, as well as their emotional experiences and expressions, actions, and relationships.

The findings from the interviews indicate that men and women with this love style possess an abundance of distinctive characteristics. The relationship between these characteristics illustrates the typological structure of the Pragma style. This structure clearly demonstrates that the Pragma style of love is not a variable, as measured by the Love Attitude Scale (Hendrick & Hendrick, 1986, 1998), but rather a type of love.

In the 1980s, the theory of six love styles became widely known among scholars of love. Numerous researchers investigated the love styles that Canadian sociologist John Alan Lee proposed and investigated in the 1970s (Lee, 1973, 1976). His theory and research substantially contributed to this field of study (Karandashev, 2022).

John Lee theoretically conceptualized and empirically identified six love styles. The original author’s descriptions of the six love styles he proposed have been condensed and simplified over the years of love research and publication. These abbreviated characteristics have altered Lee’s original meanings of the love styles.

John Lee conceptualized, theoretically and empirically, six love styles. Through years of research and multiple publications, the original author’s descriptions of the six love styles he proposed have been condensed and simplified. I believe that these shortened characteristics altered Lee’s original interpretations of the love styles.

In light of this, I have provided a more detailed description of each of these love styles in this and other articles. I have described the Eros, Ludus, Storge, and Mania love styles in previous articles. Here are some excerpts from my books in which I elaborate on the Agape love style.

Lee’s Theoretical Description of the Agape Love Style

“Individuals with the Agape love style feel it is their duty to love another with no expectation of reciprocity. Reasons, rather than emotions, guide their feelings and actions. They are caring, altruistic, and gentle.”

(Excerpt from Karandashev, 2022, p. 78).

This Is What the Agape Love Style Looks Like

Using the “love story card sort” method, in-depth interviews with 120 people yielded approximately 100,000 data points. The factor analysis discovered 32 distinct factors that distinguished the six love styles. Lee used this analysis to portray the major features of the Agape love style:

“Participants with an agape style feel love as a sense of duty. Their emotional will and commitment, rather than attraction and feelings, govern their love. Lovers with the Agape style are generally more emotionally mature than individuals with other styles. In its best form, this love style is an ideal of selflessness in affiliative connections. It is an ideal aspiration to do good to another person. The lovers of Agape style believe that anyone is worthy of love. They love not because of the appearance, qualities, or merits of the other person, but because they are due their love for that person. To be loved, a person should not earn or deserve it. Love is the gift of a lover to a loved one. This love is the ability of a loving person to love. “

(Excerpt from Karandashev, 2022, 2022, p. 81).

The Agape Love Style is a Love Type rather than a Variable

This illustrative portrayal demonstrates that the Agape love style is a complex combination of attitudes and traits that men and women bring to relationships. These features make this love style stand out from other types of love. They represent people’s core beliefs and attitudes regarding love, as well as their emotional experiences and expressions, actions, and relationships. The findings from the interviews show the abundantly distinctive characteristics of men and women with this love style. The way these traits are tied to one another demonstrates the typological structure of the Agape style. This structure evidently shows that the Agape love style is not a variable, how it is measured with the Love Attitude Scale (Hendrick & Henrick, 1986, 1998), but rather a type of love.

The theory of six love styles became well-known among love scholars in the 1980s. Multiple researchers embraced these ideas and investigated the love styles that Canadian sociologist John Alan Lee proposed and explored in the 1970s (Lee, 1973, 1976). His theory and research on love styles made significant and original contributions to this area of research (Karandashev, 2022).

John Lee theoretically conceptualized and empirically identified six love styles. The original author’s descriptions of the six love styles he proposed have been condensed and simplified over the years of love research and publication. These abbreviated characteristics have slightly altered Lee’s original meanings of the love styles.

Because of this, I have provided a more in-depth description of each of these love styles in this article as well as in other articles. In previous articles, I described the Eros, Ludus, and Storge love styles. Here are some excerpts from my books where I discuss the Mania love style in greater detail.

Lee’s Theoretical Description of the Mania Love Style

“Individuals with the Mania love style are emotionally intense, very obsessive and preoccupied with the beloved, and therefore frequently jealous. They crave repeated reassurance of being loved.”

(Excerpt from Karandashev, 2022, p. 78).

This Is What the Mania Love Style Looks Like

In-depth interviews with 120 people generated approximately 100,000 data points using the “love story card sort” method. The basic form of factor analysis discovered 32 factors that clearly distinguished the six love styles. Lee used this analysis to depict the following characteristics of the Mania love style:

“Participants with the Mania style of love generally recall their childhood as unhappy. They often do not enjoy their work, have few friends, and feel lonely. They are anxious to fall in love, yet they are not aware for sure which physical type of a potential partner they perceive as attractive. They frequently fall in love with someone who they initially dislike.

Lovers with Mania style typically experience intense emotions of attraction and preoccupation with a loved one. These feelings of intense attraction resemble the Eros love style. However, they want to restrain their feelings. They tend to manipulate a partner in a relationship. This resembles the Ludus love style. Therefore, they experience contradictory emotions of ambivalence and tension, love and hate, closely intertwined. They are torn on two sides. The lovers of mania style are obsessively preoccupied with the beloved, experiencing and expressing jealousy. They can imagine various rivals and disasters but tend to ignore the warning signs of relationship difficulties until it is too late. “

(Excerpt from Karandashev, 2022, p. 81).

The Mania Love Style is a Love Type rather than a Variable

This descriptive portrayal shows that the Mania love style is a unique combination of characteristics that men and women exhibit in romantic relationships. They represent their values and love attitudes, emotional experiences and expressions, actions and interactions. The data from the interviews evidently indicates these distinguishing characteristics. The manner in which they are connected exemplifies the typological structure of the Mania style. So, the Mania love style is a type of love rather than a variable, how it is measured with the Love Attitude Scale (Hendrick & Henrick, 1986, 1998).

Numerous researchers who are interested in the topic of love have investigated the six love styles that Canadian sociologist John Alan Lee (1933–2013) identified in the 1970s (Lee, 1973, 1976). His theories of love styles and the development of methods capable of investigating them made significant and original contributions to the field (Karandashev, 2022).

John Lee theoretically conceptualized six love styles and empirically identified them. Over the years of love research and publication, the original author’s descriptions of the six love styles he proposed have been condensed and reduced to some shortcuts. These truncated attributes have somewhat distorted Lee’s original meanings.

This is why I presented a more comprehensive description of these love styles in this and other articles. In other articles, I described the Eros and Ludus love styles, while here you’ll see a few excerpts from my books where I talk about the Storge love style in more depth.

Lee’s Theoretical Description of the Storge Love Style

“Individuals with the Storge love style tend to avoid self-conscious passion, slowly disclosing themselves and gradually building up affection and companionship, with the expectation of long-term commitment.”

(Excerpt from Karandashev, 2022, p. 78).

Lee’s Empirically Identified Characteristics of the Storge Love Style

Using the “love story card sort” method, in-depth interviews with 120 people gave about 100,000 data points. The simple form of factor analysis found 32 factors that clearly separated the six love styles. Lee used this analysis to portray the typical lovers of the following things about the Storge love style:

” Participants with the Storge style typically experience secure family environments in their childhood and usually have several siblings. They feel that their life is good, and they can rely on their friends. They believe that their love gradually extends from their deep friendship to sexual intimacy and commitment. They are not aware of their favorite physical type for a potential partner. For them, being with the beloved who is affectionate, companionable, has common interests and shares activities is more important than the attraction to each other.

They experience low mental preoccupation with their partner. They easily tolerate the temporary absence of the beloved and do not worry about the security of the relationship. A person with the Storge style does not like to engage in discussions about feelings of involvement. They tend to avoid extreme emotions and conscious deliberation about each other’s feelings. They gradually self-disclose themselves sexually. Later, when their relationships of Storge style evolve, they engage in sexual activities. It usually occurs when a lover and their partners feel mutual commitment.” 

(Excerpt from Karandashev, 2022, p. 81).

The Storge Love Style is a Love Type

This explanation demonstrates how the Storge love style is a distinctive collection of individual identities, attitudes, and behaviors displayed by men and women in romantic relationships. They describe the perspectives, encounters, manifestations, interactions, and behaviors of lovers. Empirically, these distinctive traits can be distinguished. The way they are connected typifies the typological structure of Storge.

So, the Storge love style is a type of love rather than a variable, how it is measured with the Love Attitude Scale (Hendrick & Henrick, 1986, 1998).

Many researchers who are interested in love have studied the six love styles that Canadian sociologist John Alan Lee (1933–2013) identified in the 1970s (Lee, 1973, 1976). His theories of love styles and the development of methods to investigate them made significant and original contributions to the field (Karandashev, 2022).

John Lee theoretically conceptualized six love styles and empirically identified them. Over the years of love research and publication, the original author’s descriptions of the six love styles he proposed have been condensed and reduced to some shortcuts. These truncated attributes have somewhat distorted Lee’s original meanings. Here are a few excerpts from my books where I talk about the Ludus love style in more depth.

Lee’s Theoretical Description of the Ludus Love Style

“Individuals with the Ludus love style are playful and game-loving in their expressions and behaviors. They are pluralistic and permissive in their choices and actions. They often engage in multiple and relatively short-lived relationships. They tend to control their involvement in a relationship in an attempt to avoid the feeling of jealousy.”

(Excerpt from Karandashev, 2022, p. 78).

Lee’s Empirically Identified Characteristics of the Ludus Love Style

In-depth interviews with 120 participants using the “love story card sort” method produced approximately 100,000 data points. The basic form of factor analysis identified 32 factors that distinguished the six clearly identifiable love styles based on their most salient characteristics. The features of the Ludus love style, which Lee identified based on this analysis, are as follows:

“Participants with Ludus style recall their childhood as average. They consider their present life satisfactory, yet do not often feel enthusiastic about it. They like the broader range of physical types in potential partners, are not very selective, and can easily change their preferences. They do not fall in love in the typical sense. They continue the regular activities as usual and wish the love relationships would adapt to their existing schedule of life. They are not willing to commit themselves and settle down, thoroughly avoiding future commitment to the partner and relationship. They do not like to plan far ahead for any events.

The lovers of the Ludus style make an effort to prevent too much involvement and intimacy in relationships by avoiding seeing the beloved too often and preventing over-involvement on either side. They may often discuss the problems of involvement with a partner to minimize the feelings of involvement.

A lover of the Ludus style can play openly, honestly telling the truth to the partner, or can deceive and lead the partner on. The lover, who plays a fair love game, tends to go on and enjoy the ludus style of relationship with the current and next partner. The cheating lover may accumulate the feeling of guilt that sooner or later spoils the joy of the game.

The lovers of the Ludus style enjoy sexual intimacies as pleasant feelings, entertaining plays, and fun games rather than as genuine, passionate connections. Generally, ludic lovers are not prone to experiencing jealousy or feeling rivalry. They expect that the partner also does not feel and does not show jealousy.

When the relationship is not enjoyable anymore, the lovers of the Ludus style think they have a reason to end it. They can easily find an alternative partner. To avoid being bored, they like to have two or three partners for different activities and on different nights of the week. The partners are usually not ignorant of each other’s existence. This knowledge prevents them from becoming overly engaged.”

(Excerpt from Karandashev, 2022, p. 81).

The Ludus Love Style is a Love Type

As this description shows, the Ludus love style represents a distinct cluster of personal beliefs, attitudes, behaviors, and individual identity exhibited by men and women in romantic relationships. They characterize the attitudes, experiences, expressions, behaviors, and interactions of lovers. These distinct characteristics can be distinguished empirically. They are connected in a typical manner that defines the typological structure of Ludus (Karandashev, 2022).

So, the Ludus love style is a type of love rather than a variable, how it is measured with the Love Attitude Scale (Hendrick & Henrick, 1986, 1998).

In the 1970s, Canadian sociologist John Alan Lee (1933–2013) came up with the typology of love styles, which many researchers interested in love have investigated since that time (Lee, 1973, 1976). His ideas about love and how to study it were important and unique additions to the field (Karandashev, 2022).

John Lee developed and empirically validated the conceptualization of six love styles. The original author’s descriptions of the six love styles he proposed have been abridged and reduced to some shortcuts over the years of love research and publication. To some extent, Lee’s original meanings have been distorted by these truncated attributes. Here I present several excerpts from my publications in which I present a more comprehensive description of the Eros love style.

Lee’s Theoretical Description of the Eros Love Style

“Individuals with the Eros love style are very interested in and fascinated by the physical appearance of a potential partner. The lovers see in their beloved the physical characteristics that match their ideal image of the beautiful. Physical romantic attraction is a central tenet of their love.”

(Excerpt from Karandashev, 2022, p. 78).

Lee’s Empirically Identified Characteristics of the Eros Love Style

The “love story card sort” in-depth interviews with 120 participants yielded approximately 100,000 data points. The simple form of factor analysis identified 32 factors that distinguished the six clearly identifiable love styles with their most salient features. Based on this analysis, John Lee described the Eros love style as follows:

“Participants with eros style usually have had a happy childhood, a warm relationship with siblings and parents. They feel content with their life and work. They are ready for love, yet do not look anxiously for it. The erotic lovers typically clearly know which physical type is attractive to them. They can express it verbally, or by quickly selecting that type among a set of photographs (Lee,1973, p. 248). Participants with the eros love style are quite demanding and specific in their expectations that a beloved must conform to their ideal image. They openly and promptly communicate their recognition and appreciation to the beloved which fulfil their ideal expectation of a physical type.

The lovers of eros style are inclined to quickly disclose themselves and expects the disclosure of the beloved. They frequently discuss the topics of involvement with a partner to magnify these feelings. From the beginning of a relationship, they are willing to meet the beloved as frequently as possible. They are looking forward to building up an extensive and deep understanding. They are yearning for sexual intimacy. They enjoy experiencing intensive sensations and emotions. They are self-confident in love, and therefore, neither anxious and demanding, nor obsessively possessive.”

(Excerpt from Karandashev, 2022, p. 81).

The Eros Love Style is a Love Type

As one can see, the Eros love style represents a distinct cluster of personal beliefs, attitudes, behaviors, and individual identity that men and women exhibit in love. They define lovers’ love attitudes, experiences, expressions, actions, and interactions. These individual characteristics are empirically distinguishable. They are related to each other in a typical combination that defines the Eros typological structure.

So, the Eros love style is a type of love rather than a variable, how it is measured with the Love Attitude Scale (Hendrick & Henrick, 1986, 1998).

What are the different types of love? Since the middle of the 20th century, the typology of love has been an interesting topic of inquiry for many people and love researchers. Scholars of love have proposed many different types of love (Karandashev, 2022).

The love studies of the 1970s presented substantial advancements in our understanding of typological differences in the ways people love in romantic relationships (Lasswell & Lasswell, 1976; Lasswell & Lobsenz, 1980; Lee, 1973, 1976).

John Alan Lee (1933–2013), a Canadian social researcher, was among the key scholarly figures in love studies during the 1970s and 1980s.

John Alan Lee’s Contribution to the Studies of Love

The typology of love styles he proposed has substantially affected the love studies of the following decades (Karandashev, 2022). So, I could say he was a genius in the research of love who made major steps forward in our scholarly understanding of the various personality types associated with romantic love relationships.
Love researchers quickly adopted Lee’s (1973) categorization of love styles and widely used them in their studies in the following decades. Despite the popularity of Lee’s love styles in modern love research, contemporary publications often misrepresent his theory and method to some extent. They sometimes interpret the love styles in ways that deviate from Lee’s original conceptualization. So, this article rectifies these misinterpretations and presents Lee’s original theory and method.

Here Are the Core Points of Lee’s Theory of Love Styles

The theory describes the typology of individual ways men and women approach their love relationships. The theory embraces several phenomenological planes, including love ideas, beliefs, attitudes, personal identity in love, and love behavior. It is worth noting that the author noted

“a puzzling contradiction between the opinions which subjects said they held about true love and the behaviour they reported enacting when actually in a love relationship.”

(Lee, 1977, p. 176).

The six love styles in the typology represent the distinctive clusters of personal beliefs, attitudes, behaviors, and individual identity that men and women exhibit in love. These individual attributes are related to one another and are empirically distinguishable. They characterize the love attitudes, experiences, expressions, actions, and interactions of lovers. Lee denoted these love styles with conventional labels borrowed from the Greek and Latin lexicon of love.

A Comprehensive Description of the Six Love Styles by John Lee

Over the years of love research and publications, the original author’s descriptions of the six love styles he proposed have been abridged and reduced to some shortcuts. These truncated attributes have distorted, to some extent, Lee’s original meanings.

Lee’s descriptions of the six love styles can be summed up in the following ways:

1. Individuals with Eros love style are very interested in and fascinated by the physical appearance of a potential partner. The lovers perceive in a beloved the physical type concordant with their ideal image of the beautiful. Physical romantic attraction is a central tenet of their love.
2. Individuals with Ludus love style are playful and game-loving in their expressions and behaviors. They are pluralistic and permissive in their choices and actions. They often engage in multiple and relatively short-lived relationships. They tend to control their involvement in a relationship in an attempt to avoid the feeling of jealousy.
3. Individuals with Storge love style tend to avoid self-conscious passion, slowly disclosing their selves and gradually building up affection and companionship, with the expectation of long-term commitment.
4. Individuals with Mania love style are emotionally intense, very obsessive and preoccupied with the beloved, and therefore frequently jealous. They crave repeated reassurance of being loved.
5. Individuals with Agape love style feel it is their duty to love another with no expectation of reciprocity. Reasons, rather than emotions, guide their feelings and actions. They are caring, altruistic, and gentle.
6. Individuals with Pragma love style deliberately consider how suitable a potential beloved is for their prospective relationship. They look for a compatible match, taking into account the age, religion, education, vocation, and other demographic characteristics of a prospective partner.

(Reproduced from Karandashev, 2022).

Lee’s Thoughts on the Typological Structure of Love Styles 

The author proposed the hierarchical taxonomic structure of these love styles (Lee, 1973, 1976). So, he illustrated this love typology with a circle of love. A color system provided an illustrative analogy that would be meaningful to represent love styles as a vivid taxonomical system. The colors themselves have no special meanings. Their ability to mix with each other and overlap demonstrates their complex relationships.