Question

Define and distinguish between romantic love, affectionate love, and friendship.

Answer 1

Romantic love = Romantic love is when there is passion and intimacy. It is also called the passionate love. Romantic love can also be described as attraction, it is the obsessive thinking or craving for a particular person. In romantic love one can feel the sense of attachement and that their psychological needs are being met.

Affectionate love= Affetionate love is also called the companionate love. It occurs when the indiviuals desires to have one person near and have a deep and caring affection for the person.This kind of love is durable, fairly slow to develop and is characterized by interdependence and feelings of affection, intimacy and commitment.

Friendship= Frienship can be defined as mutual affection between people. It is a voluntary relationship between two or more people and is relatively long lasting. In friendship, individuals are concerned with meeting the need of the others as well as in satisfying them.

The way how romantic love, affectionate love and friendship is different is that romantic love has a strong sexual and infatuation components that often predominates the early period of relationship. This phase can also be described as the honeymoon phase whereas affectionate love or companionate love involves caring deep about your partner, individuals desire to be near to their partner and take care of them. Here, the component of emotional intimacy could be seen in higher level. This type of love blooms after romantic love. Friendship is completely different from romantic and affectionate love. In friendship there is no sexual desire for the other individual. This sexual aspect separates love from friendship