Attachment Styles in Relationships
There are three different love and attachment styles that define what kind of relationship an individual has with another human being or beings. The three that are usually used to describe a person’s attachment to another are passionate, intimacy and companionate types of love. There are many differences in these types of relationships which will be described here.
Passionate or love that attracts has characteristics that are more external than internal. This means that their love is based more on sexual attraction and sex than it does on love. This type of love is also compared to the term “Romantic Love.” When asked to describe what this meant by people, the leading attribute of this type of love was stated as being “sexual in nature, not happiness, loyalty, or sharing”, according to Pamela Ragan and her colleagues, (1998) In the past more Americans said that they would marry someone even if they were not in love, compared to today where only 20% said that they would. Many think that it is the way we are brought up and what we are told about love. Passionate love holds a gamut of different emotions for an individual. If love is returned, a person is ecstatic, if not, despair can be experienced. Other feelings can be physical in nature such as sweaty palms, racing heartbeat, or passion. It all depends how it is interpreted by that individual.
Intimacy on the other hand, includes romantic love but has more dimensions to it. In this, a person tries to get closer to another individual by investigating how that person feels, thinks or acts. The biggest part of intimacy and achieving this element is being able to disclose things about one that are not comfortable to talk about. This may also be called, letting the other person see “the real you.” Women are naturally good listeners, and genuine when disclosing things about themselves and about their own lives. They are empathetic and more ready to assume where their partner...