— Overview
The report explains the three components and the named combinations, including infatuation without intimacy, and it treats a personal example as an illustration, not as a clinical verdict.
— Contents and key concepts
What the report covers
The assignment asks students to apply Sternberg's triangular theory of love, including a pattern in which passion is high and intimacy is thin. It is a psychology paper, not a counseling session and not a verdict on a named person.
The model is useful when the three components are kept distinct. It is weaker when every feeling is forced into one corner.
Three components and eight combinations
Intimacy is closeness and understanding. Passion is the motivational and often physical pull. Commitment is the decision to love and to try to maintain that love. Combining presence and absence of the three yields the familiar set: liking, infatuation, empty love, romantic love, companionate love, fatuous love, consummate love, and nonlove.
Sternberg later discussed how the triangle can be measured and how partners' triangles may differ. A student paper can note measurement.
A personal application, kept modest
If the assignment asks you to read your own relationship, describe one period and which component seemed strongest or weakest, then say what would count as a change. Do not publish identifying details that the person did not agree to share.
Infatuation without intimacy is a named combination, not an insult. Companionate love, with intimacy and commitment and less passion, is another named pattern, common in long partnerships, not a failure by default.
Limits
The theory is one map of close relationships, written in a particular cultural and research setting. It does not settle questions of obligation, law, or safety. If a relationship involves harm, the paper should not treat the triangle as advice to stay.
Sources
- Sternberg, R. J. (1986). A triangular theory of love. Psychological Review, 93(2), 119–135.
- Sternberg, R. J. (1988). The triangle of love: Intimacy, passion, commitment. Basic Books.
- Sternberg, R. J. (1997). Construct validation of a triangular love scale. European Journal of Social Psychology, 27(3), 313–335.
Last updated: November 13, 2026
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