essay on love cycle

By Chinua Achebe

‘Love Cycle’ by Chinua Achebe describes sunrise, sunset, and their effects on Earth using the metaphor of a barely happy couple.

Chinua Achebe

Nationality: Nigerian

His masterpiece is the novel Things Fall Apart.

Key Poem Information

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Central Message: Love is a cyclical force

Themes: Nature , Relationships

Speaker: Unknown

Emotions Evoked: Anger , Contentment

Poetic Form: Free Verse

Time Period: 20th Century

This poem masterfully employs metaphor and natural imagery to depict the nuanced dynamics of love.

Poem Analyzed by Anastasia Ifinedo

Published Poet

‘Love Cycle’ by Chinua Achebe portrays the sun’s effect on Earth (and vice versa) as a hardly romantic relationship. The poem describes the couple: the sun, an angry male, and the earth, a tolerant female. Achebe uses personification and symbolism throughout the poem to evoke vivid imagery .

Explore Love Cycle

• 2 Detailed Analysis
• 3 Structure
• 5 Literary Devices
• 7 About Achebe
• 8 Similar Poetry

‘Love Cycle’ opens by describing the actions of the sun at dawn. At this time, the poem compares the interaction between the sun and Earth to the aftermath of dispassionate sex between a couple.

It goes on to describe the harshness of the sun as dawn gives way to noon. Here, Love Cycle relates the earth’s endurance of the sun’s scorching rays to the forbearance of a woman dissatisfied with her partner.

Towards the end, however, it speculates why she (Earth) remains in a relationship with him (the sun) and, therefore, why this natural phenomenon reoccurs. Love Cycle concludes by implicitly mentioning moonlight, a gentle reflection of the sun’s rays. The subdued nature of the sun at night gives Earth free reign over her partner. Love Cycle points to this moment as the reason she stays.

Detailed Analysis

At dawn slowly the sun withdraws his long misty arms of embrace. Happy lovers

‘Love Cycle’ opens with the persona describing the attitude of the sun at dawn. One can imagine the sun’s withdrawal from embrace to mean its light isn’t fixated on anything. This translates to how widespread and scattered the sun’s rays are at this time. Unlike at noon, the rays aren’t locked on any surface; they aren’t harsh as well. Hence, their representation is “long misty arms.” The adjective “long” reveals the far reach of the sun.

whose exertions leave (…) fragrance wakes

This stanza introduces the object of the sun’s influence: Earth. The persona portrays the interaction between the two entities as a relationship between a couple. As shown in the first three lines of the stanza, however, the nature of their relationship is dispassionate. The aforementioned lines mention the aftereffects of sex between the represented couple: it’s lukewarm. This reveals the irony in the last line of stanza one. In that line, the persona calls the sun and Earth “happy lovers,” but this stanza begs to differ.

From a different perspective , the first three lines also underscore the theme of nature by representing the attitude of Earth at dawn. In this case, “love’s combustion” refers to the heat of the sun, which is absent at this time. The stanza highlights the presence of dew—and, therefore, humidity—showing the freshness of Earth in the morning.

Stanza Three

to whispers of (…) of heaven and take it

In this stanza, dawn gives way to noon. Again, the persona portrays the sun as a man with a temper. Like his temper, the speaker predicts the “soft-eyed light”—representing the sun’s rays at dawn—will grow hot with time. The man “ploughing through the vast acres of heaven…” is a metaphor for the sun’s journey from the east, where it rises, to the west, where it sets. The speaker tells us that within that time, the sun will become harsh.

Stanza Four

out of her in burning (…) she waits patiently

Employing the established metaphor, this stanza reveals Earth’s reaction to the sun’s harshness. Her attitude is one of patience and tolerance. “Burning darts of anger” refers to the scorching rays fixated on Earth, as the speaker predicted.

The earth absorbs the harsh light the same way the metaphorical woman tolerates her partner’s temper while swallowing her own. This stanza highlights themes of tolerance and patience.

Stanza Five

for evening when thoughts (…) over him.

As it concerns nature, the concluding stanza of ‘Love Cycle’ is speculative. Using the established metaphor, it reasons why Earth tolerates the sun’s harshness. From the metaphorical perspective, the woman stays in a clearly unhealthy relationship because her partner’s gentleness returns at night. The tone of the stanza indicates that the man becomes mellow because he wants her to make love to him. At this point, the theme of power plays comes in. The woman takes comfort in these moments where she has full reign over her partner.

The metaphorical perspective provides a speculative reason Earth tolerates the harshness of the sun during the day. At night, sunlight becomes significantly gentle through the reflective surface of the moon.

The persona guesses Earth tolerates the sun for these moments of freedom and relief. Of course, it’s only speculation backed by the speaker’s power of imagination. As indicated by the title of the poem and the natural phenomenon explored, the events in ‘Love Cycle’ are recurring. In a sense, the poem never ends.

‘Love Cycle’ comprises five stanzas written in free verse . Each stanza heavily employs enjambment , creating fragmented lines occasionally punctuated to indicate a pause. Stanzas often end with incomplete sentences, which are completed in the next stanza. Love Cycle concludes with a full stop.

The central theme explored in ‘Love Cycle’ is nature. The themes of unhealthy relationships, anger, endurance, and power play all emanate from the poet’s exploration of the central theme.

Literary Devices

• Metaphor : Metaphor is a dominant device in ‘Love Cycle.’ The cyclic phenomena of sunrise, sunset, and Earth’s reaction to it are indirectly compared with a dissatisfying love affair. In the poem, the speaker refers to the sun’s rays using three different phrases. “Long misty arms” in stanza 1 and “soft-eyed light” in stanza 3 represent the gentle nature of the sun’s rays. “Burning darts of anger” in stanza 4 refers to the scorching rays present at noon. A metaphor also appears in stanza 2. Depending on perspective, “love’s combustion” represents sex or the heat of the sun. In stanza 3, the poem compares “heaven,” an aerial space, to land, by giving it a unit of measurement.
• Personification : Personification wouldn’t have been possible without metaphor in ‘Love Cycle’ . Referring to the sun and Earth as a human couple already bestows human characteristics on them. Throughout the poem, these entities exhibit attributes and actions common to man. For example, in stanza 2, the Earth wakes up; between stanzas 3 and 4, the Sun vents his anger on Earth.
• Irony : Considering the state of the represented relationship in ‘Love Cycle,’ the title of the poem is ironic . This irony resurfaces between stanzas 1 and 2. The persona calls the sun and Earth “happy lovers” right before describing their dispassionate affair.
• Synaesthesia : This poetic device associates attributes of the five senses with each other. It is evident in stanza 3, where the sense of sound is associated with sight: “…whispers of soft-eyed light…”.
• Enjambment : Enjambment runs throughout ‘Love Cycle,’ resulting in the fragmented structure of the poem.

‘Love Cycle’ was first published as part of the collection “From Beware Soul Brother and Other Poems” in 1971. In that same year, it was republished in the United States as part of the poetry collection “Christmas in Biafra and Other Poems”.

The speaker is an unnamed but keen observer of nature; he may be the poet himself. In ‘Love Cycle,’ he presents himself as a sharp and speculative narrator of the natural phenomenon explored.

The tone is neutral. The speaker is indifferent to the plight of Earth and the actions of the sun. He is only narrating to readers about these events.

Romantic poems focus on and appreciate the power of nature while relating it to human life. ‘Love Cycle’ explores the interaction between two natural entities, comparing it with the ongoings in a human relationship. In this regard, ‘Love Cycle’ is a romantic poem .

While eros poetry paints a vivid carnal picture of its subject ’s body and/or its persona ’s lustful desires, ‘ Love Cycle ‘ doesn’t do that. The poem only mentions desire and its aftermath as a metaphorical tool for its main theme: nature. In this regard, ‘Love Cycle’ is not eros poetry.

About Achebe

Born on 16 November 1930, Chinua Achebe was a renowned Nigerian novelist, poet, and essayist. He is majorly known for his debut novel , Things Fall Apart (1958), which is the face of modern African literature. A recipient of several national and international awards, Chinua Achebe, published short stories , poetry collections, and essays during his lifetime. He greatly admired Christopher Okigbo, an African poet who influenced Achebe’s craft.

From 1990 to 2009, Achebe taught at Bard College, after which he taught at Brown University for four years. Among others—and besides his debut novel—his notable works include Arrow of God (1964), A Man of the People (1966), and There Was A Country (2012). As he reveals in this discussion, Achebe believes in penning down the unfiltered truth—good or bad. He heavily exercises the aforementioned practice in his last book, There Was A Country.

Achebe lived 82 years and died on 21 March 2013.

Similar Poetry

You can check out more of Achebe’s poems and other romantic poems if you enjoyed ‘Love Cycle’ :

• ‘ Vultures ‘ – a poem centering on the Belsen concentration camp and a commander working there.
• ‘ Refugee Mother and Child ‘ – a sad poem depicting the aftermath of the Nigerian Civil War.
• Ten of the best nature poems

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I love the idea 🥰🥰🥰🤩🥰 o

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Ifinedo, Anastasia. "Love Cycle by Chinua Achebe". Poem Analysis , https://poemanalysis.com/chinua-achebe/love-cycle/ . Accessed 25 September 2024.

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At dawn slowly the sun withdraws his long misty arms of embrace. Happy lovers

whose exertions leave no aftertaste nor slush of love’s combustion; Earth perfumed in dewdrop fragrance wakes

to whispers of soft-eyed light… Later he will wear out his temper ploughing the vast acres of heaven and take it

out of her in burning darts of anger. Long accustomed to such caprice she waits patiently

for evening when thoughts of another night will restore his mellowness and her power over him.

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Towards a Comprehensive Theory of Love: The Quadruple Theory

Scholars across an array of disciplines including social psychologists have been trying to explain the meaning of love for over a century but its polysemous nature has made it difficult to fully understand. In this paper, a quadruple framework of attraction, resonance or connection, trust, and respect are proposed to explain the meaning of love. The framework is used to explain how love grows and dies and to describe brand love, romantic love, and parental love. The synergistic relationship between the factors and how their variations modulate the intensity or levels of love are discussed.

Introduction

Scholars across an array of disciplines have tried to define the meaning and nature of love with some success but questions remain. Indeed, it has been described as a propensity to think, feel, and behave positively toward another ( Hendrick and Hendrick, 1986 ). However, the application of this approach has been unsuccessful in all forms of love ( Berscheid, 2010 ). Some social psychologists have tried to define love using psychometric techniques. Robert Sternberg Triangular Theory of Love and Clyde and Susan Hendrick’s Love Attitudes Scale (LAS) are notable attempts to employ the psychometric approach ( Hendrick and Hendrick, 1986 ; Sternberg, 1986 ). However, data analysis from the administration of the LAS, Sternberg’s scale and the Passionate Love Scale by Hatfield and Sprecher’s (1986) found a poor association with all forms of love ( Hendrick and Hendrick, 1989 ). Other studies have found a poor correlation between these and other love scales with different types of love ( Whitley, 1993 ; Sternberg, 1997 ; Masuda, 2003 ; Graham and Christiansen, 2009 ).

In recent years, the neuropsychological approach to study the nature of love has gained prominence. Research has compared the brain activity of people who were deeply in love while viewing a picture of their partner and friends of the same age using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and concluded that there is a specialized network of the brain involved in love ( Bartels and Zeki, 2000 ). Indeed, several lines of investigation using fMRI have described a specialized area of the brain mediating maternal love ( Noriuchi et al., 2008 ; Noriuchi and Kikuchi, 2013 ) and, fMRI studies have implicated multiple brain systems particularly the reward system in romantic love ( Aron et al., 2005 ; Fisher et al., 2005 , 2010 ; Beauregard et al., 2009 ). Brain regions including ventral tegmental area, anterior insula, ventral striatum, and supplementary motor area have been demonstrated to mediate social and material reward anticipation ( Gu et al., 2019 ). Although brain imaging provides a unique insight into the nature of love, making sense of the psychological significance or inference of fMRI data is problematic ( Cacioppo et al., 2003 ).

Also, there has been growing interests in the neurobiology of love. Indeed, evidence suggests possible roles for oxytocin, vasopressin, dopamine, serotonin, testosterone, cortisol, morphinergic system, and nerve growth factor in love and attachment ( Esch and Stefano, 2005 ; De Boer et al., 2012 ; Seshadri, 2016 ; Feldman, 2017 ). However, in many cases, definite proof is still lacking and the few imaging studies on love are limited by selection bias on the duration of a love affair, gender and cultural differences ( De Boer et al., 2012 ).

So, while advances have been made in unraveling the meaning of love, questions remain and a framework that can be employed to understand love in all its forms remains to be developed or proposed. The objective of this article is to propose a novel framework that can be applied to all forms of love.

Theoretical Background and Hypothesis Development (The AAC Model)

In the past few decades, the psychological literature has defined and described different forms of love and from these descriptions, the role of attraction, attachment-commitment, and caregiving (AAC), appears to be consistent in all forms of love.

Attraction theory is one of the first approaches to explain the phenomenon of love and several studies and scholarly works have described the importance of attraction in different forms of love ( Byrne and Griffitt, 1973 ; Berscheid and Hatfield, 1978 ; Fisher et al., 2006 ; Braxton-Davis, 2010 ; Grant-Jacob, 2016 ). Attraction has been described as an evolutionary adaptation of humans for mating, reproduction, and parenting ( Fisher et al., 2002a , 2006 ).

The role of attachment in love has also been extensively investigated. Attachment bonds have been described as a critical feature of mammals including parent-infant, pair-bonds, conspecifics, and peers ( Feldman, 2017 ). Indeed, neural networks including the interaction of oxytocin and dopamine in the striatum have been implicated in attachment bonds ( Feldman, 2017 ). The key features of attachment include proximity maintenance, safety and security, and separation distress ( Berscheid, 2010 ). Multiple lines of research have proposed that humans possess an innate behavioral system of attachment that is essential in love ( Harlow, 1958 ; Bowlby, 1977 , 1988 , 1989 ; Ainsworth, 1985 ; Hazan and Shaver, 1987 ; Bretherton, 1992 ; Carter, 1998 ; Burkett and Young, 2012 ). Attachment is essential to commitment and satisfaction in a relationship ( Péloquin et al., 2013 ) and commitment leads to greater intimacy ( Sternberg, 1986 ).

Also, several lines of evidence have described the role of caregiving in love. It has been proposed that humans possess an inborn caregiving system that complements their attachment system ( Bowlby, 1973 ; Ainsworth, 1985 ). Indeed, several studies have used caregiving scale and compassionate love scale, to describe the role of caring, concern, tenderness, supporting, helping, and understanding the other(s), in love and relationships ( Kunce and Shaver, 1994 ; Sprecher and Fehr, 2005 ). Mutual communally responsive relationships in which partners attend to one another’s needs and welfare with the expectation that the other will return the favor when their own needs arise ( Clark and Mills, 1979 ; Clark and Monin, 2006 ), have been described as key in all types of relationships including friendship, family, and romantic and compassionate love ( Berscheid, 2010 ).

Attachment and caregiving reinforce each other in relationships. Evidence suggests that sustained caregiving is frequently accompanied by the growth of familiarity between the caregiver and the receiver ( Bowlby, 1989 , p. 115) strengthening attachment ( Berscheid, 2010 ). Several studies have proposed that attachment has a positive influence on caregiving behavior in love and relationships ( Carnelley et al., 1996 ; Collins and Feeney, 2000 ; Feeney and Collins, 2001 ; Mikulincer, 2006 ; Canterberry and Gillath, 2012 ; Péloquin et al., 2013 ).

The AAC model can be seen across the literature on love. Robert Sternberg triangular theory of love which proposes that love has three components —intimacy, passion, and commitment ( Sternberg, 1986 ), essentially applies the AAC model. Passion, a key factor in his theory, is associated with attraction ( Berscheid and Hatfield, 1978 ), and many passionate behaviors including increased energy, focused attention, intrusive thinking, obsessive following, possessive mate guarding, goal-oriented behaviors and motivation to win and keep a preferred mating partner ( Fisher et al., 2002b , 2006 ; Fisher, 2005 ). Also, evidence indicates that attachment is central to intimacy, another pillar of the triangular theory ( Morris, 1982 ; Feeney and Noller, 1990 ; Oleson, 1996 ; Grabill and Kent, 2000 ). Commitment, the last pillar of the triangular theory, is based on interdependence and social exchange theories ( Stanley et al., 2010 ), which is connected to mutual caregiving and secure attachment.

Hendrick and Hendrick’s (1986) , Love Attitudes Scale (LAS) which measures six types of love ( Hendrick and Hendrick, 1986 ) is at its core based on the AAC model. Similarly, numerous works on love ( Rubin, 1970 ; Hatfield and Sprecher, 1986 ; Fehr, 1994 ; Grote and Frieze, 1994 ), have applied one or all of the factors in the ACC model. Berscheid (2010) , proposed four candidates for a temporal model of love including companionate love, romantic love, and compassionate love and adult attachment love. As described, these different types of love (romantic, companionate, compassionate, and attachment) all apply at least one or all of the factors in the AAC model.

New Theory (The Quadruple Framework)

The AAC model can be fully captured by four fundamental factors; attraction, connection or resonance, trust, and respect, providing a novel framework that could explain love in all its forms. Table 1 shows the core factors of love, and the four factors derived from them.

Factors of love.

Evidence suggests that both attachment and attraction play a role in obsession or passion observed in love ( Fisher et al., 2005 ; Honari and Saremi, 2015 ). Attraction is influenced by the value or appeal perceived from a relationship and this affects commitment ( Rusbult, 1980 ).

Connection or Resonance

Connection is key to commitment, caregiving, and intimacy. It creates a sense of oneness in relationships and it is strengthened by proximity, familiarity, similarity, and positive shared experiences ( Sullivan et al., 2011 ; Beckes et al., 2013 ). Homogeneity or similarity has been observed to increase social capital and engagement among people ( Costa and Kahn, 2003a , b ), and it has been described as foundational to human relationships ( Tobore, 2018 , pp. 6–13). Research indicates that similarity plays a key role in attachment and companionship as people are more likely to form long-lasting and successful relationships with those who are more similar to themselves ( Burgess and Wallin, 1954 ; Byrne, 1971 ; Berscheid and Reis, 1998 ; Lutz-Zois et al., 2006 ). Proximity plays a key role in caregiving as people are more likely to show compassion to those they are familiar with or those closest to them ( Sprecher and Fehr, 2005 ). Similarity and proximity contribute to feelings of familiarity ( Berscheid, 2010 ). Also, caregiving and empathy are positively related to emotional interdependence ( Hatfield et al., 1994 ).

Trust is crucial for love ( Esch and Stefano, 2005 ) and it plays an important role in relationship intimacy and caregiving ( Rempel and Holmes, 1985 ; Wilson et al., 1998 ; Salazar, 2015 ), as well as attachment ( Rodriguez et al., 2015 ; Bidmon, 2017 ). Familiarity is a sine qua non for trust ( Luhmann, 1979 ), and trust is key to relationship satisfaction ( Simpson, 2007 ; Fitzpatrick and Lafontaine, 2017 ).

Respect is cross-cultural and universal ( Frei and Shaver, 2002 ; Hendrick et al., 2010 ) and has been described as fundamental in love ( Hendrick et al., 2011 ). It plays a cardinal role in interpersonal relations at all levels ( Hendrick et al., 2010 ). Indeed, it is essential in relationship commitment and satisfaction ( Hendrick and Hendrick, 2006 ) and relationship intimacy and attachment ( Alper, 2004 ; Hendrick et al., 2011 ).

Synergetic Interactions of the Four Factors

Connection and attraction.

Similarity, proximity, and familiarity are all important in connection because they promote attachment and a sense of oneness in a relationship ( Sullivan et al., 2011 ; Beckes et al., 2013 ). Research indicates that proximity ( Batool and Malik, 2010 ) and familiarity positively influence attraction ( Norton et al., 2015 ) and several lines of evidence suggests that people are attracted to those similar to themselves ( Sykes et al., 1976 ; Wetzel and Insko, 1982 ; Montoya et al., 2008 ; Batool and Malik, 2010 ; Collisson and Howell, 2014 ). Also, attraction mediates similarity and familiarity ( Moreland and Zajonc, 1982 ; Elbedweihy et al., 2016 ).

Respect and Trust

Evidence suggests that respect promotes trust ( Ali et al., 2012 ).

Connection, Respect, Trust, and Attraction

Trust affects attraction ( Singh et al., 2015 ). Trust and respect can mediate attitude similarity and promote attraction ( Singh et al., 2016 ).

So, although these factors can operate independently, evidence suggests that the weakening of one factor could negatively affect the others and the status of love. Similarly, the strengthening of one factor positively modulates the others and the status of love.

Relationships are dynamic and change as events and conditions in the environment change ( Berscheid, 2010 ). Love is associated with causal conditions that respond to these changes favorably or negatively ( Berscheid, 2010 ). In other words, as conditions change, and these factors become present, love is achieved and if they die, it fades. Figure 1 below explains how love grows and dies. Point C in the figure explains the variations in the intensity or levels of love and this variation is influenced by the strength of each factor. The stronger the presence of all factors, the higher the intensity and the lower, the weaker the intensity of love. The concept of non-love is similar to the “non-love” described in Sternberg’s triangular theory of love in which all components of love are absent ( Sternberg, 1986 ).

Description: (A) Presence of love (all factors are present). (B) Absence of love (state of non-love or state where all factors are latent or dormant). (C) Different levels of love due to variations in the four factors. (D) Movement from non-love toward love (developmental stage: at least one but not all four factors are present). (E) Movement away from love toward non-love (decline stage: at least one or more of the four factors are absent).

Application of the Quadruple Framework on Romantic, Brand and Parental Love

Romantic, parental and brand love have been chosen to demonstrate the role of these factors and their interactions in love because there is significant existing literature on them. However, they can be applied to understand love in all its forms.

Romantic Love

Attraction and romantic love.

Attraction involves both physical and personality traits ( Braxton-Davis, 2010 ; Karandashev and Fata, 2014 ). To this end, attraction could be subdivided into sexual or material and non-sexual or non-material attraction. Sexual or material attraction includes physical attributes such as beauty, aesthetics, appeal, wealth, etc. In contrast, non-sexual or non-material attraction includes characteristics such as personality, social status, power, humor, intelligence, character, confidence, temperament, honesty, good quality, kindness, integrity, etc. Both types of attraction are not mutually exclusive.

Romantic love has been described as a advanced form of human attraction system ( Fisher et al., 2005 ) and it fits with the passion component of Sternberg’s triangular theory of love which he described as the quickest to recruit ( Sternberg, 1986 ). Indeed, research indicates that physical attractiveness and sensual feelings are essential in romantic love and dating ( Brislin and Lewis, 1968 ; Regan and Berscheid, 1999 ; Luo and Zhang, 2009 ; Braxton-Davis, 2010 ; Ha et al., 2010 ; Guéguen and Lamy, 2012 ) and sexual attraction often provides the motivational spark that kickstarts a romantic relationship ( Gillath et al., 2008 ). Behavioral data suggest that love and sex drive follow complementary pathways in the brain ( Seshadri, 2016 ). Indeed, the neuroendocrine system for sexual attraction and attachment appears to work synergistically motivating individuals to both prefer a specific mating partner and to form an attachment to that partner ( Seshadri, 2016 ). Sex promotes the activity of hormones involved in love including arginine vasopressin in the ventral pallidum, oxytocin in the nucleus accumbens and stimulates dopamine release which consequently motivates preference for a partner and strengthens attachment or pair-bonding ( Seshadri, 2016 ).

Also, romantic love is associated with non-material attraction. Research indicates that many people are attracted to their romantic partner because of personality traits like generosity, kindness, warmth, humor, helpfulness, openness to new ideas ( Giles, 2015 , pp. 168–169). Findings from a research study on preferences in human mate selection indicate that personality traits such as kindness/considerate and understanding, exciting, and intelligent are strongly preferred in a potential mate ( Buss and Barnes, 1986 ). Indeed, character and physical attractiveness have been found to contribute jointly and significantly to romantic attraction ( McKelvie and Matthews, 1976 ).

Attraction is key to commitment in a romantic relationship ( Rusbult, 1980 ), indicating that without attraction a romantic relationship could lose its luster. Also, romantic attraction is weakened or declines as the reason for its presence declines or deteriorates. If attraction is sexual or due to material characteristics, then aging or any accident that compromises physical beauty would result in its decline ( Braxton-Davis, 2010 ). Loss of fortune or social status could also weaken attraction and increase tension in a relationship. Indeed, tensions about money increase marital conflicts ( Papp et al., 2009 ; Dew and Dakin, 2011 ) and predicted subsequent divorce ( Amato and Rogers, 1997 ).

Connection and Romantic Love

Connection or resonance fits with the intimacy, and commitment components of Sternberg’s triangular theory of love ( Sternberg, 1986 ). Connection in romantic love involves intimacy, friendship or companionship and caregiving and it is strengthened by novelty, proximity, communication, positive shared experiences, familiarity, and similarity. It is what creates a sense of oneness between romantic partners and it is expressed in the form of proximity seeking and maintenance, concern, and compassion ( Neto, 2012 ). Evidence suggests that deeper levels of emotional involvement or attachment increase commitment and cognitive interdependence or tendency to think about the relationship in a pluralistic manner, as reflected in the use of plural pronouns to describe oneself, romantic partner and relationship ( Agnew et al., 1998 ).

Research indicates that both sexual attraction and friendship are necessary for romantic love ( Meyers and Berscheid, 1997 ; Gillath et al., 2008 ; Berscheid, 2010 ), indicating that connection which is essential for companionship plays a key role in romantic love. A study on college students by Hendrick and Hendrick (1993) found that a significant number of the students described their romantic partner as their closest friend ( Hendrick and Hendrick, 1993 ), reinforcing the importance of friendship or companionship in romantic love.

Similarity along the lines of values, goals, religion, nationality, career, culture, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, language, etc. is essential in liking and friendship in romantic love ( Berscheid and Reis, 1998 ). Research indicates that a partner who shared similar values and interests were more likely to experience stronger love ( Jin et al., 2017 ). Indeed, the more satisfied individuals were with their friendships the more similar they perceived their friends to be to themselves ( Morry, 2005 ). Also, similarity influences perceptions of familiarity ( Moreland and Zajonc, 1982 ), and familiarity plays a role in the formation of attachment and connectedness because it signals safety and security ( Bowlby, 1977 ). Moreover, similarity and familiarity affect caregiving. Sprecher and Fehr (2005) , found compassion or caregiving were lower for strangers, and greatest for dating and marital relationships, indicating that similarity and familiarity enhance intimacy and positively influences caregiving ( Sprecher and Fehr, 2005 ).

Proximity through increased exposure is known to promote liking ( Saegert et al., 1973 ), familiarity and emotional connectedness ( Sternberg, 1986 ; Berscheid, 2010 ). Exposure through fun times and direct and frequent communication is essential to maintaining and strengthening attachment and connectedness ( Sternberg and Grajek, 1984 ). In Sternberg’s triangular theory, effective communication is described as essential and affects the intimacy component of a relationship ( Sternberg, 1986 ). Indeed, intimacy grows from a combination of mutual self-disclosure and interactions mediated by positive partner responsiveness ( Laurenceau et al., 1998 , 2005 ; Manne et al., 2004 ), indicating that positive feedback and fun times together strengthens connection.

Also, sexual activity is an important component of the reward system that reinforces emotional attachment ( Seshadri, 2016 ), indicating that sexual activity may increase emotional connectedness and intimacy. Over time in most relationships, predictability grows, and sexual satisfaction becomes readily available. This weakens the erotic and emotional experience associated with romantic love ( Berscheid, 2010 ). Research shows that a reduction in novelty due to the monotony of being with the same person for a long period is the reason for this decline in sexual attraction ( Freud and Rieff, 1997 , p. 57; Sprecher et al., 2006 , p. 467). According to Sternberg (1986) , the worst enemy of the intimacy component of love is stagnation. He explained that too much predictability can erode the level of intimacy in a close relationship ( Sternberg, 1986 ). So, novelty is essential to maintaining sexual attraction and strengthening connection in romantic love.

Jealousy and separation distress which are key features of romantic love ( Fisher et al., 2002b ), are actions to maintain and protect the emotional union and are expressions of a strong connection. Research has found a significant correlation between anxiety and love ( Hatfield et al., 1989 ) and a positive link between romantic love and jealousy in stable relationships ( Mathes and Severa, 1981 ; Aune and Comstock, 1991 ; Attridge, 2013 ; Gomillion et al., 2014 ). Indeed, individuals who feel strong romantic love tend to be more jealous or sensitive to threats to their relationship ( Orosz et al., 2015 ).

Connection in romantic love is weakened by distance, a dearth of communication, unsatisfactory sexual activity, divergences or dissimilarity of values and interests, monotony and too much predictability.

Trust and Romantic Love

Trust is the belief that a partner is, and will remain, reliable or dependable ( Cook, 2003 ). Trust in romantic love fits with the intimacy, and commitment components of Sternberg’s triangular theory of love which includes being able to count on the loved one in times of need, mutual understanding with the loved one, sharing of one’s self and one’s possessions with the loved one and maintaining the relationship ( Sternberg, 1986 ).

It has been proposed that love activates specific regions in the reward system which results in a reduction in emotional judgment and fear ( Seshadri, 2016 ). This reduced fear or trust has been identified as one of the most important characteristics of a romantic relationship and essential to fidelity, commitment, monogamy, emotional vulnerability, and intimacy ( Laborde et al., 2014 ). Indeed, trust can deepen intimacy, increase commitment and increase mutual monogamy, and make a person lower their guards in the belief that they are safe from harm ( Larzelere and Huston, 1980 ; Bauman and Berman, 2005 ). People with high trust in romantic relationships tend to expect that their partner will act in their interest causing them to prioritize relationship dependence over making themselves invulnerable from harm or self-protection ( Luchies et al., 2013 ). In contrast, people with low trust in their partner tend to be unsure about whether their partner will act in their interests and prioritize insulating themselves from harm over relationship dependence ( Luchies et al., 2013 ).

Trust takes time to grow into a romantic relationship. Indeed, people in a relationship come to trust their partners when they see that their partner’s action and behavior moves the relationship forward or acts in the interest of the relationship and not themself ( Wieselquist et al., 1999 ). Research indicates that trust is associated with mutual self-disclosure ( Larzelere and Huston, 1980 ), and positive partner responsiveness which are both essential to the experience of friendship and intimacy in romantic relationships ( Larzelere and Huston, 1980 ; Reis and Shaver, 1988 ; Laurenceau et al., 1998 ).

Also, trust influences caregiving and compassion. Evidence suggests that compassion is positively related to trust ( Salazar, 2015 ). Mutual communal responsiveness or caregiving in relationships in which partners attend to one another’s needs and welfare is done because they are confident that the other will do the same when or if their own needs arise ( Clark and Monin, 2006 ). Repeated acts of communal responsiveness given with no expectation of payback provide a partner with a sense of security and trust and increase the likelihood that they will be communally responsive if or when the need arises ( Clark and Monin, 2006 ), and contributes to a sense of love in romantic relationships ( Berscheid, 2010 ).

Loss or weakening of trust could spell the end of romantic love. Indeed, mistrust corrupts intimacy and often indicates that a relationship has ended or near its end ( LaFollette and Graham, 1986 ) and it makes mutual monogamy, and commitment difficult to achieve in a romantic relationship ( Towner et al., 2015 ). A study on individuals who had fallen out of romantic love with their spouse found that loss of trust and intimacy was part of the reason for the dissolution of love ( Sailor, 2013 ).

Respect and Romantic Love

Multiple lines of evidence suggest that respect is expected in both friendships and romantic relationships ( Gaines, 1994 , 1996 ). In romantic love, it entails consideration, admiration, high regard, and value for the loved one as a part of one’s life ( Sternberg and Grajek, 1984 ; Hendrick et al., 2011 ).

Gottman (1999) , found that the basis for a stable and satisfactory marital relationship is friendship filled with fondness and admiration ( Gottman, 1999 ). Respect is considered one of the most important things married couples want from their partner ( Gottman, 1994 ). Grote and Frieze (1994) , found that respect correlates with companionate or friendship love ( Grote and Frieze, 1994 ), indicating that respect is essential to intimacy and relationship satisfaction. Also, respect is positively correlated with passion, altruism, self-disclosure, and relationship overall satisfaction ( Frei and Shaver, 2002 ; Hendrick and Hendrick, 2006 ). It is associated with the tendency to overlook a partner’s negative behavior or respond with pro-relationship actions or compassion to their shortcomings ( Rusbult et al., 1998 ; Gottman, 1999 ).

Absence or a lack of respect could spell the end of romantic love. Research indicates that there is an expectation of mutual respect in friendship and most relationships and people reacted negatively when this expectation is violated ( Hendrick et al., 2011 ), indicating that a lack of respect could negatively affect commitment and attraction. Indeed, denial of respect is an important negative behavior in friendships and most relationships ( Gaines, 1994 , 1996 ) and a lack of respect is a violation of what it means to love one ‘s partner in a close romantic relationship ( Hendrick et al., 2011 ). Gottman (1993 , 1994) identified contempt, criticism, defensiveness, and stonewalling as four of the relationally destructive behavior and he labeled them as “the four horsemen of the apocalypse.”

Romantic love summary

Romantic love involves the interactions and synergistic interplay between respect, connection, trust, and attraction. All four must be present in love. Any event that results in the loss of any of these factors could cause romantic love to gradually decline and unless effort is made to replenish it, it will eventually fade or collapse. Romantic love is dynamic and requires significant investment from both partners to keep it alive.

Parental Love

Attraction and parental love.

Attraction plays an essential role in parental love and it could be material or non-material. Material attraction involves the child’s health, gender, accomplishments or success, and attractiveness. In contrast, non-material attraction includes traits such as intelligence, character, and other personality traits.

Evidence suggests that culture influences gender preference with attraction greater for sons in most cases ( Cronk, 1993 ). Indeed, mothers and fathers have been found to favor the more intelligent and more ambitious/industrious child ( Lauricella, 2009 ). Also, parental perception that investment in a child will cost more than the benefits to be gained from taking care of the child might influence negative behavior toward the child. Indeed, multiple lines of evidence suggest that parental unemployment increases the rates of child maltreatment and abuse ( Steinberg et al., 1981 ; Lindo et al., 2013 ). Research indicates that teen mothers who have poor social support reported greater unhappiness, were at greater risk for child abuse and often employed the use of physical punishment toward their child ( Haskett et al., 1994 ; de Paúl and Domenech, 2000 ).

Also, several studies have suggested that parents tended to favor healthy children ( Mann, 1992 ; Barratt et al., 1996 ; Hagen, 1999 ). However, when resources are plentiful, parents tend to invest equally in less healthy or high-risk children ( Beaulieu and Bugental, 2008 ), because they have abundant resources to go around without compromising the reproductive value of healthy children ( Lauricella, 2009 ).

Connection and Parental Love

Connection creates a sense of oneness between parent and child and involves caregiving, intimacy, and attachment. It is influenced by proximity, positive and unique shared experiences, and similarity along virtually every dimension between parent and child.

Proximity, and similarity increases attachment and intimacy between parent and child. Research shows that parents are perceived as favoring genetically related children ( Salmon et al., 2012 ), and evidence suggests that paternal resemblance predicted paternal favoritism ( Lauricella, 2009 ). Parental proximity and similarity to a biological child are unique because it is based on genes and blood. In contrast, intimacy between a parent and an adopted child is based solely on shared experiences and proximity and takes time to grow and on many occasions may not develop ( Hooks, 1990 ; Hughes, 1999 ).

Dissimilarities or discrepancy in values, attitudes, etc., can create problems between children and parents and can have a profound effect on their relationship. Indeed, evidence suggests that the rebel child tended to be less close to the parents ( Rohde et al., 2003 ). Research has found that adolescents who are less religious than their parents tend to experience lower-quality relationships with their parents which results in higher rates of both internalizing and externalizing symptoms ( Kim-Spoon et al., 2012 ). When parents and family members were very religious, and a child comes out as an atheist, relationship quality could suffer in the form of rejection, anger, despair, or an inability to relate to one another ( Zimmerman et al., 2015 ). A study of lesbian, gay, and bisexual youngsters, for patterns of disclosure of sexual orientation to families, found that those who had disclosed reported verbal and physical abuse by parents and family members ( D’Augelli et al., 1998 ). Honor killing of female children which have been reported in Pakistan and some parts of the Middle East because of deviation from traditional gender roles or crossing of social boundaries that are deemed as taboo in their culture ( Lindsey and Sarah, 2010 ), is another example of the negative effects of the discrepancy in values between parents and child.

Unique shared experiences between parent and child could increase connection. Bank (1988) observed that the development of favoritism seems to require that the “child’s conception or birth be unusual or stressful,” ( Bank, 1988 ). Evidence suggests that parents most favored child tended to be last-born child and this is linked to their unique position, vulnerability and neediness ( Rohde et al., 2003 ). Also, proximity, positive experiences and time spent together increases connection and intimacy. Research indicates that parents tend to give more love and support to the grown child they were historically closest to and got along with ( Siennick, 2013 ). A study of primiparous women found that mothers with greater contact with their infants were more reluctant to leave them with someone else, and engaged more intimately with their child ( Klaus et al., 1972 ).

Divorce could create distance between a parent and child, weakening connection and intimacy. Indeed, one of the outcomes of divorce is the lessening of contact between divorced non-custodial fathers and their children ( Appleby and Palkovitz, 2007 ), and this can reduce intimacy ( Guttmann and Rosenberg, 2003 ).

Also, parental separation distress, worry, and concern for their child’s welfare, academic performance, and future are expressions of connection and a lack thereof is a sign of poor connection. Indeed, the levels of concern and worry expressed between children and their parents influenced their perceptions of the relationship quality ( Hay et al., 2007 ).

Trust and Parental Love

Trust is essential to parental attachment, intimacy, and caregiving. When there is mistrust, attachment and intimacy between a parent and their child are disrupted or unable to blossom. In Africa and many parts of the world, there have been reports of children being condemned and abandoned by their parents simply because they are tagged as witches with mysterious evil powers ( Tedam, 2014 ; Bartholomew, 2015 ; Briggs and Whittaker, 2018 ). The tag of “witchcraft” stirs up fear and anger, causing the child to be perceived as a deadly threat which inevitably damages attachment, intimacy and eliminates the need for caregiving.

Research has found that firstborn children were most likely to be chosen as those to whom mothers would turn when facing personal problems or crises ( Suitor and Pillemer, 2007 ). This tendency may be linked to trust. Moreover, evidence suggests that the rebel child tended to be less close to the parents ( Rohde et al., 2003 ). In other words, the more obedient, and reliable child is likely to gain the confidence and intimacy of the parents. In contrast, the disobedient and unreliable child is excluded or kept at a distance. Also, trust and poor connection could influence inheritance and disinheritance decisions. Indeed, estrangement, alienation and disaffection of a parent toward a child could result in disinheritance ( Batts, 1990 ; Brashier, 1994 , 1996 ; Foster, 2001 ; Arroyo et al., 2016 ).

Respect and Parental Love

Respect in parental love entails treating the child with consideration and regard. This consideration and regard for the child are essential to intimacy, caregiving and attachment. Indeed, respect is foundational to a harmonious relationship between parent and child ( Dixon et al., 2008 ). Evidence suggests that humans possess an innate behavioral system that leads them to form an attachment to a familiar person who provides care, comfort, and protection ( Harlow, 1958 ; Bowlby, 1989 ). Repeated acts of caregiving contribute to a sense of love in all types of relationships ( Berscheid, 2010 ), reinforcing the role of parental caregiving in fostering intimacy and attachment with the child.

Taking care of an infant’s needs, and making sure they are safe and well, all fall under consideration and regard for the child. Child abuse and neglect ( Tedam, 2014 ; Bartholomew, 2015 ; Briggs and Whittaker, 2018 ), is a display of a lack of consideration for the child’s need.

Also, respect in parental love involves admiration. Research has found that fathers treated more ambitious/industrious sons with high regard, and both parents favored the more intelligent and more ambitious/industrious daughters ( Lauricella, 2009 ) indicating that a child that engages in activities or behavior that is highly regarded by their parents may gain favor with their parents, strengthening intimacy and vice versa.

Parental love summary

Parental love involves the interactions and synergistic interplay between respect, connection, trust, and attraction. Any event that results in the loss of any of these factors could cause parental love to gradually decline. In many cases, the behavior and actions of a child significantly influence parental love.

Brand love has been defined as the level of passionate emotional attachment a satisfied or happy consumer has for a brand and evidence suggests it is very similar to interpersonal love ( Russo et al., 2011 ).

Attraction and Brand Love

Attraction plays an essential role in brand love. Material attraction for a brand includes attributes like superior design, quality, and aesthetics, price, benefits, etc. Non-material attraction involves social status symbol, brand personality, uniqueness, distinctiveness, user experience, image, etc. evidence suggests that when talking about loved brands, people often talk passionately about the brand’s many attractive qualities such as its exceptional performance, good-looking design, value for money, and other positive attributes ( Fournier, 1998 ; Whang et al., 2004 ; Carroll and Ahuvia, 2006 ; Batra et al., 2012 ). Research on brand love has found that brand attractive attributes such as prestige or uniqueness influence brand passion which affects relevant factors such as purchase intention ( Bauer et al., 2007 ).

Also, brand attraction influences brand loyalty, and commitment. Indeed, research indicates that brand benefits influences brand loyalty or commitment ( Huang et al., 2016 ). Brand personality (image, distinctiveness, and self-expressive value) is strongly associated with brand identification and loyalty ( Kim et al., 2001 ; Elbedweihy et al., 2016 ).

Connection and Brand Love

Connection is essential to brand love. It involves brand attachment, commitment, and intimacy and it is strengthened by brand identification, image, familiarity or awareness, proximity, length or frequency of usage and similarity or congruences along virtually every dimension including values, lifestyle, goals, etc. between brand and customer. Brand awareness which means brand familiarity has been described as essential for people to identify with a brand ( Pascual and Académico, 2015 ), and it indirectly affects current purchases ( Esch et al., 2006 ).

Also, brand identification promotes a sense of oneness between a brand and a customer strengthening commitment and it is driven by brand self-similarity, brand prestige and brand distinctiveness ( Stokburger-Sauer et al., 2008 ). Indeed, brand identification contributes to the development of brand love and brand loyalty ( Alnawas and Altarifi, 2016 ) and brand image and identification influence loyalty and positive word of mouth ( Carroll and Ahuvia, 2006 ; Batra et al., 2012 ; Anggraeni and Rachmanita, 2015 ). Brand identity, values and lifestyle similarities to those of the customer appear to have a strong and significant relationship with brand love ( Batra et al., 2012 ; Rauschnabel and Ahuvia, 2014 ; Alnawas and Altarifi, 2016 ; Elbedweihy et al., 2016 ). Findings from research suggest that customer-to-customer similarity and sense of community drive consumer brand identification, loyalty, and engagement ( Bergkvist and Bech-Larsen, 2010 ; Elbedweihy et al., 2016 ).

Moreover, proximity and interaction play a role in brand love. Indeed, the duration of the relationship between a customer and a brand is essential in brand love ( Albert et al., 2007 ). Fournier (1998) , discussed interdependence which involved frequent brand interactions as necessary for a strong brand relationship ( Fournier, 1998 ). Similarly, Batra et al. (2012) found that having a long-term relationship, positive emotional connection and frequent interactions with a brand was an important aspect of brand love ( Batra et al., 2012 ). Indeed, shared experiences and history between a person and a brand can increase their emotional attachment, make the brand to become an important part of the person’s identity narrative and increases their loyalty to the brand ( Thomson et al., 2005 ; Pedeliento et al., 2016 ).

Just like romantic love, concern and worry and proximity seeking, or maintenance are an expression of emotional connectedness to the brand. Indeed, anticipated separation distress has been described as a core element of brand love ( Batra et al., 2012 ), and consumers are likely to feel strong desires to maintain proximity with their loved objects, even feeling “separation distress” when they are distanced from them ( Thomson et al., 2005 ; Park et al., 2010 ).

Also, novelty through continued innovation is vital to maintaining and strengthening both attraction and connection. According to the Harvard business review, the relationship between brand and consumer go through “ruts” and to “keep the spark” alive, innovation and news are essential ( Halloran, 2014 ). Research indicates that innovation plays a role in brand equity and it impacts brand identification or resonance ( Sinha, 2017 ).

Lack of brand familiarity or awareness, poor or negative user experience, a dearth of innovation and increased dissimilarities in values and lifestyles between brand and consumer can all weaken brand connection.

Trust and Brand Love

Trust is essential to brand attachment, intimacy, and commitment. It involves confidence and reliability, or dependability of the brand and it is influenced by brand image, familiarity, values, user experience, and quality. Indeed, brand trust directly influences brand love ( Turgut and Gultekin, 2015 ; Meisenzahl, 2017 ) and a strong relationship exists between brand love and brand trust and identification ( Albert and Merunka, 2013 ). Evidence suggests that brand familiarity influences brand trust ( Ha and Perks, 2005 ) and brand trust and experience, positively influence brand attachment ( Erciş et al., 2012 ; Chinomona, 2013 ; Chinomona and Maziriri, 2017 ).

Also, brand trust affects brand purchase, loyalty, and commitment. Evidence suggests that a strong relationship exists between brand love and brand trust, brand commitment, positive word of mouth, and willingness to pay a higher price for the brand ( Albert and Merunka, 2013 ). Research indicates that brand trust positively affects brand loyalty ( Setyawan and Kussudiyarsana, 2015 ), directly influences brand purchase intentions ( Yasin and Shamim, 2013 ) and positively influences current and future purchases ( Erciş et al., 2012 ). Indeed, more than any other factor, brand trust has been identified as essential for future purchases of a brand ( Esch et al., 2006 ). It is essential in determining purchase loyalty and attitudinal loyalty and it plays a role in brand market share ( Chaudhuri and Holbrook, 2001 ). Brand trust affects both affective and continuance commitment and affective commitment influences repurchase intention and loyalty ( Erciş et al., 2012 ).

Brand quality is essential to brand trust and love. Indeed, Fournier (1998) , discussed the role of brand quality in brand love and highlighted the role of trust in relationship satisfaction and strength ( Fournier, 1998 ). Also, brand trust has been found to positively affect resistance to negative information and repurchase intention ( Turgut and Gultekin, 2015 ).

Brand trust is weakened by poor user experience, brand quality, brand image, and a lack of brand familiarity.

Respect and Brand Love

Brand respect is essential in brand love and plays an important role in brand attachment, intimacy, and commitment. It is influenced by brand identification, values, image, experience, and quality. Brand respect is displayed by the customer in the form of high regard, admiration for the brand, brand loyalty and consideration or tolerance of negative information. Indeed, brand familiarity positively affects brand respect ( Zhou, 2017 ), indicating that brand familiarity increases regard for a brand. Evidence suggests that brand image positively influences brand respect and love ( Cho, 2011 ), indicating that brand image modulates a customer’s regard and admiration for a brand.

Brand respect influences brand commitment and loyalty. Indeed, a strong relationship has been found between brand respect and brand loyalty ( Cho, 2011 ) and brand admiration results in greater brand loyalty, stronger brand advocacy, and higher brand equity ( Park et al., 2016 ). Brand respect affects the behavioral outcomes of brand love such as affective commitment, and willingness to pay a price premium ( Garg et al., 2016 ; Park et al., 2016 ).

Also, evidence suggests that customers’ admiration or high regard for a brand contributes to why they tend to ignore negative information about the brand ( Elbedweihy et al., 2016 ). Fournier (1998) , included respect as one of the components of brand partner quality. This means that respect is one of the factors that reflects the consumer’s evaluation of the brand’s performance ( Fournier, 1998 ).

A lack of respect could negatively influence the relationship between a brand and a customer. Indeed, people react negatively when the expectation of respect is violated ( Hendrick et al., 2011 ) and a violation of expectation between brand and customer has been found to contribute to brand hate ( Zarantonello et al., 2016 ).

Brand love summary

Brand love involves the interactions and synergistic interplay between respect, connection, trust, and attraction. Any event that results in the loss of any of these factors could cause brand love to gradually decline and unless effort is made to replenish it, it will eventually fade or collapse. Brand love is dynamic and requires significant investment from the brand to keep it alive.

Strengths and Advances Made by the Quadruple Theory

The quadruple theory builds on many of the strengths of previous theories of love and it applies a temporal approach that has been proposed as the best way to understand love ( Berscheid, 2010 ). It goes further than previous theories for several reasons. Firstly, it could potentially be applied to any form of love although, only brand, romantic and parental love were discussed in this paper due to the paucity of scholarly articles on other forms of love. One of the reasons current love scales and approaches have been unable to be applied in all forms of love ( Hendrick and Hendrick, 1989 ; Whitley, 1993 ; Sternberg, 1997 ; Masuda, 2003 ; Graham and Christiansen, 2009 ), is because they capture only a part of the ACC model, unlike the quadruple framework which fully captures it.

Unlike previous theories, the quadruple theory’s application of the complex factor of connection/resonance gives it an edge in furthering our understanding of love. Proximity, positive shared experience, familiarity, and similarity are vital to connection and connection has the most profound influence on all the other factors.

Also, the dynamism and variation of these factors provide a fresh way to understand love from its development to collapse. As Figure 1 shows, love tends to take time to mature in a relationship and can die as these factors rise and decline. Figure 1 shows that variations in the presence of these factors represent different levels of love. Love in any relationship is influenced by the events in the environment it is embedded, and it responds favorably or negatively to these changes. Indeed, people get sick, old, lose their finances, travel in search of greener pastures creating distance, develop new interests different from their partner’s and all these influences the presence and absence of love. One brand becomes more innovative, improves its product quality and users experience over another and people gradually love it more than the one they previously loved. In other words, love is very dynamic and may be divided into high, moderate and low. Another point highlighted in Figure 1 is that the absence of one factor represents the absence of love and only the presence of all factors represents the presence of love. Indeed, the decline of a factor can be replenished in response to changes in the environment causing the reestablishment of love. Trust could decline but attraction and respect remain and over time trust could be replenished.

This dynamic understanding of love implies that it can be nurtured and sustained. As an example, for a brand to be loved and to maintain that love, it must make products that are attractive (appealing). It must be able to connect to its target customers by reaching out through adverts to achieve familiarity and it must ensure that its values, goals, actions are consistently similar to those of its customer base. Also, it must ensure its services and products and actions promote and maintain trust with its customers. It must respect (value) its customer’s interests and ensure that its services and products continue to receive the admiration of its customers. Table 2 describes how brand love can be nurtured and preserved.

Brand love can be nurtured and maintained.

Using this framework, a love scale or algorithm could be developed to ascertain the presence or absence of love in any relationship. Such a scale must effectively capture these four factors and must consider the type of love being calculated in its approach. As an example, in trying to create a scale for romantic love, sexual attraction, and activity may be important for attraction and connection (depending on the age of the partners) but would be unnecessary in the calculation of brand or parental love.

Major Challenges for the Theory

One of the biggest challenges the theory faces is the lack of psychometric data to prove many of its claims. Most of its arguments are based on decades of psychological data, but its lack of psychometric data weakens the theory significantly. Also, the entire premise of the theory is based on the ACC model, which has not been validated as essential or foundational to understanding love. Perhaps, something else needs to be added to the model that the theory may have missed. The argument that the quadruple theory captures the ACC model better than previous theories on love is an argument that has not been validated, and it remains to be seen if this is true. Also, the argument that it can be applied to all forms of love apart from the three discussed remains to be tested and verified.

Gaps currently exist in our understanding of love and evidences from the existing literature show that a framework that can be applied to all forms of love is needed. The quadruple theory hopes to be that framework. It is likely to broaden our understanding of the complex nature of love. It could make love less complex by making it something that can be cultivated or nurtured, regulated and preserved. Future research should consider the modulatory roles of peptides, neurotransmitters, and hormones on these factors and their influence on love as well as the integrated parts of the brain that modulates all these factors and how they work synergistically in different stages of love.

It is important to note that love is universal and applies to people of all cultures, races, ethnicities, religion and sexual orientations. Indeed, romantic love as described by the quadruple theory applies equally to heterosexual relationships and to the relationships of people in the LGTBQ community.

In conclusion, culture has a monumental influence on what people feel, think, and how they behave toward other people and things in their environment ( Karandashev, 2015 ; Ching Hei and David, 2018 ). So, it can be considered a modulating factor on the factors discussed and on love.

Author Contributions

The author confirms being the sole contributor of this work and has approved it for publication.

Conflict of Interest

The author declares that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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Literary Quest

Tuesday, september 19, 2023, “love cycle” - chinua achebe.

At dawn slowly

the sun withdraws his

long misty arms of

embrace. Happy lovers

whose exertions leave

no aftertaste nor slush

of love’s combustion; Earth

perfumed in dewdrop

fragrance wakes

to whispers of

soft-eyed light…

will wear out his temper

ploughing the vast acres

of heaven and take it

out of her in burning

darts of anger. Long

accustomed to such caprice

she waits patiently

for evening when thoughts

of another night will

restore his mellowness

and her power

1.      dawn – sunrise

2.      embrace – hug/hold in arms

3.      exertions – efforts

4.      no aftertaste nor slush – no memory left by an event/experience

5.      combustion – burning (here warmth of love)

6.      soft-eyed light – refers to the early morning

7.      wear out – tired of losing his temperament

8.      caprice - a sudden change of mood

9.      restore - bring back

      mellowness – relaxed and pleasant

“Love Cycle”, a poem by Nigerian poet Chinua Achebe, focusses on the power of nature while relating it to human life. It explores the interaction between two natural entities - the sun(an angry male) and the earth(a tolerant female). The poem personifies the sun and the Earth and uses them as a metaphor for a couple.  

The sun leaves from the Earth at dawn like a lover who has just said goodbye.  The Earth is left with a “dewdrop fragrance” and wakes up to the soft light. Later, the sun gets angry from working in the sky and displaces it on the Earth. The Earth is used to the caprice and waits patiently for the evening when the sun calms down. 

The earth’s endurance of the sun’s scorching rays is compared to a woman’s tolerance for her husband’s “darts of anger”. The sun's anger represents the conflict that can happen in a relationship. The Earth's patience represents the power of love to overcome challenges.

Earth tolerates the harshness of the sun during the day. At night, sunlight becomes gentle through the reflective surface of the moon. This subdued nature of the sun gives Earth free reign over her partner. Earth tolerates the sun for these moments of freedom and relief.  The cyclic phenomena of sunrise, sunset, and Earth’s reaction to it indirectly implies that love is a cycle.

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Love Cycle by Chinua Achebe: Poem and Analysis

General introduction.

The Poem 

Love cycle by chinua achebe.

At dawn slowly

the Sun withdraws his

long misty arms of

embrace. Happy lovers

whose exertions leave

no aftertaste nor slush of love's combustion; Earth perfumed in dewdrop

fragrance wakes

to whispers of

soft-eyed light.... 

will wear out his temper plowing the vast acres of heaven and take it out on her in burning darts of anger. 

Long accustomed to such caprice she waits patiently for evening when thoughts of another night will restore his mellowness and her power

The title, "Love Cycle," immediately suggests a recurring pattern or series of events related to love, indicating that the poem will likely explore the repetitive nature of love's highs and lows.

1. Cyclical Nature of Love: The poem portrays love as a cyclical process, moving from moments of harmony and affection to periods of conflict and tension. This theme is evident in the contrast between the peaceful dawn and the tumultuous evening, highlighting the recurring nature of love's challenges and resolutions.

2. Endurance and Resilience: Through the portrayal of the female character's patient endurance of her partner's temper, the poem underscores the theme of resilience in love. Despite facing anger and caprice, the woman remains steadfast, suggesting that enduring love requires resilience and patience.

3. Power Dynamics in Relationships: The poem touches on the power dynamics within relationships, particularly in the context of conflict resolution. The woman's ability to restore her partner's "mellowness" with the promise of another night suggests a certain degree of power and influence she holds over him.

4. Nature's Reflection of Emotions: Achebe uses nature imagery, such as the Sun's "long misty arms" and the Earth perfumed in dewdrop fragrance, to reflect the emotions and dynamics within the relationship. This theme suggests a deep connection between human emotions and the natural world.

5. Transient Nature of Emotions: The poem explores the fleeting nature of emotions, particularly anger and affection, within a relationship. The Sun's temper and the subsequent restoration of mellowness symbolize the transient nature of human emotions, suggesting that conflicts are often followed by reconciliation.

Literary Devices

1. Personification: The Sun is personified as withdrawing his "long misty arms of embrace," creating a vivid image of the dawn and implying a sense of intimacy between nature and the lovers.

2. Metaphor: The comparison of the Sun's temper to plowing the vast acres of heaven and taking it out on her in burning darts of anger is a metaphor that vividly depicts the destructive nature of the Sun's anger.

3. Imagery: Achebe employs vivid imagery throughout the poem, such as "Earth perfumed in dewdrop fragrance" and "whispers of soft-eyed light," to evoke sensory experiences and create a rich, atmospheric setting.

4. Symbolism: The Sun and the Earth can be seen as symbolic representations of the male and female characters in the poem, respectively, highlighting the interplay between these natural elements as a reflection of the relationship dynamics.

5. Irony: The irony of the woman patiently waiting for evening, knowing that it will bring a restoration of her partner's mellowness, adds depth to the poem by highlighting the complexities of love and human behavior.

6. Alliteration: The repetition of the "s" sound in "soft-eyed light" creates a soft, soothing effect that complements the peaceful imagery of the dawn, enhancing the overall mood of the poem.

Language and Mood:

The language in "Love Cycle" is evocative and rich in imagery, creating a tranquil mood in the opening lines that gradually transitions to a more tense and conflicted atmosphere. The use of descriptive language, such as "Earth perfumed in dewdrop fragrance" and "burning darts of anger," enhances the emotional depth of the poem and contributes to its overall mood of contemplation and introspection.

Chinua Achebe, a renowned Nigerian author, often explored themes related to African identity, culture, and human relationships in his works. "Love Cycle" can be interpreted as a reflection of Achebe's observations on the complexities of love and the enduring nature of relationships, themes that are prevalent in much of his writing.

Conclusion:

"Love Cycle" by Chinua Achebe is a poignant exploration of the cyclical nature of love, highlighting themes of endurance, resilience, power dynamics, and the transient nature of emotions within a relationship. Through vivid imagery and literary devices, Achebe crafts a nuanced portrayal of love's complexities, inviting readers to contemplate the ebbs and flows of human emotions and relationships.

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LOVE CYCLE (A Poem) by Chinua Achebe

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At dawn slowly the sun withdraws his long misty arms of embrace. Happy lovers

whose exertions leave no aftertaste nor slush of love’s combustion; Earth perfumed in dewdrop fragrance wakes

to whispers of soft-eyed light… Later he will wear out his temper ploughing the vast acres of heaven and take it

out of her in burning darts of anger. Long accustomed to such caprice she waits patiently

for evening when thoughts of another night will restore his mellowness and her power over him.

(From  Beware Soul Brother and Other Poems – 1971. Published in the United States of America as  Christmas in Biafra and other Poems  -1971)

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Psychology of Social Connection

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• The Life Cycle of Love

March 27th, 2023 · 11 Comments

Love is in the air! But how did it get there? And how do you stop it from going away? Romantic love is a foundational component of the human experience that leads to feelings of overwhelming joy, devastating heartbreak, and everything in between. It pretty much goes without saying, then, that it’s pretty complicated. Love can be confusing, all-consuming, and seemingly unexplainable. Before we can even begin to define those feelings, we have to ask……what is love? We are going to break it down into 3 key stages: falling in love, staying in love, and lastly, the ending of love. 

Falling in Love: Attraction, Familiarity, and Flirtation (Jessica)

So, you want to fall in love? The romance blogs and dating apps may make it seem easy, but love isn’t something you can pull out of thin air. Relationships take time, energy, and a whole lot of self-reflection and communication with your partner. But before we can even get there, how do you actually find the one ? Studies show that part may not take as much effort as you think. 

Think back to your elementary or high school crush. Why did you like them? Maybe they brought it in the best snacks? Did they compliment your outfits? While physical and emotional attraction can come from meaningful interactions with others, sometimes it’s as simple as being in the right place, at the right time… all of the time. That’s right, exposure can spark attraction! How many times have you noticed that one classmate who always sits in your row or that coworker who’s on your shift every week when you pass them on the street? How many times have you noticed the classmate you only sat next to once? In a long-term study on affinity in a classroom setting, students rated the women they saw the most in class as more attractive than others (Moreland & Beach, 1990). These findings suggest exposure impacts attraction and similarity (Moreland & Beach, 1990). Who knows? Maybe following the same route across campus to that 9 AM will be worth it one day.

If you’re not someone who follows a regular schedule, don’t worry. Familiarity isn’t the only way to fall in love. Attraction has also been linked to misattributed physiological arousal. Now, I know, that sounds pretty daunting, but it’s actually simpler than you think. When our bodies are aroused – scared, working out, daydreaming – we tend to want to attribute it to something (White & Kight, 1984). That attempt to link a feeling to an experience is a force of habit, really. If we feel good, we want to know how to keep feeling good and if we feel bad, we want to know how to stop feeling bad. But sometimes, we make the wrong link. That’s misattributed physiological arousal. Oftentimes, this misattribution can lead us to feelings of love or attraction that aren’t actually there. Researchers supported this hypothesis with the Shaky Bridge Study, where participants were found to be more attracted to a female researcher on a shaky, anxiety-inducing bridge, than a sturdy one (Dutton & Aron, 1974). It seems that physiological arousal can trick us into thinking we’re attracted to someone, even when we’re not.

Falling in love isn’t a one-person show. On top of feeling attracted to somebody, we have an inherent desire to be desired – a need to belong. Planting the seed for a new relationship requires some confirmation that your potential partner is interested in you too (Aron & Tomlinson, 2018). Our perceptions of how other people feel about us are crucial to navigating love, attraction, and relationships. This motivation to be liked by others may be partially explained by the self-expansion model, which argues people are motivated to broaden the self through close relationships (Aron & Tomlinson, 2018). According to this model, our self-concept is influenced by the way we perceive others and the way they perceive us (Aron & Tomlinson, 2018). These two self-concepts combine to create a “relational self”, which you send off into the world of love and romance.

Now if you’ve gotten this far, or if you’ve fallen in love, you might be wondering…how do I stay in love? Let’s talk some more about maintaining romantic relationships.

Staying in Love: Foundations of Sustaining Romantic Relationships (Evan)

Hookups and hangouts evolve into the “talking stage” and then, maybe, becoming “official.” After all the flirtation, excitement, and buildup of a new prospective relationship, it is time to take things to the next level, but, what does this even mean?! Maybe you’ve experienced a craving for commitment from the person you’ve been seeing or perhaps an overwhelming fear of it. Either way, entering a committed relationship might mean things are about to get real, but the fun and flirtation don’t need to go away. What is the perfect balance between seriousness and commitment, and playfulness and individuality? Frankly, there is not a perfect formula for romantic relationship success and it varies heavily by couple, but research has uncovered a few common threads on which to focus. 

In 1997, psychologist Robert Sternberg proposed the Triangular Theory of Love which pinpoints intimacy, passion, and commitment as the building blocks of deep romantic connection (Sternberg, 1997). Firstly, intimacy is the feeling or emotion encompassing closeness, connectedness, and bonding between a couple (Sternberg, 1997). Secondly, Sternberg describes passion as the driving force behind intimacy, primarily in the context of sex (Sternberg, 1997). The last point of the triangle, commitment, means “in the short-term, to the decision that one loves a certain other, and in the long-term, to one’s commitment to maintain that love” (Sternberg, 1997). I’d argue a more symmetrical-shaped theory for love to thrive long-term. His primary three elements are convincing and important contributing factors in romantic relationships, but there are two crucial pieces that appear absent from the Triangular Theory of Love. Maybe the triangle should be restructured into a square keeping intimacy and commitment at the top, but adding trust and communication on the bottom, as necessary to achieve intimacy and commitment, with passion bouncing around in the middle. Sometimes passion fills up the whole square, sometimes it’s in a ball in the corner – over time, passion comes and goes, sometimes it changes, sometimes it’s barely hanging on, and sometimes it comes roaring back. Passion evolves as love evolves in a long-term romantic relationship, but the foundations of lasting love are trust, communication, intimacy, and commitment.

Research shows that intimacy goals and readiness are key predictors of relationship initiation and partner selection, so this is something to keep in mind when looking to take that next step in your relationship (Sanderson et al., 2007). Intimacy can look and feel different for everybody; it can mean emotional vulnerability, sexual intimacy, mutual affection, general closeness, or a combination of the above (Mosier, 2006). But, however you view intimacy, it is imperative that it is mutually felt to ensure closeness and connectedness between partners. Commitment, as defined by Sternberg, ultimately comes down to a continued effort by both parties to make the relationship work. A study shows that when one partner evidently makes investments (time, energy, etc.) in the relationship, it inspires the other partner to commit further to the relationship and can spur a sort of cycle (Joel et al., 2013). Next, intimacy and commitment are unachievable without trust – “trust may be the single most important ingredient for the development and maintenance of happy, well-functioning relationships” (Simpson, 2007). A lack of trust diminishes support, commitment, effort, communication, and intimacy between romantic partners (Arikewuyo et al., 2021). So, if you ever find yourself tempted to go snooping through your partner’s phone, this could be a major red flag that there is a lack of trust in your relationship, and should be addressed. Last, but certainly not least, is communication. Communication lies at the base of relationship success as it allows you to express feelings, insecurities, and needs and, ultimately, is the primary tool in conflict resolution. There are many nuances to these four key elements, but if you have all the points in the square, you are setting yourself up for a stable and strong relationship. But, if one point in the square is missing, things might get wobbly.

The End: Finding the Rainbow After the Rain (Ava)

Does her laugh no longer sound like a chorus of angels, but rather like a starving hyena? Have you recently caught yourself singing a bit too emphatically to Fiona Apple and Lana Del Rey man-hating anthems? Is his “adorable” habit of coding during your alone time together no longer giving “silicon valley daddy”, but rather making you feel dismissed and invaluable? If you answered yes to any of these, it, unfortunately, might mean that your current romantic partner that you met in your 10:30 Gened section might actually not be your soulmate *gasp*. Though this realization may seem scary, fear not– breakups are a common, and important, part of emerging adulthood development and can ultimately lead to positive change in your life. 

Breakups can happen for a plethora of reasons, and even though some breakups are inevitable, there are steps that you can take to salvage a relationship. You may feel as in love as ever with your partner but feel that your relationship still feels rocky. This can be caused by either lack of expressed gratitude or conversely, an abundance of sacrifice that may be overwhelming your partner. It has been found that individuals often underestimate the positive effect of expressing gratitude to others and overestimated how uncomfortable the receiver of the gratitude would be (Kumar & Epley 2018). It may be possible that even though you feel like you are complementing and doting upon your partner enough, it would be beneficial to do so even more frequently. We often underestimate how powerful our words can be to others, so let this serve as a reminder to show your love frequently and authentically– it will be better received than you expect it to be. Conversely, you may be thinking “this doesn’t apply to me– I shower my partner with affection and make it known how much I sacrifice for them”. Unfortunately, this can be problematic as well.  Acts of service and sacrifice for a partner may seem beneficial on the surface, but if not done in a reciprocal way, can cause tension and miscommunication within the relationship. Sacrificing for your partner can improve their mood and make them feel appreciated, but if done in excess, can also create feelings of guilt and indebtedness on their ends, and feelings of resentment from the giver (Righetti, Visserman & Impett 2022). The feeling of being in love is not enough to foster a healthy relationship on its own– you need to be able to express it in the way that your partner needs. 

Sometimes, relationships just need to come to an end– they’ve served their purpose, taught valuable lessons, and it’s time to say goodbye. Though it can be sad to end a relationship, it doesn’t need to be all thunderstorms– if you look hard enough, you can find your rainbow. This step is critical, as merely being equipped with the knowledge that heartache can have silver linings is correlated with a reduced rate of depression in recently-single adults (Slotter & Ward 2015). And though it may feel isolating and difficult to do so, 1 in 3 individuals in early adulthood have experienced a serious breakup in the past 2 years, and it’s important that they do (Asselman & Specht 2022). It’s been found that experiencing a breakup can lead to higher feelings of self-confidence, independence, and more emotional stability in future relationships (Tashiro & Frazier 2003). So despite this relationship not having a fairy tale ending– the experience of having loved and lost might prepare you better for the next person you are crushing on. Further, going through a breakup is also linked to causing higher levels of internal control belief (Asselman & Specht 2022). This may end up being the greatest gift your ex-partner has ever given you, as people with higher levels of internal control are more confident in being able to control the outcomes in their life. This trait is correlated with greater success in the workplace, achieving personal goals, and conquering various other aspects of their life (Asselman & Specht 2022). In short, love openly and often without fear of heartbreak– sometimes the most valuable lessons from a relationship come after they end. 

Arikewuyo, Eluwole, K. K., & Özad, B. (2021). Influence of Lack of Trust on Romantic 

Relationship Problems: The Mediating Role of Partner Cell Phone Snooping. Psychological Reports , 124 (1), 348–365. https://doi.org/10.1177/0033294119899902

Aron, A., & Tomlinson, J. (2018). Love as expansion of the self. In R. J. Sternberg & K. Sternberg, The New Psychology of Love (pp. 1–24). Cambridge University Press.

Asselmann, & Specht, J. (2022). Personality growth after relationship losses: Changes of perceived control in the years around separation, divorce, and the death of a partner. PloS One, 17(8), e0268598–e0268598. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0268598

Back, M. D., Penke, L., Schmukle, S. C., Sachse, K., Borkenau, P., & Asendorpf, J. B. (2011). Why Mate Choices are not as Reciprocal as we Assume: The Role of Personality, Flirting and Physical Attractiveness. European Journal of Personality , 25 (2), 120–132. https://doi.org/10.1002/per.806

Batool, S., & Malik, N. (2018). Role of Attitude Similarity and Proximity in Interpersonal Attraction among Friends. International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management , 1 .

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for Me. Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin , 39 (10), 1333–1345. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167213497801

Kumar, A., & Epley, N. (2018). Undervaluing gratitude: Expressers misunderstand the consequences of showing appreciation. Psychological Science, 29(9), 1423-1435.

Moreland, R. L., & Beach, S. R. (1992). Exposure effects in the classroom: The development of affinity among students. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology , 28 (3), 255–276. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-1031(92)90055-O

Mosier, W. (2006). Intimacy: the key to a healthy relationship. Annals of the American 

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Righetti, F., Visserman, M. L., & Impett, E. A. (2022). Sacrifices: Costly prosocial behaviors in romantic relationships. Current Opinion in Psychology , 44 , 74-79.

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intimacy goals and plans for initiating dating relationships. Personal Relationships , 14 (2), 225–243. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-6811.2007.00152.x

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11 responses so far ↓

Elle // Mar 28th 2023 at 10:22 am

Thank you so much Jessica, Evan and Ava for this blog post! I loved the tone and overall flow of the post, with tips and advice backed up with psychological evidence throughout the timeline of a relationship. I learned a lot about misconceptions and possible signs in relationships that have deeper underlying psychological implications/explanations. Jessica’s point about mere exposure and familiarity with a person can lead to attraction. This is something I hadn’t really thought of before but realized that it’s true in practice. I wonder, though, if there is something about the first impression of that person that then causes you to notice the individual more, or if it is familiarity and exposure that then leads to attraction. In other words, what came first? Initial attraction and then noticing them more often, or being around them a lot turns into attraction? I thought Evan did a beautiful job of elevating existing research/hypotheses on the foundation for love. Her addition of communication and trust to form a square was a really cool analogy. Picturing passion bouncing around that square was a unique way to think about the fluctuating dynamics in a relationship. I wonder if she could expand on that visual. Is it more advantageous that the square stays perfectly symmetrical, or can it evolve into a trapezoid? If one side, like commitment, is a bit shorter than intimacy, what does that have to say about the strength of the relationship? Ava’s section on breakups was certainly a light at the end of the tunnel. Super fun to read (the silicon valley daddy comment got me) and positive perspective on the benefits of a breakup on other dimensions of life. The part about more emotional stability in future relationships after a breakup stuck out to me. Is that because you understand more of what you are looking for in a person based on what didn’t work in the past relationship, or is it because you have “thicker skin” and are able to handle that kind of heartbreak? I feel like that might not always be the case. What is different about the people who become super closed off at the end of a relationship and become less emotionally vulnerable? Would be cool to research from a psychology perspective why those differences arise.

Georgena Williams // Mar 28th 2023 at 3:54 pm

Thanks for this blog post, Jessica, Evan, and Ava!

I absolutely loved how you structured the blog post to touch on three critical stages of love.

Jessica, I loved the real-world references because they effectively connect research with relevant examples. While reading, I was curious about the misattribution study and its findings. I wonder if there are any best practices in determining when attraction is just a misattribution of arousal or a significant indicator of more.

Evan, I agree with your adaptation of turning the triangular theory of love into a square that includes trust and communication, as trust and communication are foundational building blocks to maintaining commitment. I also appreciate the framing of passion as something that fluctuates because it reduces the pressure that relationship dynamics must always exist in the same manner. Relationship dynamics shift over time as couples move from passionate new love to committed and comfortable connections.

Ava, you looped me in with those intro statements! Such good examples to draw the reader’s attention! Your point that “The feeling of being in love is not enough to foster a healthy relationship on its own– you need to be able to express it in the way that your partner needs” really spoke to me. Reading that section caused me to reflect on the role of love languages in learning and responding to your partner’s specific needs.

Cassie Sousa // Mar 29th 2023 at 12:12 am

Jessica, I found it interesting to read your section about how familiarity and exposure breeds attraction because I have often heard that “absence makes the heart grow fonder.” Perhaps this pithy quote, like “opposites attract,” is not backed by research or perhaps it has to do with love rather than initial attraction.

Evan, I was very interested by your section about what is needed to maintain a strong relationship. While I totally agree that intimacy, commitment, trust, communication, and passion are all important for maintaining a relationship, I also think that the importance of maintaining and respecting individuality should be accounted for. As discussed in the lecturette for this week, too much of a self-other overlap can be harmful to some degree. I think that, in order to make a relationship work in the long-term, each partner must remain true to who they are outside of their relationship. For example, space to allow for alone time or time with friends seems really important to relationship maintenance. So, perhaps another potential model for relationship maintenance would be a pentagon?

Ava, I am intrigued by the fact that breakups can have positive effects on qualities such as self-confidence or emotional stability in future relationships. I would be interested to hear more about the mechanisms which underly the relationships between breakups and self-confidence and between breakups and emotional stability. As for the mechanism which explains how breakups lead to enhanced self-confidence, I wonder if it has to do with some self-fulfilling prophecy of an individual, and their friends, telling themselves that “they deserve so much better” and repeating it until they believe it.

Sophia Gilroy // Mar 29th 2023 at 10:28 am

Jessica, Evan, and Ava – I really enjoyed reading your blog post! I felt each of your own voices coming through in your respective sections while also maintaining that sense of flow to your overall post. Jessica’s section on falling in love was very comprehensive in that she covered two distinct factors that could spark a romantic relationship, from physical exposure to physiological arousal. Her discussion also echoed some of the lecturette content from this week, which helped both emphasize and understand the material. Evan’s section was another beautifully written piece about maintaining romantic relationships, and I appreciated his personal argument for changing the love triangle to a square, and I totally agree with him! It was interesting to read how he decided to approach this topic as I also wrote about maintaining relationships in our blog post and I thought his approach was very insightful. Ava’s section wrapped the post up nicely and what I appreciated about her section was how she turned a seemingly upsetting topic into an optimistic one. I was especially interested in her discussion on balance and boundaries in relationships and showing just how fragile those factors can be when trying to foster a healthy dynamic.

Ella // Mar 29th 2023 at 3:19 pm

I really enjoyed this week’s blog post! In Jessica`s section, I found it so interesting that the very experience of being exposed to someone more frequently can lead us to be more attracted to them. I also thought the mention of attaining some degree of confirmation that a potential partner reciprocates interest as super important, not only for the comfortability of the person being pursued, but for the mental well-being self-compassion of the pursuer. In Evan`s section, I really appreciated the stipulation of passion not as a foundation of a long-lasting relationship, but as something that evolves — ebbing and flowing over time. This was an important mention for me namely because I believe that passion will never be able to sustain a healthy relationship without trust, communication, intimacy, and commitment. In Ava`s section, I really enjoyed the sense of humor employed through the writing style. Particularly the notion of expressing gratitude as crucial for sustaining a dwindling relationship stuck out to me, as I believe appreciation to be one of the most important facets of sustaining meaningful connections — accordingly, lack of expressed appreciation is so often the cornerstone of emotional tension in relationships. In terms of how frequently this needs to be expressed, it is often just a question of partners` ability to communicate with one another and ask how they can better meet their partner`s needs. Overall, I found this week’s blog post very thought-provoking, engaging, and well-written! Super fun to read.

Karley Merkley // Mar 29th 2023 at 4:10 pm

This was a really fun and neat post & I really enjoyed reading this since I am in a committed relationship rn (Shoutout to Adam my bf)… anywho I really resonated with Jessica & Evans part because it is so relatable (and Ava I’ll relate to yours if I ever get there lol). Although I knew in another class that familiarity increases attraction, it made me wonder if the attraction grows because you get to know them more and because they just happen to be more similar you like them?? (bringing in my post). And then also when talking about the famous arousal study made me think about what the difference would be in attraction if someone went on a first date to a scary movie vs an kid movie or something else? Would they have been more attracted to each other after the movie because they were more aroused? Furthermore, I really enjoyed Evans piece and will keep the Triangular Love Theory in my back pocket because I feel like intimacy, love and passion all work together but are different and this was cool to learn about. As for Ava, this was really relatable as a witnessed some of the things you talked about in my friends previous relationships. Overall, this was a really relatable discussion post that made me think and reflect a lot.

Pomai // Mar 29th 2023 at 5:24 pm

Jessica, I definitely agree that exposure is key to noticing people, especially people who are more the wallflower types. There’s a certain beauty in the way our minds become attuned to the people around us and how we start to value people more when we are exposed to them more. This makes me think of my experiences in the dhall… there’s definitely people who routinely eat breakfast at the same time as me who I’ve started to notice haha. But I think that’s mainly because there’s not that many people at breakfast, so it’s more likely for me to be aware of them whereas when I’m in the dhall at lunch, I honestly don’t pay enough attention to consciously notice anyone by mere exposure (and I’ve met a number of people who’ve said they’ve seen me around the dhall who I didn’t recognize at all… oops). So, I don’t think exposure on its own increases attraction because some people are less attentive than others. Maybe subconsciously people will think that those who they’ve “seen” before are more attractive, but that doesn’t always translate to tangible effects in real life.

Evan, I like your point about understanding each other’s different views of intimacy but wonder if mutual communication and understanding of those views is enough or if there needs to be an overlap in views for a relationship to last. For instance, if one person’s intimacy is rooted in connecting on an emotional level whereas another person’s is rooted in more physical intimacy, there may be a disconnect between how both people relate to each other and how both feel supported/appreciated. I don’t think such deeply rooted views can change nor should we expect a partner to change their views, so I wonder if this would become a source of division for both partners over time or if it can be reconciled in some other way. Also, the trust part of your section made me think of those YouTube videos people make of trying to catch their partners cheating… I feel like those videos end badly because there was no trust. But it is interesting to think about what options people have because it seems like a lose-lose situation: either you try to find out if your partner is cheating and risk losing their trust, or you trust your partner and risk losing their loyalty.

Ava, it was really interesting to read about the tension between not enough and too much sacrifice. This made me think about how in either case you could end up falling into a state of boredom/consistency that doesn’t feel as inspiring or invigorating as in the beginning. Beyond that tension, I’d be interested in seeing a comparison between tension within couples of people who married the first person they dated vs. those who married the 5th/10th/20th/etc. person they dated. I’d hypothesize couples who never dated anyone else experience less tension because they never experienced anything different so would be less likely to have feelings of “what if” and would be less likely to compare their current relationship to past ones. But at the same time, perhaps someone who dated twelve people had a better sense of what they wanted and what worked for them, so may have found a more fulfilling relationship that has less tension because the partners’ views align.

Callie // Mar 29th 2023 at 7:23 pm

It is really interesting to learn about how exposure to people can increase the likelihood of being romantically interested in them. This is something I have read a bit about before, and I still think it is a really interesting psychological finding. I also really like how this blog post talks about the importance of trust in a relationship and how not having trust can cause the downfall of a relationship. I also like how this post talks about reciprocity in a relationship and the importance of balance between two people in a relationship.

Wendy Carballo // Mar 29th 2023 at 11:53 pm

I devoured this blog post even though I’ve never been in a relationship! It was so beautifully written and executed; It inspired in me so many ideas that aren’t enough to cover in a brief comment. Overall, one of my biggest takeaways from reading this is that romantic relationships can be just like regular friendships + sexual intimacy. While reading Jessica’s section, for example, I was reminded of one of the studies we read last week about the role of proximity in friendship development, which is seemingly the case for romantic relationships as well. Moreover, the point of misattributed physiological arousal really made me question what it truly means to feel genuine attraction for someone. This is interesting because it can even apply to regular friendships, seeing as there’s been research suggesting that high-arousal situations can spark a sense of unity or emotional contagion, leading to the illusion of unity which makes people feel closer to one another. Looking back on my own experiences, I was also reminded of a time in which a simple affirmation such as “I like [insert name]” completely overturned my brain chemistry in the span of mere seconds and made me feel, think, and act uncharacteristically love-sick the next day. As though I had acquired some sort of virus or disease overnight. My main point is that perhaps non-familial relationships aren’t as well-selected as we’d like to think they are, given the various geographical, physiological, and psychological factors or states that are implicated. Perhaps even seemingly soulmate-bonds are more artificial than people may realize given this. Other helpful components for maintaining friendship such as perspective-taking, commitment, communication, reciprocity, trust, etc., also seem to be necessary for romantic relationships as well. Moreover, going back to the topic of high-arousal situations, I’m wondering if routinely incorporating novelty can also help maintain excitement in the relationship and keep the romance alive. The last section was such a very nice way to end the blog. I think the break-up part of relationships really highlights reciprocity and empathy as two of the most important things to practice, seeing as the moment one person fails in all other components, the other partner begins to carry more of the emotional weight/burden, which can serve as a clear sign that the relationship wasn’t a soulmate-bond. Given that one can learn from these experiences, I was wondering what the benefits are of having these romantic trials and errors at a young age as opposed to waiting around for the “right” person as an adult—that is, when one has likely developed higher cognitive abilities and emotional maturity.

Andrea // Mar 29th 2023 at 11:53 pm

Thank you for this post, all! I thought it was really entertaining and engaging to read. I think this was a really comprehensive way of analyzing the various parts of a relationship cycle. The first few seemingly unrelated thoughts that most immediately came to mind were 1) if we see that trust and communication are the “pillars” of a healthy relationship, do we see that an inability to engage in these behaviors is recognized as dealbreakers in a relationship? and 2) how do relationships vary as people age?

I would imagine that people have a variety of “red flags” when considering a romantic partner, which may depend on things such as upbringing, experience, culture, etc. However, if one has more relationship experience, would one become more adept at recognizing healthy and unhealthy behaviors in a relationship? Although the question of how relationships vary as one ages may seem unrelated to looking at what are breaking points in relationships, I would hypothesize that as one ages they may become more selective when choosing a partner, because they are losing time to choose a partner, and thus have less luxury in making a risky choice in a partner. Thus, one’s deal breakers may become stricter as you age.

Eliot // Mar 30th 2023 at 10:56 am

Thank you for this blog post!

In Evan’s section, It’s notable that a lot of the qualities of a successful, long-lasting relationship — for example, trust and commitment — wholly depend on reciprocity. And according to the blog post, this doesn’t strictly mean that we should return what we receive in a relationship; per Ava’s piece, it’s also important to keep in mind that we should think about whether sacrifices are reciprocable, or we might create an imbalances in our relationships in terms of feeling guilty/in debt. In sum, it seems like relationships hinge on reciprocity… or at least the understanding that certain imbalances are okay, if they’ve been discussed and accepted as sensible.

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Definition Essay: Love

Love is something that means very different things to different people. For some, love can be purely romantic, or even purely sexual. For others, real love is utterly unconditional and only truly exists between family members, or between people and a deity. And for some people, love is fluid, ever changing, and everywhere, and is felt for family, friends, partners, pets, and even inanimate objects, dead artists, and fictional characters. None of these people would be right or wrong, but one thing is certain: love is the most powerful force in the entire universe.

Between partners of any description, be they married or cohabiting, boyfriend and girlfriend, straight or gay, young or old, love is a relationship of mutual understanding and respect. Marriages and partnerships are often built on common ground that people find when they first meet; this can be as deep as sharing religious, philosophical or religious beliefs, or as simple as finding that you love the same film, book, or band.

This kind of love is often reliant on some kind of ‘chemistry’: that strange feeling that they give you in the pit of your stomach, and the feeling that nothing in the world is more important to you than enjoying the moment you’re in together. Some people feel that they experience love at first sight, where they know from the minute they set eyes on each other that they want to to be with that person, but something built on common interests and understanding must be stronger.

A parent’s love for a child can also often be described as love at first sight, but this is very strong because it comes from a natural instinct to protect our offspring. This love can often start before the baby is even born: you only have to look at the pride and excitement of many parents-to-be when they have their scans and feel their baby kick for the very first time. This kind of love is also felt by a child for its mother; it is unconditional for at least the first few years of life, and can also be felt between siblings.

It is the strength of this feeling that makes love the most powerful emotion that most of us will ever experience. People can do some dreadful things out of hate and fear, but love can push us to do much, much worse. And it is often love that can cause us to hate, whether it’s out of jealousy, or anger because our loved one has been hurt. Love, ultimately, is a sacrifice, whatever the relationship, and it must be the most powerful force in the universe because as human beings, we make true sacrifices for nothing less.

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Home — Essay Samples — Life — Love — The Many Faces of Love

The Many Faces of Love

• Categories: Love Types of Love

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Words: 533 |

Published: Feb 7, 2024

Words: 533 | Page: 1 | 3 min read

Table of contents

The beginning of love, early stages of love, obstacles and challenges, the power of love, the dark side of love, different forms of love.

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               “Love is a collection of hearts, ready to give, share and understand. It never fades and never ends. It only reminds us that life is not perfect without love.” This quotation tells us that since birth love is inside us and it keeps on growing as we became older. If there is life cycle, there is also a love cycle. And this cycle starts with our parents love towards one another, followed by the attention and love given by our relatives when we were born. Then , as we grow older, especially when we step inside a school we learn how to socialize and be friends with other people that eventually developed into a strong bond. Next, we need to love ourselves first before loving someone special wholeheartedly. After that, when we get married and have our own offspring, we will focus our attention on them and for their future just like how our parents do. And then, the cycle continues.

               First, parents love towards one another. We all know that without our parents we will not be standing here in this world of twist and turns. We are born out of our parents blazing love and we continue living until now because of love. Mothers take care of their babies inside her womb for nine months, while the father takes care of her. After nine months , the baby was born and raised by his parents with love. They are ready to give all of our needs, they share their stories for us to have a reference if ever we encounter the same situation and even though we had our shares of mistakes they understands us and always accepts us at the end of the day. Their love for us has no boundaries and it is unconditional. The second one is the attention and love that we receive from our relatives and close family friends. They are the one, together with our parents, to witness our growth. They are with us when we were introduce to God, they are with us to guide us and help us in socializing to other persons. There are times that our parents became very protective to us and in that particular time our relatives will be the one to tell them to loosen up a bit. If we fall , if we gain scatches or wounds they will say that it is part of growing up.

               Next is friends. There is a saying that “No man is an island.” In order to survive we must socialize to other persons. And socialization in school is best when you were with friends. Friendship is a special gift, generously given, happily accepted and deeply appreciated. Having a strong bond with friends is a form of love. Just like what is stated above, “Love is a collection of hearts...” and this hearts doesn’t necessarily mean that it is from a special someone. Sometimes , at a young age , we are already happy with the presence of our friends. With our friends, we give and share our time and effort. We understands and accepts the flaws, insecurities, weaknesses of one another and make fun of it in a positive way. In times on need, we help each other because we love one another and we care about each other. Even though , we already have different lives the friendship that we have never fades and never ends.

                Next in the cycle is loving yourself first before loving someone special. It is not healthy to love someone more than anything else, you must learn to love yourself first. Especially when you were already married and have a child. You must think of the consequences and the possible outcomes of what you are doing because the child will be the one to suffer if you don’t know how to properly handle your relationship because you only think of your partners side. If you were still boyfriend/girlfriend, you don’t have to give all your love to your partner, you must have love for yourself. Because just like what the song said, “too much love will kill you.” Loving yourself first, doesn’t mean that you will be selfish. Loving yourself means that you know when to fight and when to give up. Martyrdome , nowadays is not a trend. We should know our limitations and the limitations of our partner. If one of you come overboard, Talk first. Talking won’t harm you. If it doens’t work then sort things out then decide whether to continue or not. If your relationship go smoothly then you decided to be married and have a family. Then , that is when the cycle turn upside down. Because now, you will be the parents , and you need to show your children the love that you felt when you were younger. You will be the one to guide them and you will be the one to show them that love is unconditional. That love never fades and never ends.

               To sum it up, here is a quote that will tell that love is truly a cycle. “To love without reflecting is like eating without digesting. Love is not always about the action. Love after all is a thoughtful process.” The love cycle that was mention above must all be met in order to know that we already have our happy ever after. Even though the saying, “There is no forever.” is trending. I must say that there is a love that last forever because we have God above us, that is always watching and guiding us. Then , there is our parents, they will never leave us no matter what happened. and then you, yourself, can love yourself forever. That is why I believe that there is love that last forever.

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Essay On ‘My Bicycle’ For Children Of Classes 1, 2 And 3

Key Points to Remember When Writing an Essay on ‘My Bicycle’

10 lines on ‘my bicycle’, short essay on ‘my bicycle’, long essay on ‘my bicycle’, what will your child learn from this essay.

Children love their bicycles. As they grow old enough to ride, they enjoy their first cycle, and it is a memory that stays with them for a long time. Children enjoy little moments associated with their bikes. Whether it is cycling around the compound with friends or feeling like the responsible little helper by riding to nearby stores to bring small household requirements, children and their bicycles are inseparable. When asked to write an essay on the topic, they can write small paragraphs discussing their experiences or elaborate compositions bringing in some facts and general knowledge with detailed descriptions. This exercise will lay the foundation of their English grammar and improve their writing skills. It also improves their vocabulary. Let us guide your children of classes 1, 2 and 3 to write a beautiful composition on this topic.

Your child needs to remember a few points while writing an essay about their bicycle. Let us guide your child stepwise on an essay adventure about their bicycle:

• Let your child think about the ideas they want to include in their mind.
• Ask them to pen down their thoughts on paper and form an outline of the composition, ensuring they have covered all the points.
• Let your child write easy-to-read short and simple sentences from the outline.
• Guide your child not to get too descriptive about any single idea and stick to the word count.
• Direct your child to write with the flow. This will make them enjoy writing the essay.
• Your child can write about the description of their bike, when they got it, where they ride it, the best features of the bike and how they feel about it.

Here is a sample essay to guide your child to write about their bicycle in simple lines:

• I have a glossy pink bicycle.
• My parents gifted it to me on my birthday last year.
• It has two small wheels on both sides to help me to balance.
• My cycle has a basket in the front.
• Our tiniest furry family member named Lucky enjoys a ride sitting in the basket.
• I ride my cycle with my friends in the neighbourhood.
• At first, I didn’t know how to ride the bicycle, but my father taught me how to ride smoothly.
• I wear a helmet when I ride my bicycle for safety.
• I take a lot of care of my cycle. I wipe it clean whenever it gets dusty.
• My bicycle is the best gift I have ever received.

Your child’s bicycle makes them feel like they are flying without wings. They get a sense of independence while venturing out in the world around them, albeit safely under the guidance of their parents. Let us guide your little one to write an enjoyable essay on their bicycle, suitable for lower primary classes:

I have a shiny pink bicycle. My parents gifted it to me on my birthday last year. I love riding my cycle with my friends in the neighbourhood. I go out to cycle every afternoon, along with my friends. Sometimes I take my cute little puppy, Lucky, with me too. She sits in the basket in front of the bicycle and enjoys the ride with me. Sometimes I use the basket to collect flowers that have fallen from plants and trees. I look forward to going out on cycle rides every day. It is refreshing when the pleasant winds blow on my face while cycling. I take care of my cycle and wipe off the dust settled on it every weekend. I like it when it shines.

Your child’s first bicycle is very special to them. Let us help your little one compose an amazing essay, suitable for class 3:

I got my first bicycle on my birthday last year. It was the cycle of my dreams, and my parents got it for me as a surprise gift. 

Bicycles were first invented by a German. The first-ever cycle didn’t have brakes or chains or pedals. Today bicycles have many advanced features for people of all ages.

My cycle is glossy pink in colour. Its body is made of sturdy metal, and the tyres are made of rubber. It has two brakes on the handle to control the speed. The seat is purple coloured made of strong silicone material. I can adjust its height as per my comfort. 

I have decorated my cycle with cute stickers and have tied short bunches of glittering ribbons to both handles. My cycle has a bottle holder where I carry my water bottle that matches the colour of my cycle. My bicycle also has a basket in the front. I carry my tiny furry friend, Lucky, in the basket, and we go around the neighbourhood along with my other friends and my brother. I also fill the basket with beautiful fragrant flowers for my mother. I enjoy riding my bike every day. It feels amazing when the cool wind blows against my face while cycling. 

Initially, my father used to hold the cycle from behind to teach me how to balance. Soon, I started riding on my own. I lost balance and fell a few times, but now I can ride smoothly for a long stretch. 

Cycles are the best mode of transport. They are good for our environment because they do not cause air pollution. We also don’t need fuel for riding cycles, so we save a lot of money and conserve our resources. Cycling is an excellent form of exercise and makes our muscles strong. So by playing on my bike, I am becoming stronger every day. My parents say that cycling is also good for our hearts. Cycles are very safe to ride, especially when I wear a helmet. I get only a few small bruises if I fall, which can heal soon. My cycle won’t hurt anyone on the streets, so every person and animal is safe from a bicycle. 

Many older students use cycles to go to school or tuition classes. Some adults use cycles to go to the office because of the benefits of riding a bike.

Everyone in my family loves riding bikes. My parents, brother, and I visit scenic locations for cycle rides on holidays.

I love cycling and will continue to ride bicycles even after becoming big. 

Writing about their bicycle will be a fun experience for children. While thinking of all the activities they enjoy associated with their bikes, they will learn to express their feelings in words. Thinking about the benefits of cycling will also make your child contemplate matters like health, fitness, nature and conservation.

These sample essays will help your little one write a beautiful composition on their first bicycle. It will also improve your child’s linguistic skills and enhance their vocabulary. Developing their writing skills will benefit your child and lay the foundation of good communication skills. Your child will remember their first cycle all their life and perhaps find this essay years later among their old possessions, making them reminisce all the fun moments of childhood.

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Essay on Bicycle

500 words essay on bicycle.

A bicycle is a useful vehicle that helps us reach a destination without polluting the environment. It is composed of steel and has two wheels. In addition, it has got a seat and handle with two pedals and also a bell. Some bicycles have a carrier while some don’t. It is a popular choice amongst poor people and students . Essay on bicycle will help us understand its importance.

Importance of Bicycle

Bicycles have become even more important in recent times. While they have been offering us many advantages for a long time, they are very vital now. It is because of the rate at which pollution is growing in the world, they offer a greener way to commute.

In other words, bicycles do not require any petrol or diesel which harms our atmosphere. Further, it does not leave a carbon footprint as well. Thus, it is a great choice for everyone especially those who are environment-friendly.

After that, we see that bicycles do not possess the potential to harm anyone, unlike bikes, cars and buses. If you ride a bicycle, you are less likely to hurt someone or get in an accident as compared to ones who ride bikes or drive cars.

Most importantly, bicycles are great for our health. There are numerous benefits which cycling offers to ensure a healthy life. It is not only a great alternative to gym workouts but also helps prevent cardiovascular diseases .

Therefore, bicycles help to preserve our health. Similarly, they do not harm the environment. Moreover, they are also very beneficial as we can go through narrow roads with a bicycle which we cannot do with bikes or cars.

I have a bicycle which is red and black in colour. My father gifted it to me on my birthday and it is my most cherished present. The name of my bicycle is Turbo Thunder and it has many interesting features.

It comes with different gears and a basket as well. Moreover, it also has a bottle holder and a lock. I cycle every evening with my friends from the neighbourhood. It is very liberating to me to be able to cycle in the pleasant weather without any care.

My father ensures that I always wear my protective gear while cycling to prevent any injuries. I have decorated my cycle with stickers as well to make it more personalized. In addition, I go to my coaching classes on my bicycle only.

Therefore, I love my bicycle and I wish to keep it with me even after growing up. As cycling is good for the environment and our health, I plan to keep cycling for a long time to lead a healthy life and make the environment clean.

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Conclusion of the Essay on Bicycle

To sum it up, bicycles are great in every aspect, whether it is regarding our health or the health of nature. Moreover, it is also not heavy on the pocket. With the world getting polluted at a faster rate day by day, it is essential for us to switch to bicycles for a healthier life and greener future.

FAQ of Essay on Bicycle

Question 1: What is the importance of a bicycle?

Answer 1: Bicycles are very important as they offer us many health benefits if we cycle regularly. In addition to that, it serves as a great workout session. Most importantly, they are great for the environment as they do not pollute it.

Question 2: Who invented the bicycle?

Answer 2: Karl von Drais was a German who invented the first bicycle. He developed it and named it the ‘swiftwalker’ which hit the road in the year 1817. The early bicycle came with no pedals and the frame was a wooden beam. It has two wooden wheels with irons rims and leather-covered tires.

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Social Effects of Teen Pregnancy

How it works

• 1 Introduction
• 2 Educational Attainment
• 3 Economic Implications
• 4 Social Stigma and Isolation
• 5 Intergenerational Cycle of Poverty
• 6 Conclusion
• 7 References:

Introduction

Teen pregnancy is still a big social issue around the world. It affects not just the young parents but also their families, communities, and societies. It’s a mix of biological, psychological, and socio-economic factors, leading to many consequences. This essay looks at the social effects of teen pregnancy, like educational attainment, economic impacts, social stigma, and the cycle of poverty that goes from one generation to the next. By digging into these areas, the essay shows why it’s important to see teen pregnancy as a complex social problem.

Educational Attainment

One of the first big impacts of teen pregnancy is on education. Teen moms often find it really hard to keep up with school because they have to take care of their kids and deal with the stigma of being a young parent. Studies show that teen moms are less likely to finish high school or go to college compared to their peers who don’t get pregnant (SmithBattle, 2013). This break in their education means they have fewer chances for good jobs later on. And because they can’t get well-paying jobs, they often end up in poverty, which can also affect their kids.

Economic Implications

The economic effects of teen pregnancy go beyond just the young parents. Teen parents usually have a hard time finding steady jobs because they didn’t finish school. This lack of money not only affects them but also puts a strain on their families and society. They might need to rely more on welfare programs and public help, which costs the government money that could be used for other important things like schools and hospitals (Hoffman, 2006). This financial stress can cause more problems at home, making life even harder for teen parents.

Social Stigma and Isolation

Teen pregnancy often comes with social stigma and isolation, which can hurt the young parents’ mental and emotional health. People tend to judge teen parents harshly, which leads to discrimination and being left out socially. This can show up as negative labels, less social support, and being pushed away from friends (Yampolskaya, Brown, & Greenbaum, 2002). Feeling isolated can lead to loneliness and depression, making parenting even tougher. Without social support, young parents might struggle to find the resources they need, creating a cycle of disadvantage.

Intergenerational Cycle of Poverty

Another big issue is the cycle of poverty that goes from one generation to the next. Kids born to teen parents are more likely to face problems like lower education, money troubles, and a higher chance of becoming teen parents themselves. This ongoing cycle shows why it’s crucial to tackle the root causes of teen pregnancy and offer support to young parents. Programs that focus on education, healthcare, and social support can help break this cycle and give better chances to both teen parents and their kids (Lachance, Burrus, & Scott, 2012).

In the end, the social effects of teen pregnancy are complex and widespread, including interruptions in education, money issues, social stigma, and ongoing poverty. Tackling this issue needs a well-rounded approach that looks at all parts of the problem and puts targeted solutions in place. By offering solid education, healthcare, and social support, society can lessen the negative effects of teen pregnancy and improve outcomes for young parents and their kids. Addressing teen pregnancy as a social issue is key to building a fairer and more supportive society.

References:

• Hoffman, S. (2006). By the Numbers: The Public Costs of Teen Childbearing. The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.
• Lachance, C. R., Burrus, B. B., & Scott, A. R. (2012). Building an Evidence Base to Support Teen Pregnancy Prevention. Journal of Health and Human Services Administration, 35(2), 197-227.
• SmithBattle, L. (2013). Reducing the Stigma of Teen Mothers. American Journal of Nursing, 113(5), 18-25.
• Yampolskaya, S., Brown, E. C., & Greenbaum, P. E. (2002). Early Pregnancy Among Adolescent Females with Serious Emotional Disturbances: Risk Factors and Outcomes. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 10(2), 108-115.

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