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`True Love Ways': The Subjective Experience and Communication of Romantic Love

Department of Speech Communication California State University, Northridge

Michael L. Hecht

Department of Communication Arizona State University

Tia Robers

IBM, Westlake Village, CA

Whereas previous research into romantic love has focused upon the traits of love objects, beliefs about love and/or types of loving relationships, these two studies examine the subjective experience of love and the manners in which love is communicated. In Study I seventy-six respondents participated in face-to-face interviews. Responses were content and cluster analysed. Cluster analysis revealed six `ways of romantic love': Collaborative Love, Active Love, Secure Love, Intuitive Love, Committed Love and Traditional Romantic Love. In Study 11185 respondents completed a questionnaire version of the Study I interview. Respondents then employed the six love clusters in self-coding their responses, providing representational validity for the previous cluster analysis. Further, a confirming cluster analysis - using a subset of the Study II data - provided construct validity for four of the six love clusters. A fifth cluster split into two new clusters. These studies support two general conclusions. First, love may be experienced in a variety of different ways: in terms of relational constructs, physiological responses, behavioural actions and/or non-verbal perceptions. Second, there is a strong coherence in lovers' experience of love and in their reports of how love is communicated.

Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, Vol. 4, No. 4, 387-407 (1987)
DOI: 10.1177/0265407587044001


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