Love
21:46 Oct 06 2013
Times Read: 740
Just an article I ran across....
Which of the 7 Types of Love Relationships Fits Yours?
Identify and improve your intimate relationships with this simple 7-item test
Published on August 17, 2013 by Susan Krauss Whitbourne, Ph.D. in Fulfillment at Any Age
Psychology continues to struggle with the question of how to define love, and after decades of research, is no closer to the ultimate answer. However, the triangular theory of love proposed by University of Wyoming Robert Sternberg provides a fascinating and useful framework. The triangle here is not a true "love triangle," but instead is the shape used to represent love's three main dimensions.
It’s easiest to understand the theory by looking at this figure. Each point of the triangle represents the extreme of one of the dimensions of love. At the top of the triangle is the extreme of intimacy, which is the extent to which your relationship is characterized by feelings of closeness, connectedness, and strong emotional bonds.
The commitment pole reflects your decision to stay in the relationship. People who are strongly committed to their relationship make a vow to stay in that relationship through thick and thin, and therefore are willing to work hard to keep it going even if the thin outweighs the thick.
Finally, passion reflects the intensity of your sexual desire toward your partner. This desire may take the form of romantic attachment as well as strong sexual attraction and a desire to be with your partner.
Sternberg’s model predicts that as your relationship ripens, passionate love mellows into companionate love. If you're lucky, the flames of passion remain alive, though, and you experience consummate love.
Strong sexual attraction helps spice things up, but more important for relationships to last are commitment and intimacy. The feelings of sharing, having mutual goals, and enjoying your time together in a quieter and more reflective way are what build lasting emotional bonds.
Returning to the triangular model, Sternberg’s theory describes a total of 7 types of relationships:
Consummate - (the highest form): High on all three dimensions (represented by a point in the middle of the triangle)
Infatuated - High on passion only
Fatuous - High on passion and commitment
Empty - High on commitment only
Companionate - High on intimacy and commitment
Romantic - High on intimacy and passion
Liking/friendship - High on intimacy only
Now that you have this framework in mind, you’re probably wondering how your closest relationship measures up along these dimensions. Read these brief descriptions, and for each one, see which comes closest to your closest relationship. Don’t peek at the ratings until you’re done:
1. You have been together for several years, still feel very close and connected emotionally, but do not always feel the same passion toward one another as you once did.
2. You have a strong sexual drive and a need for physical and romantic contact with each other, but do not feel very close to each other. You have not planned for your future together, and in fact have not even thought about any form of long-term commitment.
3. You have been married or cohabiting for a long time and still verbally proclaim your love for each other, but admit to having lost much of the emotional connectedness, as well as the sexual desire that you once had.
4. After more than 6 years together, you are as “in love” as ever. You remain close and connected, very sexually and romantically in sync, and are completely committed to each other and to your relationship.
5. You have been together for only a couple of months, and although you feel you have become close and are connected emotionally, you have yet to become passionately involved or think about your future commitment.
6. You are in love and have a strong sexual desire for one another, are very close and connected emotionally, but have yet to discuss any future plans that would include a decision to commit only to each other.
7. You have been together for a while and are planning on staying together. You continue to maintain a healthy and satisfying sex life, but say you do not feel very closely connected where emotion is concerned.
Interpretation
1. Companionate Love
2. Infatuation
3. Empty Love
4. Consummate Love
5. Liking
6. Romantic Love
7. Fatuous Love
How did your relationship rate? It’s possible that you don’t fit completely into one category, as these are the extremes. You can use that triangle to plot your relationship’s exact point. Higher on intimacy and passion but not quite ready to make a commitment means that you’re starting to move from romantic love and into the consummate region.
This example shows that just as it can be useful to find out where your relationship fits in the triangle, it’s also helpful to remember that relationships are rarely static over time. You don’t have to give up on a relationship that’s fatuous or empty because the relationship lacks either intimacy, passion, or both. At least one study, though conducted on undergraduates (Madey & Rodgers, 2009), suggests that intimacy and commitment contribute to relationship satisfaction. Research on long-term relationships suggests, further, that passion in the form of wanting to be near your partner continues to predict a couple’s satisfaction. You can dial up or down the dimension that’s in need of adjustment by working on that function of your relationship.
If you want to take this even further, ask your relationship partner to take this quick quiz. Perhaps you’ll be surprised to find out that what you think is an empty love is one that your partner finds has more passion and intimacy than you realize. Or you may find out that the relationship you think is consummate is one that your partner finds lacking in one of the three crucial dimensions.
Your partner’s happiness, as well as your own, can benefit from a candid discussion of where you feel you need to make those adjustments. Relationship education, though intended for premarital counseling, can also help long-term couples gain skills and knowledge to prop up their ways of handling communication and conflict resolution.
Psychologists may still not have the ultimate definition of love, but the framework provided by triangle theory can give you a practical tool to maximize the fulfilling you receive out of your closest ties.
Follow me on Twitter @swhitbo for daily updates on psychology, health, and aging. Feel free to join my Facebook group, "Fulfillment at Any Age," to discuss today's blog, or to ask further questions about this posting.
Copyright Susan Krauss Whitbourne, Ph.D. 2013
References:
Madey, S. F., & Rodgers, L. (2009). The effect of attachment and Sternberg's Triangular Theory of Love on relationship satisfaction. Individual Differences Research, 7(2), 76-84.
Sternberg, R. J., & Weis, K. (2006 . The new psychology of love. New Haven, CT US: Yale University Press.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/fulfillment-any-age/201308/which-the-7-types-love-relationships-fits-yours
Government Shutdown (2 Articles)
00:25 Oct 06 2013
Times Read: 748
Sequestration and the Government Shutdown
The sequestration continues to impact the well-being of US citizens through its shaping of the spending levels currently under negotiation in the House and Senate. An agreement on how to fund the government was not reached prior to midnight last night, and we now must endure a government shutdown.
While 8 in 10 Americans believe that a government shutdown is an unacceptable outcome, many members of the House are using this shutdown as leverage to repeal certain aspects of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). However, the Senate has consistently rejected House Bills that include provisions related to the ACA. A visual representation of the negotiations between the House and Senate can be found here.
Unfortunately, the immediate impacts of a government shutdown are not directly endured by those who caused it (members of Congress and the Senate are still paid). Over 800,000 individuals will be involuntarily furloughed; services for Veterans and individuals who receive Social Security will be disrupted; national parks will be closed. These represent just a few of the consequences of government shutdown; more can be found here.
Even if the House and Senate reach an agreement, their agreement will most likely preserve the sequestration cuts. If these cuts are preserved now, there is little chance that they will be replaced with a more sensible solution within the next year.
As the sequestration began months ago, it is worth remembering that these cuts were never meant to be an ideal solution to curb spending. In fact, they were intentionally constructed as incentive to motivate the Supercommittee to agree on a more rational solution to reduce the deficit. Unfortunately for US citizens who have since lost access to housing, meals, and work, this tactic failed and the sequestration was enacted.
A recent article in the Atlantic aptly stated, “A rational political system would find a way to bring budget discipline without endangering these areas, along with food safety, homeland security, national defense, the air-traffic system, and on and on. Instead we are careening toward economic disruption triggered by outrageous demands that jeopardize the economy and endanger the most vulnerable among us. Shameful is the only way to describe it.”
Josh Gordon, policy director at the Concord Coalition, made a similar observation in a recent CNBC article, stating, “You've never come out of a recession with such dramatic deficit reductions. But very little if any of the short-term deficit reduction is in any way related to preparing for the long-term challenges. It's really bad fiscal policy."
Recent negotiations serve as an unfortunate reminder of the direct and indirect effects of the sequestration. The consequences of the government shutdown, coupled with program cuts caused by the sequestration, will even more acutely impact the welfare of our fellow citizens.
By:
Madison Sunnquist (msunnqui@depaul.edu)
Sarah Callahan
Lenny Jason
Posted by Community Psychology Practice Council at 2:24 PM
http://communitypsychologypractice.blogspot.com/2013/10/sequestration-and-government-shutdown.html
How Does Government Shutdown Impact U.S. Economy?
October 2nd, 2013
by Meredith Simonds
Though some economists predict the government shutdown may only cut economic growth by a few tenths of a percentage, that's nothing to shrug your shoulders at when growth is just 2.5 percent.
Though some economists predict the government shutdown may only cut economic growth by a few tenths of a percentage point, that’s nothing to shrug your shoulders at when growth is just 2.5 percent.
When the government shuts down, as it did Monday, October 1, 2013, hundreds of thousands of federal workers go home (i.e., don’t get paid). The activities of a number of government agencies shut down, with services the recipients of which simply will not receive. Then there’s the psychological impact of a government shutdown — an uncertainty that affects overall consumer spending, which represents 70 percent of the U.S. economy.
The gist of the shutdown is this. The House and the Senate cannot agree on a bill that outlines how the government should be funded. At the heart of the matter is Obamacare. The Republican-controlled House passed a government funding bill over the weekend, but it delayed Obamacare for a year. As a result, the Democrat-controlled Senate rejected the bill.
As reported by The Washington Post, the government estimates that 800,000 “non-essential” or “non-expected” federal workers are furloughed. This leaves 1.3 million “essential” or “expected” workers still on the job. Active-duty military personnel also still get paid, as do the 500,000 postal workers who will continue to provide mail services.
Government agencies with activities affected by the shutdown include:
National Institutes of Health
Department of Housing and Urban Development
Department of Homeland Security
Justice Department
National Park Service
Environmental Protection Agency
Commodity Futures Trading Commission
Social Security Administration (though will retain enough staff to keep sending out checks)
State Department
Veterans Benefits Administration
Department of Agriculture (which will cut off support for the Women, Infants, and Children program)
What all of this adds up to is a nation in limbo, and that’s the last thing we need for our slow-to-recover economy. Though some economists predict the government shutdown may only cut economic growth by a few tenths of a percentage point, that’s nothing to shrug your shoulders at when growth is just 2.5 percent.
There have been 17 government shutdowns since 1976, ranging from 1 to 21 days. So the good news is, this could all be resolved any time, if and when Congress can find a way to agree.
http://www.creditinfocenter.com/wordpress/2013/10/02/government-shutdown-impact-u-s-economy/
On a personal note...I think shit will hit the fan soon...if people do not get their SSI/SSD checks, they can and will lose their home, their car, and get behind on bills. And what of those on Furlough? Crime rates could increase. People will be needing milk, formula, FOOD...with WIC possibly losing funding, I am sure thefts for baby food and other foods will increase. Since when is it ok to take from the citizens but the Congress still gets paid? That is not working for the people! What ever happened to "FOR THE PEOPLE"? But as I have read, government shutdowns have happened before. So where does that leave us, we cannot even trust our own government?!!
Now as far as Obamacare...I can't even afford it...so fucking fine me! I didn't vote for Obama and never wanted a DICTATOR for a U.S. President. Obama is full of shit and might as well be the Anti-Christ as far as I am concerned.
Now that I have said my little piece...
The psychological effects of the U.S. citizen are uncertainty at best! I, personally, have lost my faith in our government. Do I need to mention the people that are on disability due to mental illness? When they don't receive their meds or financial assistance...they could very well run amuk...possibly hurting themselves and/or others. Again, crime rates could increase due to the rational thoughts of those just trying to provide food and necessities for their families, all because they are not getting paid or benefits have been taken away.
The congress and Senate still getting paid have nothing to fear, but they are the ones that should be going without. Maybe then the national debt wouldn't be so bad, maybe then the average U.S. citizen wouldn't have to go to extremes just to feed their kids or to just survive.
I think I have vented enough for now...I am sure I left a few things out but I have to cook now.
COMMENTS
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MasterMel2
04:40 Oct 30 2013
Not a bad a idea, however might run afoul of some civil rights issues. *LOL*
RaynesAsylum
04:37 Oct 31 2013
You are right. But hey its just a paper for a class. Thank goodness I am not going into politics or law making! lol