Love Styles: U.S vs. Japan
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View of Love Styles Today
Love is one of the central topics over the past several decades in social psychology and there have been several studies focusing on the qualitative differences between liking and love as well as the unique typology of love. In Liking and loving, Rubin (1973) cited a common ground of love and liking: both being attitudes that a person holds toward another person; Love is composed of three elements: attachment, caring, and intimacy, while liking has its emphasis on evaluating the other person. That is, we like someone only if we think of that person as intellectually and morally established, as well as worth our respect (Nemesysco, 2003). Another cross-cultural love typology looked at companionate love versus passionate love. It was found that positive and negative emotions were more accounted for by passionate love than by companionate love (Kim, 2004). There was not a culture and gender difference found in this overall relationship, but gender difference was observed in the extent of the association between companionate love and satisfaction with life, in addition to between passionate love and emotional experiences (Kim, 2004). Sternberg (cited by Kanemasa, 2004) proposed that intimacy, passion and commitment combined to yield multiple types of love relationships including companionship, passion, infatuation, empty love, and other variations.
Type of Love Styles
Early love typology was generated by Lee, (1973, cited by Kanemasa, 2004) through interviews and reviews of literature. Lee (1973) identified six love styles, three primary (Eros, Ludus, and Storge) and three secondary styles (Mania, Pragma, and Agape). He defines Eros as a passionate, physical and emotional love based on aesthetic enjoyment, otherwise known as a stereotype of romantic love. Ludus is love that is played as a game or sport and it resembles a type of conquest. Storge is an affectionate love that slowly develops from friendship and is based on similarity of the couple. Pragma is a love that is driven by the head, not the heart. Mania is a highly volatile love or obsession fueled by low self-esteem. Finally, agape is a selfless altruistic and spiritual love that runs very deep between married couples or family (Scagliotti & Rudalavage 1999).
American Love Styles versus Japanese Love Styles
One important question found in the literature on love styles is whether they are apparent across cultures. Studies, such as Kanemasa (2004) & Paul (2000), examined love styles in Japan and in America. Both studies utilized a questionnaire that was given to students in American and Japanese universities. The American questionnaire asked its participants how many times they have “hooked up,” how far the relationship went, and if there was any intoxication involved, along with many self-perception questions (Paul, 2000). The common denominator in most studies of casual sex attitudes and behaviors is sexual intercourse in an uncommitted partnership. The results indicated that Ludos and Storge typologies are more prevalent in American society. Culture today presents to adolescents that it is okay to engage in a hookup lifestyle and these individuals in America are motivated by the thrill of the risky game. In comparison, the questionnaire used in Japan was a Likert scale that rated the emotional experiences in romantic relationships and how they felt about the love styles (Kanemasa, 2004). This type of questionnaire indicated that the Japanese may value Eros love. Eros was positively related to positive feelings and positive self-perceptions (Kanemasa, 2004). The results for Mania and Agape showed similar patterns of emotional experiences, but Agape was distinguished from Mania in that agapic individuals thought of themselves as kind in romantic relationships (Kanemasa, 2004). Contrary, Pragma and Ludus were positively related to negative feelings in romantic relationships, and, in addition, Ludus was negatively correlated with partner's attractiveness (Kanemasa, 2004). Therefore, as expected, Eros, Mania, and Agape show quite similar patterns from the viewpoint that individuals with these love styles regard their partners as attractive. Matsui (cited by Kanemasa, 2004) focused on love styles' changes with the developmental stages of romantic love and revealed that the scores of Eros, Mania, and Agape increase as romantic love develops, but the ludic and storgic score are relatively high until the middle stage of romantic love and decrease gradually. This supports that Japanese culture values and looks for a deeper love and appreciate a partner that is invested more emotionally as opposed to just than the “hookup” culture growing in America. It is evident that society in America has given adolescents the idea that hooking up is healthy and nothing will happen to them. On the other hand, Japanese culture understands the consequences of such actions and values a deeper love.
Today's Changing World
Moreover, in today’s technological and pop culture world, the romance that America portrays has influenced Japan. The whole notion of how a romantic relationship fits into the larger picture of Japanese families is changing. Now that Japanese women are delaying marriage and are more reluctant to have children, Smith (2004) notes a shift in attitude. In Japanese novels, it's not the burning passion that clears the path but rather friends, family and suitable circumstances that help the couple overcome the obstacles to a happy ending, representing the deeper love that Japanese culture maintains.
References
Kanemasa,Yuji, Et.al. “Love styles and romantic love experiences in Japan.” Society for Personality Research, Wellington, New Zealand. 2004. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3852/is_200401/ai_n9379441/pg_3 (2007).
Kim, Jungsik and Elaine Hatfield. “Love Types and Subjective Well-Being: A Cross Cultural Study.” (2004). http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3852/is_200401/ai_n9404641 (2007).
Paul, Elizabeth. Et.al. “Hookups: Characteristics and Correlates of College Students Spontaneous and Anonymous Sexual Experiences”The Journal of sex research, Vernon, IA, 2000. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2372/is_1_37/ai_61636087/pg_1 (2007)
Nemesysco. “Types of Love,” (2003). http://www.love-detector.com/typesoflove.html (2007).
Scagliotti Jennifer and Becky Rudalavage. “Styles of Love.” (1999) http://www.marywood.edu/departments/psychology/students/love/love_styles.htm (2007)
Smith, Janet. “Harlequin Novels Change Japanese Attitudes Towards Love,” (2004). http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=6932&title=Harlequin%20Novels%20Change%20Japanese%20Attitudes%20Toward%20Love (2007)
