Passion, Intimacy, and Time: Passionate Love as a Function of Change in Intimacy

Abstract

To build on existing theories about love, we propose that passion is a function of change in intimacy (i.e., the first derivative of intimacy overtime). Hence, passion will be low when intimacy is stable (either high or low), but rising intimacy will create a strong sense of passion. This view is able to account for a broad range of evidence, including frequency of sex in long-term relationships, intimate and sexual behavior of extraverts, gender differences in intimate behavior, gain and loss effects of communicated attraction, the biologically atypical human preference for face-to-face coitus, and patterns of distress in romantic breakups. Although this view may provide a good fit to available evidence, the totality of evidence is not yet adequate for a definitive conclusion, and suggestions for further research are offered.