The topic of "loving relationships" is one of the most important (and often problematic) areas of people's lives. Unfortunately, such importance is best perceived when relationships are unsatisfactory and/or threatened by the possibility of an imminent breakup. When that happens, our mood, our ability to concentrate, our energy, our work, and our health, among other dimensions of our lives, can be profoundly affected. Although contemporary love life appears to be markedly different from that of predecessor generations (given the wide range of current relationships as the "hook up"; living together; separate cohabitation; virtual love or even betrayal; among many other forms of loving interaction) we live in a time when relationships between two or more people, it seems, need more understanding and more accurate research. However, studying love scientifically is a hard task because of methodological difficulties and conceptual improprieties intrinsically related to this type of investigation. Because it can be considered such a familiar concept, many researchers should agree on what love is and how it can be measured. But, this is not what occurs. After all, what is love? Is it, as a psychological phenomenon, capable of being scientifically studied by psychology?
The goal of this Research Topic is to:
• Promote and disseminate publications related to what is conceived scientifically as the Psychology of Love, differing from conceptions related to self-help and common sense;
• Conceptualize love through psychological science;
• Systematize knowledge about the nature of love and related phenomena such as jealousy; shyness; inhibition; infidelity and other related topics;
• Understand conceptualizations of love and relationship dynamics of people in monogamous and consensually non-monogamous relationships;
• Research the establishment and maintenance of romantic relationships and try to understand scientifically the role of love in marital satisfaction.
It should be noted that the attempt to identify and scientifically analyze the meaning of love has given rise to, and it still does, a series of controversies. And taking into account this background, this Research Topic also aims at studying theories related to romantic love.
Love, despite enjoying so much promotion, only began being scientifically studied a short time ago. Therefore, when dealing with a phenomenon like love, it is no longer enough to consult the dictionary, or even to resort to the abundant self-help literature often based on a merely speculative approach. This Research Topic in its theoretical basis seeks to reflect on love, romantic jealousy, infidelity in love affairs, sexual difficulties between partners, and other related phenomena that we have known since an early age, with which we grow up and experience daily, by the strong emotions that accompany them, but not reflected sufficiently on its possible conceptions.
At this point, a problem arises for many theorists who embark on the study of love, for how can there be a vehement claim of universal validity regarding romantic love, considering the plurality of idiosyncrasies, many of which are probably contaminated by ethnocentrism that tries to establish sovereignty in the definition of what would come or not be conceived as love.
The topic of "loving relationships" is one of the most important (and often problematic) areas of people's lives. Unfortunately, such importance is best perceived when relationships are unsatisfactory and/or threatened by the possibility of an imminent breakup. When that happens, our mood, our ability to concentrate, our energy, our work, and our health, among other dimensions of our lives, can be profoundly affected. Although contemporary love life appears to be markedly different from that of predecessor generations (given the wide range of current relationships as the "hook up"; living together; separate cohabitation; virtual love or even betrayal; among many other forms of loving interaction) we live in a time when relationships between two or more people, it seems, need more understanding and more accurate research. However, studying love scientifically is a hard task because of methodological difficulties and conceptual improprieties intrinsically related to this type of investigation. Because it can be considered such a familiar concept, many researchers should agree on what love is and how it can be measured. But, this is not what occurs. After all, what is love? Is it, as a psychological phenomenon, capable of being scientifically studied by psychology?
The goal of this Research Topic is to:
• Promote and disseminate publications related to what is conceived scientifically as the Psychology of Love, differing from conceptions related to self-help and common sense;
• Conceptualize love through psychological science;
• Systematize knowledge about the nature of love and related phenomena such as jealousy; shyness; inhibition; infidelity and other related topics;
• Understand conceptualizations of love and relationship dynamics of people in monogamous and consensually non-monogamous relationships;
• Research the establishment and maintenance of romantic relationships and try to understand scientifically the role of love in marital satisfaction.
It should be noted that the attempt to identify and scientifically analyze the meaning of love has given rise to, and it still does, a series of controversies. And taking into account this background, this Research Topic also aims at studying theories related to romantic love.
Love, despite enjoying so much promotion, only began being scientifically studied a short time ago. Therefore, when dealing with a phenomenon like love, it is no longer enough to consult the dictionary, or even to resort to the abundant self-help literature often based on a merely speculative approach. This Research Topic in its theoretical basis seeks to reflect on love, romantic jealousy, infidelity in love affairs, sexual difficulties between partners, and other related phenomena that we have known since an early age, with which we grow up and experience daily, by the strong emotions that accompany them, but not reflected sufficiently on its possible conceptions.
At this point, a problem arises for many theorists who embark on the study of love, for how can there be a vehement claim of universal validity regarding romantic love, considering the plurality of idiosyncrasies, many of which are probably contaminated by ethnocentrism that tries to establish sovereignty in the definition of what would come or not be conceived as love.