Socially desirable responding and impression management in the endorsement of love styles.

In 2 experiments, the researcher investigated the social desirability of different love styles (Eros, Ludus, Storge, Pragma, Mania, and Agape). In Experiment 1, the Marlowe-Crowne measure of social desirability (D. P. Crowne & D. Marlowe, 1960) was correlated negatively with possessive, dependent (Mania) love styles in both men and women. In men, social desirability was correlated positively with romantic, passionate love (Eros) and game-playing love (Ludus), but negatively with all-giving, selfless love (Agape). In women, social desirability was correlated positively with Agape, but negatively with Ludus. In Experiment 2, the researcher replicated these findings using an impression management manipulation (good, bad, and honest responding). The gender differences in social desirability of different love styles are explained in terms of traditional and nontraditional gender role socialization.     

The concept of love in a Spanish representative sample

The model of romantic love and the acceptance of related myths have been granted wide relevance in our context. It has also been suggested that the concept of love can play a role in the origin and maintenance of gender violence. As an initial step towards researching this relationship, the objective of this article is to study the prevailing concept of love in the Spanish population, as well as to analyze any differences that gender and age may introduce in this conception. A reduced version of the Love Attitudes Scale was administered to a representative sample of 1,351 people. Results show that both men and women widely accept the love styles Eros, Agape, Storge and Pragma, reject the Ludus style, and are indifferent to the Mania style. However, the order of preference for love styles is different for men and women and for different age groups. These results are analyzed and discussed.     

Associations between television viewing and love styles: an interpretation using cultivation theory

This study evaluated the associations between television viewing and love styles. The Love Attitudes Scale (LAS), based on Lee's love style taxonomy, was administered to a sample of 338 unmarried Israeli students along with questions about TV viewing habits, current involvement in a serious romantic relationship, and marital intentions. A confirmatory factor analysis of the LAS indicated that the expected six-factor solution adequately fit the data. Correlations between individual love styles and TV viewing were small to moderate, ranging from .12 to .29. Scores for Ludus love style correlated positively with viewing of news and general programming. Those for Pragma love style correlated positively with news viewing and negatively with viewing genres frequently including love themes such as soap operas and family drama, while scores for Eros love style positively correlated with watching these love abundant genres. No significant association was found for TV viewing with Storge, Mania, and Agape love styles. Hierarchical regression using demographic variables, love status, and viewing habits mirrored these results, with the unique R2 for Ludus, Pragma, and Eros ranging from 1.8% to 8%, while the total variance accounted for by the models ranged from 12% to 21%. The findings can be interpreted as support for a weak cultivation effect, in which habits in long-term TV viewing among young adults correspond to small to moderate tendencies for particular love styles that thematically relate them. However, because they are correlational, the findings could equally be interpreted in terms of tendencies that exist due to modeling within families and socialization during development.     

Love attitudes and relationship experience

The present study examined the association of love attitudes with the initiation, maintenance, and dissolution of relationships. Respondents completed the Love Attitudes Scale and a questionnaire designed to measure experiences at each stage of relationship development. Ludus was relevant to all stages of relationship development; ludic attitudes were associated with absence of concern for partner loyalty, short and uncommitted relationships, and positive feelings about relationship dissolution. Pragma was associated primarily with relationship initiation (i.e., selection of an appropriate partner). Agape and Mania were most apparent during maintenance, as evidenced by relationships with indicators of involvement and loyalty. Agape, Mania, and Eros related to negative emotions at the point of relationship dissolution.     

Love attitudes and romantic involvement: a replication and extension

Confirming Hendrick and Hendrick's (1988) findings with American college students, British students reporting they were currently "in love" scored significantly higher on the Love Attitude Scale dimensions of Eros and Agape but significantly lower on Ludus when compared to subjects not currently in love.     

Effect of Gender and Life-Stage on Love Styles in the Indian Context

This study examined how love styles evolve over a period of time and if gender shapes the use of love styles. The sample comprised 120 people (60 males and 60 females): 20 couples in a dating relationship, 20 couples married for less than 2 years (childless) and 20 couples married for more than 15 years (with children). The sample consisted of Indian population and only those married couples were selected who had married out of ‘love’. Results indicated significant differences across life stages for Eros, decreasing progressively with life stages. No other love style differed significantly across life styles. Gender differences were found on Pragma and Mania, with females using both Pragma and Mania more than males, in line with the evolutionary perspective.     

Nature of romantic love in female adolescents.

In the present study, I intended to determine the similarity between Rubin's (1970) Love Scale components and five of Lee's (1976) six lovestyles in a relatively homogenous sample of 301 16- and 17-year-old British females. Items describing loving behaviors toward a particular individual were formulated to measure these lovestyles together with that of Ludus. The six orthogonal factors extracted from the correlation matrix of these and Rubin's items were called Love, Mutual Love, Respect, Similarity, Physical Attraction and Hostility. The results suggested that Rubin's Love Scale contained elements of Mania and Agape but none of Ludus, which could not be further differentiated. Rubin's (1970) Liking Scale, however, could be further subdivided into Respect (Pragma) and Similarity (Storge).     

Nature of Romantic Love in Female Adolescents

In the present study, I intended to determine the similarity between Rubin's (1970) Love Scale components and five of Lee's (1976) six lovestyles in a relatively homogenous sample of 301 16- and 17-year-old British females. Items describing loving behaviors toward a particular individual were formulated to measure these lovestyles together with that of Ludus. The six orthogonal factors extracted from the correlation matrix of these and Rubin's items were called Love, Mutual Love, Respect, Similarity, Physical Attraction and Hostility. The results suggested that Rubin's Love Scale contained elements of Mania and Agape but none of Ludus, which could not be further differentiated. Rubin's (1970) Liking Scale, however, could be further subdivided into Respect (Pragma) and Similarity (Storge).     

Values and love styles in Turkey and Great Britain: An intercultural and intracultural comparison

Little previous research has examined the relationship between values and love styles, and none has done so across cultures or intracultural regions. This research was the first attempt to explore the correlation between individual‐level values and love styles, and examined both within‐ and between‐cultural variations in love styles. In this study 224 participants from Turkey and Britain, from urban or rural locations, completed the Portrait Values Questionnaire and the Love Attitudes Scale measure of love styles. Pancultural analyses demonstrated significant correlations between certain value dimensions and love styles. In particular, agape (selfless love) was positively correlated with self‐transcendence, ludus (game‐playing love) was positively correlated with self‐enhancement, and pragma (realistic love) was positively correlated with conservation. The inclusion of location and nationality and their interactions with values in the multiple regression analyses significantly increased the variance explained by values for five of the six love styles. Multivariate analyses indicated that ludus, storge, mania, and pragma were all significantly higher among Turkish respondents; pragma, mania, and agape all higher amongst rural respondents. Eros was highest among rural British respondents; storge, pragma, and agape highest among rural Turks. When these culture effects were explored, conservation significantly mediated the relationship between the groups of more conservative rural Turks (versus other participants) and both pragmatic and storgic love styles. Findings are discussed in the light of disparities in values and relationship styles within cultures, and the need to include both intracultural and intercultural variations in cross cultural research.     

An Examination of Liking,Love Styles,and Wellness Among Emerging Adults: Implications for Social Wellness and Development

Liking, love styles, and wellness were examined in an undergraduate sample (N = 168). Liking and the Mania love style were found to predict 15.8% of the variance in Total Wellness. In addition, within‐group differences in love styles and wellness were found on the basis of gender and ethnicity.     

Sense of humour and coping styles

This paper reports an investigation on the relationship between sense of humour and coping styles. Svebak's (1974) Sense of Humour Questionnaire (containing three scales for each of his dimensions of the sense of humour) and Lefcourt and Martin's (1986) Situational Humor Response Questionnaire and Coping Humor Scale served as measures of humour, while Plutschik's (1981) Scale for the Measurement of Coping Styles served to assess eight coping styles. A relationship was found between humour and coping for men and women with regard to Minimization and Suppression, and to a smaller extent for Blame, Mapping and Reversal. The relationship was in opposite directions for men and women with regard to Suppression and Replacement. Most humour scales correlated negatively with age for men, and positively for women. Five coping styles correlated negatively with age for men: Suppression, Seeking Succorance, Replacement, Blame and Substitution, the other three positively. For women, however, only two coping styles correlated negatively with age: Suppression and Seeking Succorance, the other six correlated positively. As in other studies on coping, sex proved to be a major moderating variable.     

Individualist and collectivist values: hypotheses suggested by Alexis de Tocqueville

The work of Alexis de Tocqueville, the 19th-century social theorist who coined the term individualism, supplied a conceptual foundation for hypothesizing that individualism and collectivism, as value systems, should be directly correlated. In previous research (D. K.-S. Chan, 1994), individualist and collectivist values were negatively correlated in a sample of men, and in a combined sample of men and women (P. J. Watson, J. Sherbak, & R. J. Morris, 1998) these values were positively correlated. In the present study, a positive relationship was in fact observed in both men and women. Linkages with other measures of self and social functioning uncovered a few small associations of individualist values with maladjustment. Collectivist values predicted adjustment. These data confirm that individualist and collectivist values are compatible, just as Tocqueville had suggested, and that gender differences do not explain the conflicting results previously reported in this literature.     

An attachment classification of desperate love

The assessment utility of attachment theory constructs for research and diagnostic purposes is being increasingly explored and demonstrated. This study focuses on the association between desperate love and a modification of Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, and Wall's (1978) taxonomy of attachment styles, hypothesizing that the experience of desperate love will be positively associated with the dependent and resistant/ambivalent attachment styles with no gender differences. The findings based on multivariate regression analyses generally corroborate the attachment style hypotheses, although with significant gender differences. Discussion focuses on the possible contrasts in the intrapsychic experience of desperate love for men and women as well as indications of causal trends for future research.     

A Study of Men and Women from Different Sides of Earth to Determine If Men Are from Mars and Women Are from Venus in Their Beliefs About Love and Romantic Relationships

This study contributes to the literature on gender differences (and similarities) in relationship beliefs by comparing men and women on several relationship beliefs, by comparing men and women from two different cultures (North America and China), and also by examining gender differences in more than 1 subculture within the American sample. In the American sample (n = 693; 73.3% White, 11.7% Black, 8.5% Hispanic/Latino; 80% of middle or higher social class), men, as compared to women, were more willing to marry without love, scored higher on the idealization component of a romanticism scale, were more ludic and agapic but less erotic and pragmatic in their love styles, and were less likely to view emotional satisfaction as important to the maintenance of marriage. Although men were also more agapic than women in the Chinese sample (n = 735; Asian ethnicity), the other gender differences found in the Chinese sample were different from those found in the North American sample: Chinese men were more romantic (particularly in the belief that love can overcome any obstacle) and storgic than Chinese women, but less likely to believe in destiny or fate concerning love. Chinese men were also more likely than Chinese women to view physical pleasure as important for maintaining marriage. Overall, culture explained more variance than did gender in love beliefs. In general, the Chinese had both a more idealistic and a more practical approach to love than did the Americans. Gender differences and similarities did not vary across subcultures within the American culture, although main effects for race/ethnicity and social class were found for a few relationship beliefs.     

Ratio of fourth to second fingertip extensions in relation to serum estradiol and testosterone levels in men and women

Sex differences in second (2D) and fourth (4D) fingertip extensions relative to the middle fingertip and 4D:2D fingertip extension ratios were studied in men and women. Body height positively correlated with index fingertip extensions, not with ring fingertip extensions, nor with their ratio. Mean 2D extension (both hands) was smaller in women than men; mean 4D extension (right hand) was smaller in men than women; 4D:2D fingertip extension ratios from both hands were larger in women than men. Serum estradiol concentration negatively correlated with 2D extensions for both hands (no significant correlation with 4D extensions), but positively correlated with 4D:2D extension ratios for both hands. Serum testosterone concentration positively correlated with 2D extensions of both hands (no significant correlation with 4D extension), but negatively correlated with 4D:2D extension ratios for both hands. These relations were also studied in men and women separately. It was concluded that the 4D:2D extension ratio was greater in women than in men; 2D and 4D extensions and 4D:2D extension ratios may be determined prenatally by sex hormones; fingertip extensions may be predictive of adult and prenatal sex hormone levels.     

Conflict over emotional expression: psychological and physical correlates

This study addresses the construct of conflict or ambivalence over emotional expression. Ambivalence is seen as an important mediator in the link between emotional styles and psychological and physical well-being. Using the "personal striving" framework, a questionnaire measure of ambivalent emotional strivings (AEQ) was designed. In Study 1, 292 Ss completed this measure along with questionnaire measures of expressiveness, social desirability, and intense ambivalence. Women scored significantly higher than men on both the AEQ and expressiveness. In Study 2, scores on the AEQ were found to be negatively correlated with self-reported and peer-rated expressiveness. In Study 3, 48 Ss participated in a 21-day study of mood and health. Expressiveness was positively correlated with some measures of well-being and with daily negative affect. Ambivalence was positively correlated with several indices of psychological distress. Although the AEQ correlated with questionnaire measures of physical symptomatology, neither the AEQ nor the expressiveness measures correlated with daily symptom reports. Results support the contention that conflict over emotional expressiveness is a variable worthy of study in its own right, having implications for research on personality and health.     

Sense of humor, emotional intelligence, and social competence

Associations among sense of humor, emotional intelligence (EI), and social competence were examined in 111 undergraduate students using measures of humor styles, trait cheerfulness, social competence, and an ability test of EI. Emotional management ability was positively correlated with self-enhancing humor and trait cheerfulness, and negatively correlated with trait bad mood. Ability to accurately perceive emotions was negatively related to aggressive and self-defeating humor. Positive humor styles and trait cheerfulness were positively correlated with various domains of social competence, whereas negative humor styles and trait bad mood were negatively correlated with social competence. Finally, the emotional management facet of EI was positively correlated with several social competence domains.     

Examining Rape Empathy From the Perspective of the Victim and the Assailant1

Two studies using college student samples were conducted to establish reliability and validity for new scales measuring rape victim empathy and rape perpetrator empathy separately. In Experiment 1, two 13‐item measures of rape empathy were developed. Variables examined for purposes of construct validity included personal sexual assault experience, general empathy, and perceived rape victim responsibility. In Experiment 2, we added 5 new items to each scale. The final scales were two 18‐item measures with high reliability. Variables examined in Experiment 2 included personal sexual assault, general empathy, and acquaintanceship with a victim or a perpetrator. Both studies found gender differences for empathy scores, with women tending to be higher on rape victim empathy, and men tending to be higher on rape perpetrator empathy. Personal sexual experience was related to rape empathy scores. Perceived victim responsibility was negatively correlated with rape victim empathy and positively correlated with rape perpetrator empathy.     

Gender Differences in Gender-Role Perceptions Among Japanese College Students

This study investigated gender differences ingender role perceptions among contemporary Japanesecollege students. Originally, a total of 309 students(111 men and 198 women) rated the desirability of 60 items of the Japanese version of Bem SexRole Inventory for both men and women. One hundredfifty-nine students' desirability ratings for men and150 students' desirability ratings for women wererandomly selected. A significant gender difference wasfound only on the desirability ratings of feminine itemsfor men with the males having a higher mean score thanthe females (p < .001). There was no gender difference in the desirability ratings offeminine items for women and masculine items for men andfor women. Several possible explanations for the presentresults were discussed. A comparison of the present findings to the results of the previous study(Kashiwagi, 1974) was also discussed.