Gender and personality differences in conceptions of love: An interpersonal theory analysis

Three studies tested predictions derived from interpersonal theory regarding the relations among gender, personality, and conceptions of love. It was predicted that women would conceptualize love in terms of its nurturant varieties, namely companionate kinds of love, whereas men would conceptualize love in terms of non‐nurturant varieties, namely passionate kinds of love. Only the latter prediction received consistent support. Both women and men held a companionate conception of love, with the exception that women assigned higher ratings to friendship love and sisterly love. Regarding personality, it was predicted that high‐nurturance traits (e.g., warm‐agreeable) would be associated with a companionate conception of love whereas low‐nurturance traits (e.g., cold‐hearted) would be associated with a passionate conception of love. Results supported predictions. It was concluded that women's and men's conceptions of love are more similar than has been assumed and that the two robust interpersonal dimensions of dominance and nurturance hold considerable promise for integrating the literature on personality and gender differences in love.