This book explores the meaning of love and intimacy from a variety of perspectives, specifically philosophical, psychological and cultural. This volume is a focussed study on what makes them and what may break love and intimacy.
Love and intimacy are central to us, is sought by almost everyone, and while we seem to know what they are, they are not easily described. The present volume includes eleven chapters which are divided into two parts. The first part describes the meaning of love, intimacy, and romantic relations, and the second highlights what may go wrong in such relationships, and why.
The book explores theoretical debates and contemporary research around emotions and will be of interest to students and researchers of psychology, philosophy as well as sex, marriage and family therapists and counselors.
The chapters in this book were originally published in The Journal of Psychology.
Introduction: The intricacies of love and intimacy
Ami Rokach
Part I: Love and Intimacy - The Ingredients
1. The Paradox of Love: A Historical Exploration of Western Philosophical Perspectives on Love, Exclusion, and Liberatory Potential
David Berman
2. Love Culturally: How Does Culture Affect Intimacy, Commitment & Love
Ami Rokach
3. Romantic Love is Not Only “Romantic”: A Grounded Theory Study on Love in Romantic Relationships
Yi Chen, Mengya Xia and Shannon Dunne
4. In Defense of Moderate Romantic Curiosity and Information Avoidance: A Conceptual Outlook of Balanced Curiosity
Aaron Ben-Ze’ev
5. Intimacy Behaviors and Relationship Satisfaction for Cohabitors: Intimate Sacrifices Are Not Always Beneficial
Valerie J. Young and Melissa A. Curran
6. Young Love at Work: Perceived Effects of Workplace Romance among Millennial Generation Organizational Members
Rebecca M. Chory and Hailey Grace Gillen Hoke
7. Prevalence of Sexting among Greek University Students: A Matter of Relationships?
Constantinos M. Kokkinos and Christina Krommida
Part II: Intimate Relations: Bumps and Bruises
8. Do Relationship- and Self-Oriented Deceptions Impact the Effect of Attitude Alignment on Attraction?
Chelsea A. Reid, Hannah L. Shoemaker and Delaney M. Wallace
9. Narcissism in Romantic Relationships: Using Communal Activation to Promote Relationship Enhancing Attitudes
Judith N. Biesen and David A. Smith
10. Parental Attachment, Self-Esteem, Social Problem-Solving, Intimate Partner Violence Victimization in Emerging Adulthood
Chloé Cherrier, Robert Courtois, Emmanuel Ruscha and Catherine Potard
11. The Role of Vulnerable and Grandiose Narcissism in Psychological Perpetrated Abuse Within Couple Relationships: The Mediating Role of Romantic Jealousy
Lucia Ponti, Simon Ghinassi and Franca Tani
Biography
Ami Rokach is the Executive Editor of the Journal of Psychology: Interdisciplinary and Applied, teaches in the Psychology Department at York University in Toronto, and is a Clinical Psychologist who specializes in loneliness, intimate relationship, anxiety conditions, death and dying.
