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Chapter 13 - A Behavioral Systems Approach to Romantic Love Relationships: Attachment, Caregiving, and Sex

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 December 2018

By
Mario Mikulincer  and
Phillip R. Shaver
Edited by
Robert J. Sternberg  and
Karin Sternberg
Robert J. Sternberg
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
Karin Sternberg
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
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Summary

Over thirty years ago, Shaver and his colleagues (Hazan & Shaver, 1987; Shaver & Hazan, 1988; Shaver, Hazan, & Bradshaw, 1988) suggested that Bowlby’s (1973, 1979, 1980, 1982) attachment theory, which was designed to characterize human infants’ love for and attachment to their caregivers, is also highly relevant to romantic love and adult couple relationships. The core assumption was that romantic relationships – or pair-bonds, as evolutionary psychologists call them – involve a combination of three innate behavioral systems described by Bowlby (1982): attachment, caregiving, and sex.

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The New Psychology of Love , pp. 259 - 279
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2018

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