An Introduction to Lee's Love Styles

An interesting way to explore romantic communication and the way you love is to explore it through John Lee’s perspective.  Lee developed a typology of love styles that is utilized by many to explain the types of love that humans experience. There are six proposed ideal love styles:

Eros, Storge, Ludas, Agape, Pragma, and Mania.

Lee suggests that there are individual and relational differences that play into how a love is formed and these differences construct how this love is experienced and communicated.
Lee’s love styles are broken into two categories:
primary and secondary love styles.

                                                                                                                                      

Primary styles include:

Eros: where romantic elements of love are valued

Storge: a love that results from long-term, developed friendships

Ludas: the style that focuses on the game playing aspect of love
                                                                                                                                     

Secondary styles are those that combine a mixture of these primary styles. These include:

Agape: a love which is altruistic and selfless

Pragma: which is centered around logical reasoning

Mania: an obsessive style that is focused on dependence jealousy and emotional duress
                                                                                                                                     

These styles can help you form a great basis for analysis and reflection when exploring how love is communicated but it is important to remember that these are ideals and that most people posses a mixture of many love styles, not just one.

  Lee’s love styles are extremely relevant to romantic relationships and how they are communicated because they relate to many other aspects of a relationship such as the way we communicate about sex or our emotional needs and desires.

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