Subjective attributes of attraction: How people characterize their liking, their love, and their being in love

Abstract

Ninety-nine students (mostly women) at a German university were asked to write down how they could tell that they like someone, love someone, and are in love with someone (or, in other words, what characterized each sentiment if experienced by them). A taxonomy of 47 characteristics (or indicators) was developed to code the responses for each of the three sentiments. Most frequently mentioned were positive mood in the other's presence (61% for liking and 53% for love) and arousal (62% for being in love). The most distinctive (or unique) characteristic of liking was desire for interaction with the other; of love, trust in the other; and of being in love, arousal. Categorizing the characteristics into a cognitive, an affective, and a behavioral level, a complex pattern of main effects and interaction effects was found through analyses of variance. Gender differences were found but are not discussed because of the small male sample (n = 13). Our findings are discussed with respect to the scales developed by Rubin, Hatfield, and Sternberg, and they are placed in the context of recent research on subjective definitions of attraction sentiments (especially love). Copyright © 1997 ISSPR.