In its extreme, Eros can resemble naivety. A disadvantage is the possibility of the decay in attraction and the danger of living in a fantasy world. It requires both partners to accord validity to each other's sexual feelings, work on sustaining interest and maintain the sexual health of the relationship. Sexual contentment lies at the bottom of Maslow's hierarchy of needs along with hunger and shelter. It affords a sense of security to both partners who recognize and see sexual complementation in each other and a sense of life's purpose. It is very relaxing for the person doing it. The advantage of erotic love is that the hormones and emotions cause lovers to bond with each other, and feelings of lust and feelings of love alternatively reinforce each other. Those of other love styles may see erotic lovers as unrealistic, or trapped in a fantasy.
The erotic lover's reaction to separation from the partner is agony and despair. The erotic lover's reaction to criticism from their partner is one of hurt and intense pain. The erotic lover wants to share and know everything about their loved one and often thinks of their partner in an idealized manner. An erotic lover can be perceived as a "hopeless romantic". They tend to address their lovers with pet names, such as "sweetie" or "sexy". They are more likely to say they fell in love at first sight than those of other love styles.Įrotic lovers view marriage as an extended honeymoon, and sex as the ultimate aesthetic experience. Erotic lovers choose their lovers by intuition or "chemistry". It is a highly sensual, intense, passionate style of love. Lee describes Eros as a passionate physical and emotional love feeling of wanting to satisfy, create sexual contentment, security, and aesthetic enjoyment for each other, it also includes creating sexual security for the other by striving to forsake options of sharing one's intimate and sexual self with outsiders. Primary types of love Eros Įros is the Greek term for romantic, passionate, or sexual love, from which the term erotic is derived. The three primary types are Eros, Ludus, and Storge, and the three secondary types are Mania, Pragma, and Agape. First introduced in his book Colours of Love: An Exploration of the Ways of Loving (1973), Lee defines three primary, three secondary, and nine tertiary love styles, describing them in the traditional colour wheel.
The colour wheel theory of love is an idea created by the Canadian psychologist John Alan Lee that describes six love styles, using several Latin and Greek words for love.