The spectrum of positive affect: A cross-cultural lexical analysis

2018

J Theory Soc Behav

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Linguists have often remarked upon the polysemous nature of love, whereby the term encompasses a wide diversity of emotional relationships. Several typologies have been constructed to account for this diversity.However, these tend to be restricted in scope, and fail to fully represent the range of experiences signified by the term 'love' in discourse. In the interest of generating an expanded typology of love, encompassing its varied forms, an enquiry was conducted into relevant concepts found across the world's cultures, focusing on so-called untranslatable words. Through a quasi-systematic search of published and internet sources, 609 relevant words were identified. These were organised through a version of grounded theory into 14 categories, representing 14 different forms or 'flavours' of love. The result is an expanded theoretical treatment of love, allowing us to better appreciate the nuances of this most cherished and yet polysemous of concepts. ;48:134-152. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jtsb love vividly as "an AustroHungarian Empire uniting all sorts of feelings, behaviors, and attitudes, sometimes having little in common." As such, while most words are polysemous, linguists suggest that love is "polysemous in the extreme," as Berscheid (2010, p.6) puts it.Given its polysemous nature, scholars have attempted to create theoretical typologies of different forms of love. One early and particularly influential effort was by John Lee (1973, 1977), who drew on distinctions elucidated in the classical age to identify six 'styles' of loving. (Five of these types were adapted from classical Greek, while the sixth, ludus, is Latinate.) Lee suggested there were three 'primary' forms of love: érōs (romantic, passionate), ludus (flirtatious, playful), and storgē (filial, fraternal, companionate). By pairing these, three further types arose from the permutations: prâgma (rational, sensiblea combination of ludus and storgē), mania (possessive, dependenta combination of érōs and ludus), and agápē (charitable, selflessa combination of érōs and storgē). Lee's typology subsequently received experimental validation, particularly from Hendrick and Hendrick (1986), who devised a 42-item self-report scale and corroborated the six factor structure through factor analysis. Further work then sought to elucidate patterns of association between the types and other factors, For instance, exploring personality attributes, Mallandain and Davies (1994) reported that self-esteem was positively correlated with érōs, and negatively with mania, storgē and agápē. Conversely, emotionality and impulsivity were both positively linked to mania and ludus, while emotionality was negatively associated with érōs.Around the same time, an alternative theoretically-derived typology was developed by Robert Sternberg (1986). His 'triangular' theory of love suggested it arises from the presence and interaction of three principle components: intimacy, passion, and decision/commitment. Their permutations then give rise to seven types of love: liking (int...

Section: Untranslatable Wordsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The flavours of love: A cross‐cultural lexical analysis

2018

J Theory Soc Behav

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“…Subsequently, a website was created (https://www.drtimlomas.com/lexicography) to crowdsource suggestions from people worldwide. The resulting lexicography—which remains a work-in-progress—now includes nearly 1,000 terms and has generated analyses of various domains of experience, including spirituality (Lomas, 2018a), love (Lomas, 2018b), ambivalent emotions (Lomas, 2018d), and positive emotions (Lomas, 2017b; see Lomas, 2018c, for an overview).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experiential cartography and the significance of “untranslatable” words

2018

Theory & Psychology

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Mainstream psychology can be regarded as largely Western-centric, with its concepts and priorities biased towards Western ways of thinking and understanding. Consequently, the field would benefit from greater cross-cultural awareness and engagement. To that end, this article offers one means of engagement, the study of "untranslatable" words (i.e., terms without an exact equivalent in another language, in our case English). A key function of language is that it offers a "map" that allows us to understand and navigate the world. In that respect, such words point to cultural variation in the maps we use, and even to variation in the actual territory mapped. The paper concludes with suggestions for why and how psychology could benefit from engaging with such words.

“…Indeed, with the addition of the new words, the thematic structure outlined in the original paper has been updated. The six categories initially identified are still present, and moreover have been enriched by the additional words, with thematic analyses published on each (positive feelings [35], ambivalent feelings [36], love [37], prosociality [38], character [39], and spirituality [40]), plus a theoretical paper [28] and monograph [41] on the lexicographic project itself. However, the additional words have also led to six new categories being identified.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Elements of Eco-Connection: A Cross-Cultural Lexical Enquiry

2019

IJERPH

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The environment is widely recognised to be in peril, with clear signs of a climate crisis. This situation has many dimensions and factors, but key among them are the often-destructive ways in which humans interact with the natural world. Numerous cultures—particularly more industrialised and/or Western ones—have developed predatory and disconnected modes of interaction. In such modes, nature tends to be constructed as a resource to be exploited (rather than, say, a commonwealth to be protected). However, many people—especially, but not only, in less ‘developed’ nations—have cultivated less destructive modes of relationship. These bonds may be broadly encompassed under the rubric of ‘eco-connection’. In the interests of exploring these latter modes, an enquiry was conducted into adaptive forms of engagement with nature across the world’s cultures. The enquiry focused on untranslatable words, i.e., which lack an exact translation in another language (in this case, English). Through a quasi-systematic search of academic and grey literature, together with additional data collection, over 150 relevant terms were located. An adapted form of grounded theory identified three main dimensions of eco-connection: sacrality, bonding, and appreciation. Such analyses have the potential to promote greater wellbeing literacy with respect to our relationship with nature, both within academia and beyond in the wider culture. This includes enriching the nomological network in psychology, and more broadly building a nature-related vocabulary that is more sustainable and harmonious. In doing so, there may also be benefits to public health, in that developing such literacy could possibly influence people’s engagement with nature itself, leading to more adaptive forms of relationship.