H. Lamm et U. Wiesmann, SUBJECTIVE ATTRIBUTES OF ATTRACTION - HOW PEOPLE CHARACTERIZE THEIR LIKING, THEIR LOVE, AND THEIR BEING IN LOVE, Personal relationships, 4(3), 1997, pp. 271-284
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 characterist
ics (or indicators) was developed to code the responses for each of th
e three sentiments. Most frequently mentioned were positive mood in th
e 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 t
he other; and of being in love, arousal. Categorizing the characterist
ics into a cognitive, an affective, and a behavioral level, a complex
pattern of main effects and interaction effects was found through anal
yses 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).