The triangular theory of love is a theory of love developed by Robert Sternberg, a member of the Psychology Department at Yale University. During his time as a professor, Sternberg emphasized his research in the fields of intelligence, creativity, wisdom, leadership, thinking styles, ethical reasoning, love, and hate. In the context of interpersonal relationships, "the three components of love, according to the triangular theory, are an intimacy component, a passion component, and a decision/commitment component."[1]
Sternberg says that intimacy refers to "feelings of closeness, connectedness, and bondedness in loving relationships", passion refers to "the drives that lead to romance, physical attraction, sexual consummation, and related phenomena in loving relationships" and decision/commitment means different things in the short and long term. In the short-term, it refers to "the decision that one loves a certain other", and in the long-term, it refers to "one's commitment to maintain that love."[2]
Intimacy can apply to many relationships. Friends are intimate, families are intimate, and lovers are especially intimate. Intimacy isn't romantic, but instead is the connection you have with others. If you meet someone and they have a lot in common with you, and you find yourself hitting it off with them quite well, you have a high level of intimacy with them. If there is no intimacy, there can't be love that lasts.
You can't begin a love without there being some form of passion. Passion is the romantic and sexual attraction you have to someone. Sometimes, you can have passion without love. You can be friends with benefits or just two people who think they're in love when in reality, they're in lust. While passion may fade with age, a great loving relationship will still retain passion to some degree.
If you don't see yourself living with someone for the rest of your life, then your relationship is probably going to fail. Good couples are committed to building a future and having some plan to spend the rest of their lives together, while couples who do not commit may end up crashing and burning.
There are more interpretations of love out there; after all, it's the subject of so many works of art and studies.This is just any easy way to explain it. With that said, we've broken down love. Let's look at respect and see what that is.