Browsing by Subject "Love"
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Item The distance of intimacy : an exploration of love and loss in two plays(2011-05) Kennedy, Meghan Elizabeth; Zeder, Suzan; Dietz, Steven; Lynn, KirkThe following thesis is an exploration of the themes of love and loss, and an examination of the concept of distance as a form of intimacy in my plays, Yours and Too much, too much, too many.Item Embracing the half: Aristotle's revision of platonic eros and philia(Texas A&M University, 2007-09-17) Salim, EmilIn this thesis, I am investigating the nature of e[rwV (eros) and filiva (philia) in Plato and Aristotle. I have confined this project to Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics (EN) and Metaphysics, with a background discussion of Plato's Symposium and Phaedrus. I will argue for the following claims. First, Plato's Symposium poses a dilemma with respect to the object and nature of e[rwV. The dilemma is that the objects of e[rwV must be either particular individuals or the Beautiful itself. Second, Plato's Phaedrus may be seen as Plato's attempt to solve the dilemma by giving a synthesis: e[rwV is a virtuous maniva and should be directed to particular individuals en route to the Beautiful. However, another problem arises; viz., given Platonic metaphysics, it is difficult to see how the lovers can genuinely love one another in and of themselves when the ultimate object of love is the Form of Beauty. Third, Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics sees e[rwV as an excess of filiva. ErwV in human relationships must be avoided because it is seen as something bad and irrational, even though it is not a vice. The account of e[rwV and filiva in EN may be seen as Aristotle's attempt to propose another kind of solution to the dilemma by escaping the horns, i.e., by deprioritizing e[rwV in favor of filiva with respect to achieving the virtuous life. Fourth, this negative view of e[rwV does not appear in Metaphysics L. In 1072b3-4, Aristotle writes that the Unmoved Mover moves all things as being loved (wJV ejrwvmenon). The best interpretation of the phrase wJV ejrwvmenon is that the Unmoved Mover moves all things by letting them follow their nature. There is a shift of emphasis in Aristotle's philosophy from e[rwV to filiva, which brings another dilemma with respect to the objects of filiva, namely between filiva for particular individuals and filiva for the good. I will not try to solve the dilemma, but will try to circumscribe the issue.Item Health and harmony : Eryximachus on the science of Eros(2014-08) Green, Jerry Dwayne; Dean-Jones, LesleyPlato’s Symposium masterfully depicts several different explanations of the phenomenon of Eros or love. The physician Eryximachus depicts Eros as a cosmic force that can bring harmony to a number of areas, from medicine and music to astronomy and divination. Most readers of the Symposium have read Eryximachus in an unflattering way, as a pompous know-it-all who fails to give a speech that meets either his high aspirations or his high opinion of himself. In this paper I argue that this reading of Eryximachus and his speech is unpersuasive. My defense of Eryximachus has three components: (1) Plato treats Eryximachus sympathetically in the Symposium and elsewhere, and has him deliver a modest and perfectly coherent speech about the science of Eros. (2) Eryximachus’s speech can only be properly understood if we read it in the context of Hippocratic medical theory, which infuses the speech throughout. (3) Outside the Symposium, Plato views medicine as a model technē, and health as a central philosophical concept; inside the Symposium, Plato has his mouthpiece Socrates give a speech on behalf of the priestess Diotima that agrees with Eryximachus on nearly every point of his speech. This indicates that Plato would have viewed Eryximachus’s speech quite favorably, and that modern readers should follow suit. I conclude by suggesting how this reading of Eryximachus should influence how we read the Symposium as a whole.Item The Lil' Bastard's guide to love : how to rub one out in your crush's bathroom and destroy the evidence(2010-05) Shasteen, Stephanie Elaine; English; Kroll, Judith, 1943-; Young, DeanThe Lil’ Bastard’s Guide to Love is a compilation of poems I have written during two years of study in the creative writing program at the University of Texas. These poems mostly concern themselves with love. They also deal with the inadequacies of naming and language, and coming to terms with the fact that sometimes the best thing you can do is to not ruin everything with words. Words will disappoint you sometimes, but they are necessary, so at least try to be square with people if you absolutely must say something. As George Carlin put it, “You can't be afraid of words that speak the truth. I don't like words that hide the truth. I don't like words that conceal reality. I don't like euphemisms or euphemistic language. And American English is loaded with euphemisms.”Item Love and commitment in close relationships(Texas Tech University, 1995-08) Diana, Lisa Ann KaschKelley's (1979) Interdependence Theory and his (1983) conceptualization of love and commitment as well as Johnson's (1991) framework of commitment formed the basis for hypotheses regarding the prediction of commitment from love and other variables. From a sample of college students who were primarily steadily dating, mixed support for the hypotheses was obtained. Using Steck et al.'s (1983) love subscales, the caring aspect of love was not more predictive of commitment than the trust or need aspects of love. Unexpectedly, factor analysis on Steck et al.'s (1983) love scale resulted in two rather than three components of love. As expected, the predictors of commitment were associated with one another. Contrary to predictions, structural, external variables (alternatives to the current relationship) were more predictive of commitment than personal, internal variables (love and inequity). Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.Item Love and its refusal : love, historical memory, and the meaning of perversion in the Fromm-Marcuse feud(2013-12) Duncan, Christopher Brian; Matysik, TracieThis essay offers an intellectual history of the feud between the Frankfurt School philosophers Erich Fromm and Herbert Marcuse. In the competitive space of their debate, both thinkers attempted to redefine the spiritual experience and practice of love in a modern society. While a criterion for both Fromm and Marcuse was that love must be politically and historically radical, their different visions of that historical radicalism - exemplified in their 1955 debate in Dissent, and the two texts published immediately after their debate, Marcuse’s Eros and Civilization (1955) and Fromm’s The Art of Loving - parted ways at the idea of perversion. Perversion became a central procedure in Marcuse’s praxis of a real “outlawed” love that could negate modernity’s excessive sociability of guilt. For Fromm, perversion remained a “spiritual” form of regression away from love and maturity that he likened to violence. In both instances, the memory of German fascism was key to the (un)productive mistranslation of their ideas on love and perversion.Item Lucretius, Pietas, and the Foedera Naturae(2013-05) Takakjy, Laura Chason; Dean-Jones, LesleyThe presentation of pietas in Lucretius has often been overlooked since he dismisses all religious practice, but when we consider the poem’s overall theme of growth and decay, a definition for pietas emerges. For humans, pietas is the commitment to maintaining the foedera naturae, “nature’s treaties.” Humans display pietas by procreating and thereby promoting their own atomic movements into the future. In the “Hymn to Venus,” Lucretius uses animals as role models for this aspect of human behavior because they automatically reproduce come spring. In the “Attack on Love,” Lucretius criticizes romantic love because it fails to promote the foedera naturae of the family. Lucretius departs from Epicurus by expressing a concern for the family’s endurance into the future, or for however long natura will allow. It becomes clear that Lucretius sees humans as bound to their communities since they must live together to perpetuate the foedera naturae of the family.Item Making sense of money in marriage(2011-05) Pope, Mark Todd; Huston, Ted L.; Loving, Timothy J.; Kitt, Karrol A.; Neff, Lisa A.; Vangelisti, Anita L.This 14-year longitudinal study extends previous research on money in marriage by using multiple measures of money to predict seven dimensions of marital quality. Data collection began when the couples were newlyweds and extended through the first decade and a half of marriage, thus making it possible to examine the effects of money on marital quality across time. Overall, the findings indicate that money affects marital quality. Specifically, low income was associated behavioral negativity over the entire course of the fourteen year study. Low-income couples who were content with their financial situations were more satisfied than low-income couples that were unhappy about their financial situation. The effects of money on marriage increased over time such that by the time couples were nearly a decade a half into marriage couple’s income was associated with both positive marital behaviors and marital satisfaction. Similarly, the link between financial satisfaction and marital satisfaction emerged over time. The implications of these findings as well as directions for future research are discussed.Item Marital quality in later years of marriage: an ethnographic approach(Texas Tech University, 1987-08) Henrich, Thomas J.Over the years, the institution of marriage has received a great deal of attention in areas of research and theory. During the 1970's alone, there were 150 articles published which examined quality of marriage (Spanier & Lewis, 1980). Americans seem to be obsessed with the desire to know how men and women respond to being married. We want to know the circumstances and causes of marital break-down as well as how we can avoid this possibility. The research that has been done in this area has typically dealt with several related aspects of marriage such as marital satisfaction, marital stability, and marital adjustment. The commonality between these components of marriage is that they are all necessary ingredients to make up a marriage which is high in quality (Spanier & Lewis, 1980).Item Relationship beliefs of early and middle adolescents(Texas Tech University, 1992-05) Montgomery, Marilyn JeanIn junior high and high school, most adolescents expenment with cross-gender relationships, and most consider themselves as having been "in love" at least once. Yet littie is known about adolescents and love. This study was designed to assess love attitudes and beliefs—cognitive components of love—among earh and middle adolescents (grades 7 through 12). On the basis of adolescent developmental theory, differences between those who had little dating experience and those who had greater dating experience were expected, in both the structural relationships of the love attitudes and beliefs and in the strength of the endorsement of certain beliefs. Gender differences were also expected, based on prior research. Relationship beliefs were operationalized in three conceptually related ways. Adolescents were given a questionnaire that asked how much they agreed with statements expressing passionate longing, statements expressing common romantic beliefs, based on the work of Lantz's assessments of American romantic notions, and statements expressing various love attitudes, based on Lee's love typology. The sample included 93 early-adolescent males (grades 7-9), 102 early-adolescent females, 94 middle-adolescent males (grades 10-12), and 94 middle adolescent females. Subjects were recruited by a network sample of youth organizations and private schools, primarily during the summer months of 1991. Results indicated tiiat the strength of passionate love is not different for boys and giris. However, boys are more likely to believe in love at first sight than are giris. Adolescents who have greater dating experience have stronger feelings of "passionate longing." The romantic belief that love overcomes all obstacles is also stronger for tiiose with more dating experience, as are the Agapic and Manic love attitudes. Additionally, those with greater dating experience appear to have a more elaborate cluster of love attitudes: a consolidated "Ludic" love attitude was not apparent among those with littie dating experience in this study. Girls endorsed Storgic and Agapic attitudes to a greater extent than did boys. These results are interpreted in light of psychosocial developmental tiieory and contextual influences in the lives of adolescents.Item Relationships between work and love scales(Texas Tech University, 1990-05) Willis, Shirley Anne MooreHolland's theory of vocational choice (1985a) postulates most people can be categorized as one of 6 vocational personality types. Similarly, Hendrick and Hendrick's (1986) love theory postulates most people can be described by one of 6 love styles. If Holland's vocational personalities represent a broad set of personality characteristics, then people should show overlap of vocational values with other values. To test for possible overlap between values associated with vocational interests and love styles, the Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI) and the Love Attitude Scale (LAS) were administered to 146 women and 117 men. A principal component factor analysis of the VPI and LAS yielded four factors. The first and second factors were defined separately by the VPI and LAS scales respectively, suggesting that the VPI and LAS measure separate aspects of personality. A third factor was comprised of 2 vocational interest scales and 1 love style scale, while the fourth factor consisted of 2 love style scales and one vocational interest scale. These results, related measures of social involvement, gender differences, and mediating effects of being in or not being in love are discussed and suggestions for future research are derived from the results.Item The temporal course of love : the developmental trajectories of passionate and companionate love and their connections to relationship dissolution(2013-12) Schoenfeld, Elizabeth Austin; Loving, Timothy J.; Huston, Ted L.It has long been believed that passionate love wanes over time, whereas companionate love grows stronger with time. Using a sample of individuals in dating relationships who reported on their feelings of love for their partners up to 20 times over the course of several months, I tested whether passionate love and companionate love develop across the early months of romantic involvement in a manner consistent with theory. Additionally, I investigated whether certain developmental trajectories of both varieties of love are more predictive of relationship dissolution than others. To do this, I first examined the average trajectories of passionate and companionate love for those who stayed together with their partners and those who experienced a breakup, paying special attention to extraneous factors that were expected to influence the manner in which both varieties of love changed over time. The amount of time individuals knew their partners prior to becoming romantically involved, their feelings of the opposing variety of love, the extent to which individuals wanted to break up with their partners, their perceptions of their partners’ desire to break up, and gender all informed the ways in which love changed over time. Because it was expected that passionate love and companionate love would show substantial heterogeneity in their temporal trajectories, I then identified the prototypical patterns of development for passionate and companionate love. The results for passionate love revealed eight distinct linear trajectories, and six unique linear trajectories were identified for companionate love. For passionate love, individuals who experienced stable or declining levels of love were more likely to experience a breakup, but the connection between companionate love and relationship dissolution was less straightforward. Perhaps most importantly, passionate and companionate love interacted to predict the likelihood of dissolution, such that, to the extent that individuals who reported higher levels of passionate love also reported stronger feelings of companionate love, the lower their odds of dissolution. The current findings both complement and extend prior theoretical and empirical work on the developmental trajectories of passionate and companionate love and their connections to relationship dissolution.Item The effects of obsessive-compulsive disorder on romantic relationships(Texas Tech University, 2005-08) Abbey, Richard D.Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) can be a disabling mental condition. Although research has suggested that OCD can affect occupational, social, and interpersonal functioning, few research studies have examined the effects of OCD on romantic relationships. While research has shown that individuals with OCD report lower levels of relationship satisfaction, no research to date has been able to establish a relationship between OCD symptom severity and relationship satisfaction. The aim of the current study was to examine romantic relationship functioning in individuals with OCD. Participants with OCD were recmited from a national conference (N= 64) and completed measures of OCD symptoms, depressive symptoms, relationship satisfaction, intimacy, relationship worry, and self-disclosure. Results suggested that symptoms of OCD can be detrimental to romantic relationship functioning. Correlations revealed that the severity of obsessions was negatively associated with intimacy, relationship satisfaction, and self-disclosure. Partial correlations revealed that the early age of OCD onset was negatively associated with relationship fimctioning when controlling for the severity of obsessions, sex, and depressive symptoms. Results from logistic regression showed that the early age of OCD onset also was a significant predictor of marital status such that individuals who were diagnosed v^th OCD at an earlier age were less likely to be married. An ANCOVA revealed that participants who worry about telling their romantic partner about their obsessions and compulsions disclosed significantly less intimate and personal details about themselves when controlling for depressive symptoms. Results from stmctural equation modeling revealed that the severity of compulsions significantly predicted higher levels of relationship satisfaction. Moreover, intimacy was a significant moderator in the relationship between the severity of obsessions and relationship satisfaction such that intimacy buffered the negative effects of obsessions on relationship satisfaction. Results also indicated that participants who have contamination fears also worry about becoming contaminated through sexual activity with their romantic partner. However, the hypothesis that depressive symptoms moderate the relationship between OCD symptom severity and relationship satisfaction was not supported. The hypothesis that depressive symptoms moderate the relationship between relationship worry and relationship satisfaction also was not supported. The clinical implications and future directions for research are discussed.Item The Measure of Love Lost: Jeanette Winterson's "Written on the Body" and the Discourses of Love, Melancholy, and Disease(2010-10-12) Wheeler, Stephanie K.Jeanette Winterson?s novel Written on the Body asks what it means to express love not through language but through the body, where it is felt, challenging the boundaries placed between body and language. Using Winterson?s novel and Roland Barthes?s A Lover?s Discourse as points of inquiry, this thesis examines conceptions of love based on heteronormative and romanticized visions of present and healthy bodies. This thesis asks how a body that is diseased and dying can express an emotion that is predicated on these very notions of presence, absence, and health. The narrator of the novel sees love as a scripted story that, once adhered to, determines the (successful) experience of love. Louise?s cancer threatens these scripts of love, as it destroys the narrator?s conception of both love and Louise. Despite the fact that Louise is absent and dying, the narrator begins to write a new story that will allow him/her to have a perfect relationship with Louise, so that s/he can reconcile the contradictions of the scripts that the relationship exposed. Using Slavoj Zizek?s ?Melancholy and the Act? and Richard Stamelman?s Lost Beyond Telling as frameworks of mourning and melancholy, the narrator?s melancholy over a lost presence thus emerges as a way that allows him/her to create a perfect love story. To make Louise appear perfect in this perfect love story, the narrator manipulates the language of disease that reconstructs Louise's physical absence as a textual presence. The discourse surrounding Louise thus begins to operate out of the desire to compensate and supplement what is missing; in Louise's case, the narrator is supplementing her with a "normal," healthy body. Looking in the shadows of the narrator?s memories, Written on the Body emerges as not only an account of the narrator?s love story, but also an account of Louise?s story, a story of a body that refuses to be written on and demands to be heard. Winterson demonstrates how the body is always in the process of creating knowledge and meaning that can only be obtained by questioning what is normal, both for the body and for the scripts we all adhere to.Item The relationship between attitudes toward love, attitudes toward sex, and contraceptive behavior(Texas Tech University, 1989-08) Adler, Nancy LRecent research has indicated that there is currently a problem with unintended pregnancies in the United S t a t e s. In 1982, Forrest (1987) found that 54% of the pregnancies that occurred ware unplanned. Henshaw (1987) reported that approximately 30% of the pregnancies in 1983 were aborted. Although a large percentage of the abortions were performed on teenagers (27%), the majority involved woman in the 18-to-24 age range. The purpose of the present study was to explore the variables that appeared to be related to contraceptive use. It was an attempt to ascertain variables that need to be addressed during contraceptive counseling and sex education programs. Reiss, Banwart, and Foreman (1975) and Rains (1971) have developed theories to explain woman's contraceptive behavior. Although they approach the problem differently, both theories agree on the importance of self-esteem and sexual self-esteem (a woman's feelings about her sexual self and her sexual behavior) on contraceptive behavior. These theories also indicate that attitudes toward love and attitudes toward sex may affect contraceptive behavior. Other scholars (Cacioppo, Patty, Kao, & Rodriquez, 1986; Handrick & Handrick, 1987b) have highlighted other variables that may impact on contraceptive behavior (specifically, need for cognition and sensation seeking). The present study used undergraduate introductory psychology students from Texas Tech University to test hypotheses based on the research and theories mentioned above. Sexually active men and woman were used to test these hypotheses, despite the fact that previous research has mainly focused on woman. Results of the present study found statistical support for the proposed relationships between self-esteem and contraceptive behavior, and between dyadic commitment (as measured by various love and sex attitudes) and reliable contraceptive use. Support for sexual self esteem was mixed. There was no support for the hypotheses proposing relationships between contraceptive behavior and either the Sensation Seeking Scale or the Need for Cognition Scale. These results indicate that during contraceptive counseling and sex education programs, exploring relationship variables and fostering self-esteem may help to improve reliable contraceptive use.Item The self and perceived-partner: similarity as a predictor of relationship satisfaction(Texas Tech University, 1993-08) Middleton, Carlton FSimilarity of mental representations on the dimensions on a five-factor model of personality did not provide significant prediction of relationship satisfaction for a sample of 79 heterosexual dating couples. Using the Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness to Experience Personality Inventory (NEO PI) of McCrae and Costa (1985), this study investigated similarity of self-ratings of partners in couples, similarity of self- and partner-ratings within individuals, similarity of partner-ratings between members of a couple, and similarity of partner-ratings and partner's self-ratings as possible predictors of relationship satisfaction. The love attitudes measured by the Love Attitudes Scale (LAS) of Hendrick and Hendrick (1986; 1990) had correlates with self- and partner-ratings on the five-factor personality instrument, the NEO PI. Strongest among these findings was that endorsement of the love attitude of Ludus negatively correlated with self-ratings on the personality dimension of Agreeableness for both men and women. Also, the love attitude of Mania correlated with self-ratings on the personality dimension of Neuroticism for both women and men, as hypothesized. In addition, the love attitude of Agape correlated with self-ratings on the personality dimension of Conscientiousness for women only. This study replicated S. S. Hendrick, Hendrick, and Adler (1988) and found endorsement of Eros positively associated and endorsement of Ludus negatively associated with relationship satisfaction for participants and their partners. The current study also found a strong association between Agape endorsement and relationship satisfaction for participants and their partners. Some additional post hoc findings are discussed, along with suggestions for further research.