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of their brains and their anatomical sex, while supporting their transition
into society as hormonally reconstituted and surgically corrected citizens.
| Is Spanish The Passionate Tongue? |
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| Living - Relationships | |||
| TS-Si News Service | |||
| Saturday, 14 February 2009 22:00 | |||
 Palma, Majorca, Spain. Spaniards of all ages, in the main, have a "romantic" conception of love. They see it as an irresistible passion, which involves great intimacy and a strong physical attraction, which is classified as Eros love. Far fewer of them view the sentiment as a lasting commitment based on closeness, friendship, companionship and affection (amiable or "storge" love), a model which is more common in the north of Europe.
Behind "Eros", but also with a high level of acceptance among the Spanish population, comes "Banquet" or altruistic love, which implies making sacrifices for the welfare of the other. Pragmatic "Pragma" love, based on searching for a partner based on rational criteria, along with friendship-based love, both have a similar level of acceptance in Spain - around 54%.
These are the highlights of a research project headed by five psychologists from the Universitat de les Illes Balears (UIB), based on 1,351 telephone interviews, and which has been published recently in the journal Psicothema.
"Maniacal", or obsessive, love, characterised by its intensity and intimacy, but also by jealously, lack of communication, and "physical and psychological symptoms", and which is "closer to gender violence", was only rejected by 25% of those taking part in the survey, while almost 40% viewed it with indifference and more than 30% said it was acceptable. This is a similar percentage to that in other countries, but "still significant", as Victoria Ferrer, director of the research study and a professor of social psychology at UIB, which led the study.
The participants were responding to a shorter version of the questionnaire on the Love Attitude Scale, which is used to deduce the level to which respondents agree with different descriptions of this emotion, such as "the deepest kind of love stems from long friendship".
In Spain, 80% of those interviewed agreed with the idea of a passionate kind of love. "In this respect, we are similar to other Latin countries, such as in Latin America, and differ from others that are geographically closer but have a more different culture," says Ferrer.
The researcher believes that contributory factors to this could include the more expressive culture of Latin people, and the fact that gender equality in Spain is a relatively recent phenomenon compared with in northern Europe. "Romantic love is probably less egalitarian than friendship-based love, although this is something we are studying," she says. Some scientists focus on the biological aspect of love, "although it seems clear that culture has an influence", she adds.
Hollywood creates false mythsHollywood has a lot to do with "Eros" being the dominant conception of love. "Cinema has created many myths, and has made us believe things that are not real" because in reality "passion dwindles, and life in a couple is a transactional game in which one has to overcome frictions", says Ferrer. "The movies end when the real stories are about to begin," she adds.
Ferrer finds it surprising that this "mythical idea of love" also predominates among older sections of the population. "The acceptance level dips a little in middle aged groups, when people are more pragmatic, but it rises again among older age groups."
The acceptance levels of love based on friendship increased in line with respondents' age, along with "Banquet" love, while acceptance of the idea of love as a game declines, showing that "as time passes, our concept of love changes and we become more pragmatic".
Love as a game, with little emotional involvement, and no expectations for the future "is not our cup of tea", she says. This concept was rejected by 66% of the population, particularly women. "Banquet" love was accepted by 70% of respondents, above all men (86% compared to 60% of women), which "undermines the cliché of self-denial being a feminine characteristic", according to the study. The researchers are now looking for the reasons behind this.
Among women, "Pragma" love is the second most accepted model, at 63.9% of respondents, coming behind self-denying love, while only 47% of males agree with it (25% say they are indifferent and 27% reject it).
This "could be related to the traditional gender roles, which in the context of a couple translate into women putting in more effort (in their role as carers), and which could lead to them placing greater positive value on these practical aspects", according to the study.
CitationEl concepto de amor en España. Victoria A. Ferrer Pérez, Esperanza Bosch Fiol, Capilla Navarro guzmán, M. Carmen Ramis Palmer y Esther García Baudes. Psicothema 20(4): 589-594; 2008.
Download PDF Abstract Se ha demostrado la importancia otorgada en nuestro entorno al modelo de amor romántico y la aceptación de los mitos al respecto. En esta misma línea, se ha sugerido que el concepto de amor puede tener un papel en el surgimiento y mantenimiento de violencia de género. Con objeto de iniciar el análisis sobre esta cuestión, se presenta un trabajo cuyo objetivo es profundizar en el estudio del concepto de amor imperante entre la población general española y analizar las diferencias que el género y la edad introducen en dicha concepción. Para ello se administró la versión reducida de la Escala de Actitudes sobre el Amor (LAS) a una muestra representativa de 1.351 personas. Los resultados indican que tanto entre los varones como entre las mujeres los estilos de amor Eros, Ágape, Storge y Pragma son aceptados mayoritariamente, el estilo Ludus es rechazado y se muestra indiferencia hacia el estilo Manía. Al margen de esta coincidencia general, el orden de preferencia varía entre varones y mujeres y para los diferentes grupos de edad. Se analizan y discuten estos resultados.  The TS-Si News Service is a collaborative effort by TS-Si.org editors, contributors, and corresponding institutions. Sources can include the cited individuals and organizations, as well as TS-Si.org staff contributions. Articles and news reports do not necessarily convey official positions of TS-Si, its partners, or affiliates. We welcome your comments. Use the form below to leave a public comment or send private correspondence via the TS-Si Contact Page. We will not divulge any personal details or place you on a mailing list without your permission.TS-Si is dedicated to the acceptance, medical treatment, and legal protection of individuals correcting the misalignment of their brains and their anatomical sex, while supporting their transition into society as hormonally reconstituted and surgically corrected citizens.
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