Romance
| Part of a series on |
| Love |
|---|
Relationships (Outline) |
|---|
Romance and romantic love came to encompass a number of ideas about love, which are interrelated for historical and cultural reasons:
- passionate feelings of attraction—a mental state of "being in love", with focused attention (salience) towards a specific individual for courtship or pair bonding;
- the cultural practice or idealization of initiating intimate relationships for feelings like these, over more practical or ordinary concerns;
- a relationship or love affair initiated or maintained this way, which may be premarital or absent a commitment; and
- a love story involving these elements.
In psychology, romantic love is considered to be a motivation or drive, which is distinct from (but related to) the concept of attachment.
The terms "romance" and "romantic love" are used with multiple definitions, which can be contradictory at times. The philosopher Arthur Lovejoy once wrote that "The word 'romantic' has come to mean so many things that, by itself, it means nothing."
Collins Dictionary defines romantic love as "an intensity and idealization of a love relationship, in which the other is imbued with extraordinary virtue, beauty, etc., so that the relationship overrides all other considerations, including material ones." The concept of romantic love also came to represent the idea of individualistic choice in marriage and sexual partners, although it's rarely realized fully and can be a source of both gratification and disappointment in relationships.
People who experience little to no romantic attraction are referred to as "aromantic".