Abstract
We seek to advance cultural models theory by contributing to issues related to theory, methods, and testing the external validity of a cultural model. We propose that cultural models are learned as if they were truly properties of collectivities but have no primary existence except in individual representations of them. The shared aspect of cultural models also implies collective awareness of the if–then entailments of cultural models. We use inductive ethnographic methods of freelisting ( n = 80) and pile sorting ( n = 39) to derive a cultural model of romantic love in the United States. From these tasks, we developed a cultural model of successful romantic love consisting of normative scenarios. For successful romantic love relations, a person would feel excited about meeting their beloved; make passionate and intimate love as opposed to only physical love; feel comfortable with the beloved, behaving in a companionable, friendly way with one’s partner; listen to the other’s concerns, offering to help out in various ways if necessary; and, all the while, keeping a mental ledger of the degree to which altruism and passion are mutual. Our model is supported through an examination of two extended case studies. Further research is required, of course, but we believe we have a rather novel and dynamic cultural model that is falsifiable and predictive of successful love relationships. The model is unique in that it combines passion with comfort and friendship as properties of romantic love.
Highlights
The goals of this article are to lay out a theory of cultural models and use methods specific to this theory to describe and analyze a cultural model of romantic love in America
There are other road maps, but we show how theory and methods can be linked to culture and psychology in an explicit way for investigating cultural models and how humans use them for purposive behaviors
We have proposed that the key attribute field categorizations for a U.S cultural model of romantic love are: high and low energy associated with good feelings, a mental ledger indexing mutuality, and personal virtues
Summary
1996; Berscheid & Regan, 2005, posit that love is a synthesis of companionate and passionate feelings). For successful (i.e., “good” or “happy”) romantic love relations, a person would feel excited about meeting their beloved and making passionate intimate love, as opposed to only physical love; and at the same time feel comfortable, behave in a companionable, friendly way with one’s partner, listen to the other’s concerns about her or his job, offer to help out in various ways—while keeping a mental ledger of the degree to which altruism and passion are mutual This cultural model of romantic love should be predictive of states, values, and feelings that are associated with romantic love in the love stories or experiences of people who hold and value this model of romantic love. We assume that scenarios illustrating aspects of our cultural model will be presented as salient or go unmentioned as default scenarios that “go without saying” whereas those scenarios that contrast with any aspect of our cultural model will be marked and deliberated on by the informant as somehow deviant from their understanding and expectations of a successful romantic love relationship
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