Storge ( ; ), or familial love, refers to natural or instinctual

affection Affection or fondness is a "disposition or state of mind or body" that is often associated with a feeling or type of love. It has given rise to a number of branches of philosophy and psychology concerning emotion, disease, influence, and sta ...

, such as the

love Love encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest Interpersonal relationship, interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure. An example of this range of ...

of a parent towards offspring and vice versa. In

social psychology Social psychology is the scientific study of how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people or by social norms. Social psychologists typically explain human behavior as a result of the ...

, another term for love between good friends is ''

philia ''Philia'' (; ), is one of the four ancient Greek words for love: ''philia'', '' storge'', '' agape'' and '' eros''. In Aristotle's ''Nicomachean Ethics'', philia is usually translated as "friendship" or affection. The complete opposite is c ...

''.

Extent

Storge is a wide-ranging force which can apply between family members, friends, pets and their owners, companions or colleagues; it can also blend with and help underpin other types of ties such as

passionate love Passion (Greek ''πάσχω'' "to suffer, to be acted on" and Late Latin (chiefly Christian) ''passio'' "passion; suffering" (from Latin ''pati'' "to suffer"; participle: ''passus'')) is a term used to denote strong and intractable or barely ...

friendship Friendship is a relationship of mutual affection between people. It is a stronger form of interpersonal bond than an "acquaintance" or an "association", such as a classmate, neighbor, coworker, or colleague. In some cultures, the concept of ...

. Thus "storge" may function as a general term to characterize the love between exceptional friends, and their desire to care compassionately for one another.

Storge love

Sometimes the term is used to refer to the love between married partners who are committed and plan to have a long relationship together, particularly as a fundamental relational foundation after initial infatuation ( limerence). Another interpretation for storge is to be used to describe a sexual relationship between two people that gradually grew out of a friendship—storgic lovers sometimes cannot pinpoint the moment that friendship turned to love. Storgic lovers are friends first; the friendship and the storge can endure even beyond the breakup of the sexual relationship. They want their significant others to also be their best friends, and will choose their mates based on similar goals and interests— homogamy. Storgic lovers place much importance on commitment, and find that their motivation to avoid committing infidelity is to preserve the trust between the two partners. Children and marriage are seen as legitimate long-term aims for their bond, while passionate sexual intensity is of lesser importance than in other love styles.Gottschalk, p. 252

Advantages

The advantages of storgic love may be how much storgic lovers love their own families and understand each other. In addition, two people who are deeply devoted to one another can feel the intimacy that they share.

Extent

Storge love

Advantages

See also

References

Further reading