Compassionate love, sometimes also called altruistic love, is love that "centers on the good of the other" (p. 3, Underwood, 2008). It is closely related to the construct of unlimited love that has been expounded by Stephen G. Post. It is distinct from

altruism Altruism is the concern for the well-being of others, independently of personal benefit or reciprocity. The word ''altruism'' was popularised (and possibly coined) by the French philosopher Auguste Comte in French, as , for an antonym of egoi ...

compassion Compassion is a social feeling that motivates people to go out of their way to relieve the physical, mental, or emotional pains of others and themselves. Compassion is sensitivity to the emotional aspects of the suffering of others. When based ...

, and

romantic love Romance or romantic love is a feeling of love for, or a Interpersonal attraction, strong attraction towards another person, and the Courtship, courtship behaviors undertaken by an individual to express those overall feelings and resultant ...

. Compassionate love has been a topic of scientific interest and research since the 1990s. Since 2001, the scientific study of compassionate love has received several million dollars in research support from the Fetzer Institute and the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love (IRUL). The emergence of the term ''compassionate love'' has been described by Lynn G. Underwood in a chapter in the first edited book on compassionate love research, ''The Science of Compassionate Love''. The term first emerged in the context of a research meeting at the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...

(WHO) for developing tools to assess

quality of life Quality of life (QOL) is defined by the World Health Organization as "an individual's perception of their position in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards ...

to be used in diverse cultures. The group included researchers from all over the world, from both religious and nonreligious backgrounds. One of the facets of interest was loving kindness, or love for others. Underwood writes that "There was considerable discussion of the appropriate wording for this aspect. The Buddhists were not happy with the word 'love' but wanted 'compassion' to be used, which for them fit the concept. The Muslims in the group (from Indonesia, India, and Turkey) were adamant that compassion was too 'cold' and that 'love' needed to be there as it brought in the ''feeling'' of love.... 'compassionate love' was the compromise phrase" (pp. 8–9, Underwood, 2008). Scientific research on compassionate love began to emerge after a 1999 conference at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

(MIT) that brought together several key theorists and researchers and produced an edited book reflecting major ideas.

Approaches to defining it

According to Underwood's framework, which has informed a substantial portion of the scientific research, 5 key and defining features of compassionate love are: # Free choice for the other # Some degree of accurate cognitive understanding of the situation, the other, and oneself # Valuing the other at a fundamental level # Openness and receptivity # Response of the heart Underwood's approach was incorporated in the initial funding for scientific research on compassionate love, based on a Request for Proposals (RFP) issued by Fetzer Institute in 2001. Bioethicist and theologian Stephen G. Post's approach to altruistic love has also informed a substantial portion of the scientific research on compassionate love, although he more often uses the terms ''altruistic love'' and ''unlimited love''. Post's understanding of unlimited love is presented in his 2003 book ''Unlimited love: Altruism, compassion and service'' Post draws on work published in the 1950s by eminent

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

sociologist

Pitirim Sorokin Pitirim Alexandrovich Sorokin (; ; – 10 February 1968) was a Russian American sociologist and political activist, who contributed to the social cycle theory. Sorokin was a professor at Saint Petersburg Imperial University, three times impris ...

, who described 5 dimensions of love (intensivity, extensivity, duration, purity, and adequacy). Compared to Underwood's definitions of compassionate love, Post's definition of unlimited love places greater emphasis on extensivity in particular, the extension of love to all human beings. Unlimited love as defined by Post might therefore be viewed as a subtype of compassionate love. Post's approach was incorporated in the second batch of funding for scientific research on compassionate love, based on an RFP issued by the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love in 2002.

Health effects

Several of the research projects on compassionate love that were funded by Fetzer and IRUL investigated health effects from engaging in compassionate love, which evidence suggests are primarily positive. Post edited a scholarly book that described many scientific findings related to compassionate love,

, and health.Stephen G. Post (Ed.), ''Altruism and health: Perspectives from empirical research'' (2007)
table of contents
, New York: Oxford University Press. .

References

External links

Fetzer Institute's research support for compassionate love.
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120218133158/http://www.fetzer.org/resources/resource-detail/?resource_id=1653 , date=2012-02-18
Institute for Research on Unlimited Love.

Five dimensions of unlimited love (article by Stephen G. Post)
Love Compassion

Approaches to defining it

Health effects

References

Further reading

External links