• DOI:10.1111/SPC3.12629
• Corpus ID: 237776827

What fuels passion? An integrative review of competing theories of romantic passion

@article{Carswell2021WhatFP,
  title={What fuels passion? An integrative review of competing theories of romantic passion},
  author={Kathleen L. Carswell and Emily A. Impett},
  journal={Social and Personality Psychology Compass},
  year={2021}
}

• Kathleen L. Carswell, Emily A. Impett
• Published 6 July 2021
• Psychology
• Social and Personality Psychology Compass

Correspondence Kathleen L. Carswell, Department of Psychology, Durham University, Upper Mountjoy, South Rd, Durham DH1 3LE, UK. Email: [e-mail] Abstract In an integrative review, we examine four theories and models of romantic passion to determine what causes feelings of romantic passion. Although a growing consensus has emerged for the definition of romantic passion, we suggest that this is largely not the case for the source of romantic passion. We outline how four different perspectives—Limerence Theory, the Rate of Change in Intimacy Model, the Self‐Expansion Model, and the Triangular Theory of Love—propose four different potential sources of romantic passion and review empirical support in favor and against each. For each of these perspectives, we additionally outline the predicted trajectory of passion that follows from each theorized source of passion, as well as each perspective's view on the ability for passion to be controlled and up‐regulated. In identifying ways in which these theories and models offer conflicting predictions about the source of romantic passion, this review points to ways in which a more comprehensive model may be developed that integrates across these four perspectives.