M.A. / The purpose of this study was to add, through the lens of social and crosscultural psychology, to the much needed body of knowledge of African intimate relationships. Western romantic relationships are generally characterised by intense attraction and emotional attachment, idealisation of the other, sexual attraction and the want for total acceptance by the other. African love is less well known but seemingly tied up in culture bound collectivism as well as other social phenomenon. The study set out to explore the applicability of the lovestyle model in a Black South African population. The study explored various theories of love which have been developed within the Western canon. These include 1) evolution and love, 2) social exchange theory, 3) attachment theory, 4) love stories and 5) Lee’s lovestyles. Special emphasis was given to Lee’s colours of love theory which consists of a typology of lovestyles namely eros (passionate love), ludus (game-playing love), storge (friendship love), mania (obsessive love), pragma (practical love) and agape (altruistic love). In addition African love was examined from various perspectives including 1) culture; 2) individualism and collectivism; 3) the African collectivistic society; 4) acculturation and; 5) African love. This study’s main focus was on 1) the validity and reliability of the LAS instrument when applied to an African population, 2) the lovestyles of this group as mediated by their Africanness and 3) the possible gender differences. The lovestyles typology was found to be factorially valid for a Black South African population. A key and surprising finding was that individuals high in Africanness were significantly more likely to endorse eros as their dominant lovestyle than individuals low in Africanness. The study found that African men were significantly more agapic than African women and that African women were significantly more erotic and manic than African men. Males who were high in Africanness showed a significant association with eros andpragma in that the more Africanness a male had, the higher the endorsement of eros or pragma was expected to be.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uj/uj:14646 |
| Date | 12 November 2008 |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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