The Romeo and Juliet effect describes the intensification of romantic feelings in relationship when met by parental opposition, as coined by British actor and director Richard Driscoll [1] referencing the protagonists of the William Shakespeare play Romeo and Juliet, whose families were opposed to their union.
An early review of romantic love in the Western world emphasized the persistent association of obstacles or grave difficulties with the intensity of love, as in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet . [2]
In 1972, Richard Driscoll, along with Keith Davis and Milton Lipetz, published results from a longitudinal study on relationships suggesting an underlying truth to such an idea. The results suggest that parental interference in a loving relationship may intensify the feelings of romantic love between members of the couple, at least for a brief span of time. [1] The study interviewed 140 couples, both married and unmarried, via questionnaires and surveys. The researchers measured feelings about the spouse, about their perceived love, spousal trustworthiness, neediness, and parental interference. The couples completed these procedures at a first session and then, around six months to a year later, completed identical surveying sessions to see how their relationships have endured the past months. About 80% of the original participants completed the second session. Only a small portion of the original sample had ended their relationships or gotten divorced. In the results of the overall study, there was found to be an increase in love ratings for one's partner and parental interference. Interference did seem to have other frustrating effects, as it also was associated with decreased trust, increased criticalness, and increased frequency of negative, bothersome behaviors. [1]
While Driscoll's study has not been replicated, other researchers have continued to discuss parental influence on relationship stability.
In 1983, Malcolm Parks conducted a study to determine influences of peers and families on relationship involvement, which showed little to no support of Driscoll's previous research. Opposition from the partner's family was not associated with greater emotional attachment. [3] These findings set the path for many other studies on romantic involvement and support systems involvement and approval.
Additional research has focused upon the topic of a "Romeo and Juliet Effect". In 2001, Diane Felmlee found similar findings to study by Malcolm Parks. For instance, perceptions of approval from an individual's friends and approval from a partner's family members reduce the possibility that a relationship will end. [4]
A study by Susan Sprecher delved into the subject of the influence of social networks on relationships. It found that individuals from a social network believed that their personal opinions, whether of support or opposition, affected the romantic relationships they had earlier acknowledged as being in their social networks.
H. Colleen Sinclair found that approval or disapproval by friends had a great effect on perceptions of potential dating partners by the participants in her research. Similarly to the previously discussed studies, however, Sinclair and colleagues found no significant support for the "Romeo and Juliet Effect" that parental and familial opinions are the prevailing influences. [5]
Affection or fondness is a "disposition or state of mind or body" commonly linked to a feeling or type of love. It has led to multiple branches in philosophy and psychology that discuss emotion, disease, influence, and state of being. Often, "affection" denotes more than mere goodwill or friendship. Writers on ethics generally use the word to refer to distinct states of feeling, both lasting and temporary. Some contrast it with passion as being free from the distinctively sensual element.
Limerence is a state of mind resulting from romantic feelings for another person. It typically involves intrusive and melancholic thoughts, or tragic concerns for the object of one's affection, along with a desire for the reciprocation of one's feelings and to form a relationship with the object of love.
In social psychology, an interpersonal relation describes a social association, connection, or affiliation between two or more persons. It overlaps significantly with the concept of social relations, which are the fundamental unit of analysis within the social sciences. Relations vary in degrees of intimacy, self-disclosure, duration, reciprocity, and power distribution. The main themes or trends of the interpersonal relations are: family, kinship, friendship, love, marriage, business, employment, clubs, neighborhoods, ethical values, support and solidarity. Interpersonal relations may be regulated by law, custom, or mutual agreement, and form the basis of social groups and societies. They appear when people communicate or act with each other within specific social contexts, and they thrive on equitable and reciprocal compromises.
Jealousy generally refers to the thoughts or feelings of insecurity, fear, and concern over a relative lack of possessions or safety.
Romance or romantic love is a feeling of love for, or a strong attraction towards another person, and the courtship behaviors undertaken by an individual to express those overall feelings and resultant emotions.
A relationship breakup, breakup, or break-up is the ending of a relationship. The act is commonly termed "dumping [someone]" in slang when it is initiated by one partner. The term is less likely to be applied to a married couple, where a breakup is typically called a separation or divorce. When a couple engaged to be married breaks up, it is typically called a "broken engagement". People commonly think of breakups in a romantic aspect, however, there are also non-romantic and platonic breakups, and this type of relationship dissolution is usually caused by failure to maintain a friendship.
Interpersonal attraction, as a part of social psychology, is the study of the attraction between people which leads to the development of platonic or romantic relationships. It is distinct from perceptions such as physical attractiveness, and involves views of what is and what is not considered beautiful or attractive.
An intimate relationship is an interpersonal relationship that involves emotional or physical closeness between people and may include sexual intimacy and feelings of romance or love. Intimate relationships are interdependent, and the members of the relationship mutually influence each other. The quality and nature of the relationship depends on the interactions between individuals, and is derived from the unique context and history that builds between people over time. Social and legal institutions such as marriage acknowledge and uphold intimate relationships between people. However, intimate relationships are not necessarily monogamous or sexual, and there is wide social and cultural variability in the norms and practices of intimacy between people.
Social rejection occurs when an individual is deliberately excluded from a social relationship or social interaction. The topic includes interpersonal rejection, romantic rejection, and familial estrangement. A person can be rejected or shunned by individuals or an entire group of people. Furthermore, rejection can be either active by bullying, teasing, or ridiculing, or passive by ignoring a person, or giving the "silent treatment". The experience of being rejected is subjective for the recipient, and it can be perceived when it is not actually present. The word "ostracism" is also commonly used to denote a process of social exclusion.
In evolutionary psychology, the Cinderella effect describes the phenomenon of a higher incidence of child abuse and mistreatment by stepparents than biological parents. It takes its name from the fairy tale character Cinderella, a girl who is mistreated by her stepmother and stepsisters. Evolutionary psychologists describe this effect as being a byproduct of a bias towards biological family and a conflict between reproductive partners investing in young children that are unrelated to one partner.
The biology of romantic love has been explored by such biological sciences as evolutionary psychology, evolutionary biology, anthropology and neuroscience. Specific chemical substances such as oxytocin and dopamine are studied in the context of their roles in producing human experiences, emotions and behaviors that are associated with romantic love.
In psychology, the theory of attachment can be applied to adult relationships including friendships, emotional affairs, adult romantic and carnal relationships and, in some cases, relationships with inanimate objects. Attachment theory, initially studied in the 1960s and 1970s primarily in the context of children and parents, was extended to adult relationships in the late 1980s. The working models of children found in Bowlby's attachment theory form a pattern of interaction that is likely to continue influencing adult relationships.
Fear of commitment, also known as gamophobia, is the irrational fear or avoidance of long-term partnership or marriage. The term is sometimes used interchangeably with commitment phobia, which describes a generalized fear or avoidance of commitments more broadly.
Rosaline is a fictional character mentioned in William Shakespeare's tragedy Romeo and Juliet. She is the niece of Lord Capulet. Although an unseen character, her role is important: Romeo's unrequited love for Rosaline leads him to try to catch a glimpse of her at a gathering hosted by the Capulet family, during which he first spots her cousin, Juliet.
A broken heart is a metaphor for the intense emotional stress or pain one feels at experiencing great loss or deep longing. The concept is cross-cultural, often cited with reference to unreciprocated or lost love.
Belongingness is the human emotional need to be an accepted member of a group. Whether it is family, friends, co-workers, a religion, or something else, some people tend to have an 'inherent' desire to belong and be an important part of something greater than themselves. This implies a relationship that is greater than simple acquaintance or familiarity.
In psychology, empathic accuracy is a measure of how accurately one person can infer the thoughts and feelings of another person.
Workplace relationships are unique interpersonal relationships with important implications for the individuals in those relationships, and the organizations in which the relationships exist and develop.
A duocentric social network is a type of social network composed of the combined network members of a dyad. The network consists of mutual, overlapping ties between members of the dyad as well as non-mutual ties. While an explicit conceptualization of duocentric social networks appeared for the first time in an academic publication in 2008, the history of the analysis dates back to at least the 1950s and has spanned the fields of psychology, sociology, and health.
Relationship science is an interdisciplinary field dedicated to the scientific study of interpersonal relationship processes. Due to its interdisciplinary nature, relationship science is made up of researchers of various professional backgrounds within psychology and outside of psychology, but most researchers who identify with the field are psychologists by training. Additionally, the field's emphasis has historically been close and intimate relationships, which includes predominantly dating and married couples, parent-child relationships, and friendships and social networks, but some also study less salient social relationships such as colleagues and acquaintances.