Research shows that compassionate people are happier. Couples that are compassionate with one another have more joy and understanding in their relationships. Compassion, a combination of empathy, concern, kindness, and consideration, is a cornerstone for those wanting a fulfilled love life. However, there is very little research on compassionate love.
Interest in understanding love has grown since the mid-twentieth century, but much remains to be understood. In a contribution to the scientific study of love, Berscheid (2010) laid out a quadrumvirate model in which compassionate love is one of the four types of love experienced by romantic partners, along with passionate, companionate, and attachment love. She posited that although these types of love can co-occur in romantic relationships, they are distinct. Considerable research has been directed at understanding passionate, companionate, and attachment love; however, compassionate love is still poorly understood (Berscheid, 2010; Fehr & Sprecher, 2009; Neto & Menezes, 2014; Oman, 2011).
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