Love and Confidence in Protection as Two Independent Systems Underlying Intimate Relationships

This comment provides theoretical and empirical support for 2 independent systems, love and security of attachment, that have often been confounded in the literature. These systems have different functions, different emotions, a different distribution among the primates, and a different pattern of theoretically expected sex differences. Evidence for this distinction can be found in M. D. S. Ainsworth's (1967) original empirical studies and the recent work of Phillip R. Shaver and his colleagues (K. A. Brennan, C. L. Clark, & P. R. Shaver, 1998), as well as data reported here. The Experiences in Close Relationships Inventory (ECR) was administered to 239 undergraduates. Participants also filled out the Nuturance/Love (LOV) scale from the Interpersonal Adjective Scale Big Five—Revised to explore expected negative correlations between love as measured in standard personality tests and the avoidance factor of the ECR. As predicted, women scored lower on the Avoidance scale and higher on the LOV scale, whereas there were no gender differences in security in close relationships. As predicted, LOV was negatively correlated with avoidance but not with security.