The Psychology of Passion: A Dualistic Model

Abstract

This book is about the psychology of passion. It traces the concept of passion from the ancient Greeks to philosophers to present-day psychologists. Based on past theoretical writings, the Dualistic Model of Passion is presented. This model defines passion as a strong inclination toward an activity (or an object, or a person) that one loves, highly values, and regularly engages in, and that becomes part of the person’s identity. Further, the model posits that there are two types of passion: harmonious and obsessive. With harmonious passion, one chooses to engage in the activity that one loves; with obsessive passion, one engages in the activity that one loves because one cannot help it. With harmonious passion, the activity becomes part of identity in a way that it makes adaptive self-processes operative. Conversely, with obsessive passion, less adaptive self-processes are triggered. As a consequence, harmonious passion is expected to lead to more positive outcomes than obsessive passion. After presenting evidence for the validity of research methods to study the concept of passion, the book provides a detailed review of research on passion that addresses the role of passion in a number of outcomes. It is found that much support exists for the more positive role of harmonious, relative to obsessive, passion in relation to a number of positive outcomes, including cognitions, emotions, psychological well-being, physical health, relationships, expert performance and creativity,…