What it does mean, however, is that love and partnership can now reside at the highest level of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: self-actualization. Many of us no longer require love, much less a soul mate, to fulfill our rudimentary needs. According to Dr. Finkel, this makes love and relationships fickle. It’s easy to view the self-expressive marriage as a result of some sort of narcissistic turn in American culture. They maintain that caregiving and sacrifice, which for many people take place in long-term romantic partnerships, are pathways to self-actualization.

Source: New York Times December 02, 2019 15:56 UTC