Consumption habits are most salient when entwined with a desired emotional experience that upholds a valued social relationship. Throughout human history, there are few social relationships that have been more deeply valued, albeit often in secrecy, than the pair bond. The worldwide transformation from a society that is family focused and family dependent into a more individualistic oriented culture resulted in the pair bond moving out of a culture's shadows into the public light and approval. In the process, new forms of consumption, especially those concerned with specific feeling states, such as romantic love, have been eagerly adopted that highlight the pair bond as a cherished ideal.

Romantic, or passionate, love refers to any intense attraction involving the intrusive thinking about one person within an erotic ...