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Unrequited Love
Definition
Unrequited love refers to instances when one person (the would-be lover) feels romantic, passionate feelings for an individual who does not return the same feelings (the rejector). Research indicates that unrequited love is quite common. Almost everyone in the United States has either loved someone who did not love them in return or been loved by someone they did not love in return by the time they reach college.
Background and History
For centuries, unrequited love has been a prevalent theme in the cultural arts (e.g., poetry, music, literature), as well as the popular media. If you turn on your radio, there is a good chance you will hear a melancholy singer lamenting over having his or her love refused by the object of his or ...
- Action Control
- Action Identification Theory
- Adaptive Unconscious
- Apparent Mental Causation
- Approach-Avoidance Conflict
- Authenticity
- Auto-Motive Model
- Autonomy
- Behavioral Contagion
- Choking Under Pressure
- Control
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- Decision Making
- Delay of Gratification
- Drive Theory
- Ego Depletion
- Excitation-Transfer Theory
- Extrinsic Motivation
- Feedback Loop
- Free Will, Study of
- Goals
- Grim Necessities
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- Home-Field Advantage and Disadvantage
- Hormones and Behavior
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- Learned Helplessness
- Learning Theory
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- Modeling of Behavior
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- Procrastination
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- Risk Taking
- Rubicon Model of Action Phases
- Scripts
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- Self-Defeating Behavior
- Self-Determination Theory
- Self-Discrepancy Theory
- Self-Efficacy
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- Self-Regulation
- Social Facilitation
- Social Learning
- Social Loafing
- Stereotype Threat
- Stress Appraisal Theory (Primary and Secondary Appraisal)
- Temporal Construal Theory
- Theory of Planned Behavior
- Zeal
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- Aggression
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- Aversive Racism
- Betrayal
- Bobo Doll Studies
- Bullying
- Catharsis of Aggression
- Cheater-Detection Mechanism
- Conflict Resolution
- Date Rape
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- Displaced Aggression
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- Hostile Masculinity Syndrome
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- Milgram's Obedience to Authority Studies
- Moral Hypocrisy
- Narcissistic Reactance Theory of Sexual Coercion
- Ostracism
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- Sexual Harassment
- Social Exclusion
- Stanford Prison Experiment
- Terrorism, Psychology of
- Threatened Egotism Theory of Aggression
- Attitude
- Anticipatory Attitude Change
- Attitude Change
- Attitude Formation
- Attitude Strength
- Attitude–Behavior Consistency
- Attitudes
- Balance Theory
- Beliefs
- Brainwashing
- Cognitive Consistency
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- Dual Attitudes
- Effort Justification
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- Implicit Attitudes
- MODE Model
- Motivated Reasoning
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- Satisficing
- Theory of Planned Behavior
- Values
- Culture
- Collective Self
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- Cultural Animal
- Cultural Differences
- Culture
- Culture of Honor
- Erotic Plasticity
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- Ideology
- Independent Self-Construals
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- Moral Development
- Mortality Salience
- Objectification Theory
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- Sexual Economics Theory
- Terror Management Theory
- Emotions
- Affect
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- Ambivalence
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- Buffering Effect
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- Emotion
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- Emotional Intelligence
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- Facial Expression of Emotion
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- Fear Appeals
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- Independence of Positive and Negative Affect
- Intergroup Anxiety
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- Love
- Mere Exposure Effect
- Moral Emotions
- Nonconscious Emotion
- Opponent Process Theory of Emotions
- Positive Affect
- Regret
- Romantic Love
- Shame
- Social Anxiety
- Stress and Coping
- Surprise
- Unrequited Love
- Visceral Influences
- Evolution
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- Cultural Animal
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- Distributive Justice
- Entitativity
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- Group Cohesiveness
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- Group Dynamics
- Group Identity
- Group Performance and Group Productivity
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- Groups, Characteristics of
- Groupthink
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- Intergroup Anxiety
- Intergroup Emotions
- Intergroup Relations
- Jigsaw Classroom
- Leadership
- Minimal Group Paradigm
- Minority Social Influence
- Optimal Distinctiveness Theory
- Organizational Behavior
- Other–Total Ratio
- Outgroup Homogeneity
- Polarization Processes
- Power
- Procedural Justice
- Realistic Group Conflict Theory
- Ringelmann Effect
- Risky Shift
- Robbers Cave Experiment
- Roles and Role Theory
- Rumor Transmission
- Scapegoat Theory
- Self-Categorization Theory
- Self-Stereotyping
- Sex Roles
- Social Compensation
- Social Dominance Orientation
- Social Identity Theory
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- Social Loafing
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- Subtyping
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- Token Effects
- Health
- History
- Influence
- Compliance
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- Debiasing
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- Fear Appeals
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- Forced Compliance
- Forewarning
- Heuristic-Systematic Model of Persuasion
- Influence
- Informational Influence
- Ingratiation
- Ingratiator's Dilemma
- Inoculation Theory
- Mere Exposure Effect
- Milgram's Obedience to Authority Studies
- Minority Social Influence
- Normative Influence
- Norms, Prescriptive and Descriptive
- Persuasion
- Reactance
- Reciprocity Norm
- Reference Group
- Resisting Persuasion
- Scarcity Principle
- Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
- Sleeper Effect
- Social Power
- Stealing Thunder
- Supplication
- Interpersonal Relationships
- Attachment Theory
- Betrayal
- Close Relationships
- Communal Relationships
- Companionate Love
- Complementarity, of Relationship Partners
- Decision and Commitment in Love
- Dependence Regulation
- Empathic Accuracy
- Equity Theory
- Exchange Relationships
- Forgiveness
- Gossip
- Interdependence Theory
- Interpersonal Cognition
- Intimacy
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- Loneliness
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- Marital Satisfaction
- Matching Hypothesis
- Mimicry
- Need to Belong
- Nonverbal Cues and Communication
- Ostracism
- Pornography
- Propinquity
- Rejection
- Romantic Love
- Romantic Secrecy
- Self-Disclosure
- Self-Evaluation Maintenance
- Self-Expansion Theory
- Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
- Sex Drive
- Sexual Desire
- Sexual Economics Theory
- Similarity-Attraction Effect
- Social Exchange Theory
- Social Exclusion
- Social Support
- Social Value Orientation
- Teasing
- Transactive Memory
- Triangular Theory of Love
- Trust
- Unrequited Love
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Behavioral Economics
- Decision Making
- Fast and Frugal Heuristics
- Free Will, Study of
- Grim Necessities
- Group Decision Making
- Group Polarization
- Hindsight Bias
- Hot Hand Effect
- Hyperbolic Discounting
- Illusion of Transparency
- Illusory Correlation
- Ingroup-Outgroup Bias
- Integrative Complexity
- Law of Small Numbers
- Loss Aversion
- Mental Accounting
- Mere Ownership Effect
- Naive Cynicism
- Naive Realism
- Omission Neglect
- Overconfidence
- Planning Fallacy
- Pluralistic Ignorance
- Preference Reversals
- Prisoner's Dilemma
- Prospect Theory
- Public Goods Dilemma
- Recency Effect
- Representativeness Heuristic
- Risk Taking
- Risky Shift
- Satisficing
- Sequential Choice
- Simulation Heuristic
- Simultaneous Choice
- Social Dilemmas
- Spreading of Alternatives
- Sunk Cost
- Visceral Influences
- Methods
- Autobiographical Narratives
- Behavioral Economics
- Bennington College Study
- Big Five Personality Traits
- Bobo Doll Studies
- Bogus Pipeline
- Content Analysis
- Control Condition
- Critical Social Psychology
- Cross-Lagged Panel Correlation
- Deception (Methodological Technique)
- Demand Characteristics
- Discursive Psychology
- Dynamical Systems Theory
- Ecological Validity
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- Experimental Realism
- Experimentation
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- Falsification
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- Individual Differences
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- Logical Positivism
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- Individual Differences
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- Thematic Apperception Test
- Traits
- Uniqueness
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- Altruism
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- Attraction
- Bystander Effect
- Compassion
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- Decision Model of Helping
- Distributive Justice
- Empathic Accuracy
- Empathy
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- Gratitude
- GRIT Tension Reduction Strategy
- Helping Behavior
- Negative-State Relief Model
- Positive Psychology
- Prisoner's Dilemma
- Prosocial Behavior
- Public Goods Dilemma
- Reciprocal Altruism
- Religion and Spirituality
- Search for Meaning in Life
- Volunteerism
- Self
- Actor–Observer Asymmetries
- Apparent Mental Causation
- Barnum Effect
- Basking in Reflected Glory (BIRGing)
- Brainwashing
- Close Relationships
- Collective Self
- Contingencies of Self-Worth
- Deindividuation
- Downward Social Comparison
- Ego Shock
- Egocentric Bias
- Escape Theory
- Executive Function of Self
- Exemplification
- Facial-Feedback Hypothesis
- Identity Crisis
- Illusion of Control
- Illusion of Transparency
- Impression Management
- Independent Self-Construals
- Ingratiator's Dilemma
- Interdependent Self-Construals
- Introspection
- Looking-Glass Self
- Mental Control
- Mere Ownership Effect
- Misattribution of Arousal
- Moral Development
- Mortality Salience
- Name Letter Effect
- Objectification Theory
- Optimal Distinctiveness Theory
- Overjustification Effect
- Personal Space
- Phenomenal Self
- Positive Illusions
- Procrastination
- Projection
- Psychological Entitlement
- Reactance
- Regulatory Focus Theory
- Roles and Role Theory
- Schemas
- Self
- Self-Affirmation Theory
- Self-Attribution Process
- Self-Awareness
- Self-Categorization Theory
- Self-Complexity
- Self-Concept
- Self-Concept Clarity
- Self-Control Measures
- Self-Deception
- Self-Defeating Behavior
- Self-Determination Theory
- Self-Disclosure
- Self-Discrepancy Theory
- Self-Efficacy
- Self-Enhancement
- Self-Esteem
- Self-Esteem Stability
- Self-Evaluation Maintenance
- Self-Expansion Theory
- Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
- Self-Handicapping
- Self-Monitoring
- Self-Perception Theory
- Self-Presentation
- Self-Promotion
- Self-Reference Effect
- Self-Regulation
- Self-Reports
- Self-Serving Bias
- Self-Stereotyping
- Self-Verification Theory
- Social Comparison
- Social Identity Theory
- Spotlight Effect
- Stigma
- Symbolic Self-Completion
- Terror Management Theory
- Threatened Egotism Theory of Aggression
- Uniqueness
- Value Priorities
- Zeal
- Social Cognition
- Accessibility
- Accountability
- Action Identification Theory
- Actor–Observer Asymmetries
- Adaptive Unconscious
- Alcohol Myopia Effect
- Anchoring and Adjustment Heuristic
- Assimilation Processes
- Associative Networks
- Attention
- Attribution Theory
- Attributional Ambiguity
- Attributions
- Automatic Processes
- Availability Heuristic
- Bad Is Stronger Than Good
- Barnum Effect
- Base Rate Fallacy
- Basking in Reflected Glory (BIRGing)
- Belief Perseverance
- Blaming the Victim
- Central Traits Versus Peripheral Traits
- Confirmation Bias
- Consciousness
- Contrast Effects
- Controlled Processes
- Correspondence Bias
- Correspondent Inference Theory
- Counterfactual Thinking
- Creativity
- Curiosity
- Debiasing
- Defensive Attribution
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- Diagnosticity
- Dilution Effect
- Discounting, in Attribution
- Distinctiveness, in Attribution
- Downward Social Comparison
- Dual Process Theories
- Egocentric Bias
- Emotional Intelligence
- Encoding
- Excuse
- Expectancy Effects
- Expectations
- Eyewitness Testimony, Accuracy of
- False Consciousness
- False Consensus Effect
- False Uniqueness Bias
- Focalism
- Fundamental Attribution Error
- Gain–Loss Framing
- Gambler's Fallacy
- Halo Effect
- Heuristic Processing
- Heuristic-Systematic Model of Persuasion
- Hostile Attribution Bias
- Hostile Media Bias
- Hot Hand Effect
- Illusory Correlation
- Implicit Personality Theory
- Inference
- Integrative Complexity
- Interpersonal Cognition
- Justice Motive
- Just-World Hypothesis
- Kelley's Covariation Model
- Lay Epistemics
- Lowballing
- Matching Hypothesis
- Meaning Maintenance Model
- Memory
- Metacognition
- Mimicry
- Mind-Wandering
- Misattribution of Arousal
- Moral Emotions
- Moral Reasoning
- Motivated Cognition
- Motivated Reasoning
- MUM Effect
- Nonconscious Processes
- Norms, Prescriptive and Descriptive
- Omission Neglect
- Person Perception
- Personality Judgments, Accuracy of
- Person-Positivity Heuristic
- Positive–Negative Asymmetry
- Primacy Effect, Attribution
- Primacy Effect, Memory
- Priming
- Projection
- Prototypes
- Recency Effect
- Responsibility Attribution
- Risk Appraisal
- Salience
- Satisficing
- Schemas
- Scripts
- Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
- Self-Reference Effect
- Self-Serving Bias
- Self-Verification Theory
- Shifting Standards
- Similarity-Attraction Effect
- Social Categorization
- Social Cognition
- Social Cognitive Neuroscience
- Social Comparison
- Social Impact Theory
- Social Projection
- Spontaneous Trait Inferences
- Spreading of Alternatives
- Subliminal Perception
- Subtyping
- Symbolic Interactionism
- Theory of Mind
- Thin Slices of Behavior
- Three-Dimensional Model of Attribution
- Transactive Memory
- Value Pluralism Model
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- Critical Social Psychology
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- Forensic Psychology
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