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New research suggests that widely-believed ‘5 love languages’ might not be accurate
The five love languages are widely believed and something that many find helpful. In fact, over 20 million people. New research however has found that it might not be entirely accurate.�
Those who regularly ask Whats your love language on a first date might want to reconsider.�
Its a concept thats been around for over 30 years (and one that was reintroduced to the younger generation via TikTok) but a new research paper has voiced doubts over how helpful it is.�
The Five Love Languages
The concept was introduced by Gary Champen in 1992, in the form of his book The 5 Love Language: The Secret to Love that Lasts. In that book, Chapman theorized five different forms of communication that he says are used to express love. He used his experience as a marriage concealer to come to the conclusion.
These five love languages consisted of words of affirmation, gifts, acts of service, quality time, and physical touch.
In the years since being published, Chapmans five love languages have sold over 20 million copies and been translated into 50 languages.
Its something that many find extremely beneficial when it comes to understanding a partner – and also simply fun too.
A new research project however has found that there might be key flaws in the theory, with the paper finding that theres actually very little evidence to support it.
Researchers found doubt over the five love languages�
The study was published in the journal Current Directions in Psychological Science and saw researchers review pre-existing scientific literature to evaluate the five love languages. It concluded that the love languages are unsupported by empirical evidence.�
Although there is only a limited body of empirical research on love languages , the authors write, the work that does exist does not provide strong support for the validity of the love languages core assumptions.
In the research, they first found that most people tend to endorse all five love languages as meaningful ways of expressing love and feeling loved instead of having their own primary love language from the five.
The research also concluded that there are more ways than just five ways to express love, including supporting your partner’s personal growth and involving them in your social networks.
Most notably, however, the research suggested that the core idea that those with the same love language have greater relationship success might not be true. When research compared the claimed satisfaction of relationships that speak the same love language compared to those that dont, there was little significant difference. Instead, the research analysis suggested that any expression of love correlated with relationship satisfaction.�
The love language coiner responded to the research
In response to the questioning of his famous Five Love Languages, Chapman told The Washington Post: I think the fact that so many millions of people have read the book, so many people have found it to be helpful in their relationship, that Im convinced it can have a tremendous positive impact on a marriage.
