Storge (/ˈstɔːrɡi/STOR-ghee;[1] from Ancient Greek στοργή (storgḗ) 'love, affection'),[2] orfamilial love, refers to natural or instinctualaffection,[1][3] such as thelove of a parent towards offspring and vice versa.
Insocial psychology, another term for love between good friends isphilia.[3]
Storge is a wide-ranging force which can apply between family members, friends,pets and their owners,[4]companions or colleagues. Love of a country, of anation, or of a sports team may count as storge.[5]
Storge can blend with and help underpin other types of ties such aspassionate love orfriendship.[6]Thus "storge" may function as a general term to characterize the love between exceptional friends, and their desire to care compassionately for one another.[7][need quotation to verify]
Sometimes the term is used to refer to the love between married partners who are committed and plan to have a long relationship together, particularly as a fundamental relational foundation after initialinfatuation (limerence).
Another interpretation for storge is to be used to describe a sexual relationship between two people that gradually grew out of a friendship[3]—storgic lovers sometimes cannot pinpoint the moment that friendship turned to love.[8] Storgic lovers are friends first; the friendship and the storge can endure even beyond the breakup of the relationship.[3] They want their significant others also to be their best friends. They will choose their mates based on similar goals and interests—homogamy.[9] Storgic lovers place much importance on commitment and find that their motivation to avoid committinginfidelity is to preserve the trust between the two partners. Children and marriage are seen as legitimate long-term aims for their bond,[10] whilepassionatesexual intensity is of lesser importance than in other love styles.[11]
The advantages of storgic love may be how much storgic lovers love their own families and understand each other. In addition, two people who are deeply devoted to one another can feel the intimacy that they share.[citation needed]
[...] the feeelings identified by the owner in his or her animal were calledstorge. This term, literally 'affection', acquired the meaning 'filial' or 'brotherly affection' when applied to children (and 'parental affection' if applied to parents). In the context of pet-keeping, it compared the animals' attitudes towards their masters to the affection either of children towards their parents, or of sisters and brothers towards each other.
Storge is love related to familiarity, dependence and relationship. The love that exists petween parents and children and among childhood friends and companions, love for a particular country, people, or a cricket or football team etc. are examples of Storge.
