Difference Between Love and Affection
Main Difference
The main difference between the terms of love and affection is that love is more strong and deep, whereas affection is less deep and strong.
Love vs. Affection
Love and affection are two similar, yet different feelings that one experiences in life. Love and affection are interconnected and at the same time, different in many aspects. Both the feelings are so strong that are inseparable.
Love is defined as a deep affection towards one or many specific persons. Affection is a feeling of attraction, liking, and fondness. The degree of fondness and attraction in love is more than that of affection.
Love is a combination of emotional, physical, mental, spiritual, and mystic attachment to a specific person. Affection is the feeling that one feels towards someone else’s beauty, looks, or some other appealing trait.
Love is a step ahead of affection. Affection is the first step towards love. If we love someone, we will feel affection for that person, but we do not love everyone for which we feel affection.
The intensity of both feeling love and affection is different. Love is an intense, deeper and stronger feeling. Comparatively, affection is a less intense, mild feeling. Love is an unconditional feeling. You start feeling it for someone without any reason. In simple words, love does not need a reason. Affection, however, is always generated by any factor like attraction towards someone.
In love, a person uses to like every aspect of the person’s personality whom he is in love with. In affection, a person adores something or someone. The feeling of love contains passion and romance. The feeling of affection does not contain romantic or passionate feelings.
Love and affection have their associations with different expressions and acts. Love can also be considered as sexual or intimate whereas affection is deprived of such feelings.
Comparison Chart
| Love | Affection |
| A feeling of deep affection for a specific person | A feeling of liking, attraction, and fondness towards something or someone |
| Intensity | |
| Deep/strong | Less deep/less strong |
| Passion/Romance | |
| Included | Excluded |
| Feeling For | |
| A person specifically | Persons or things |
| Degree of Attraction/Fondness | |
| More | Less |
What is Love?
Love refers to a wide variety of feelings or emotions. It is a feeling which a person surely experience once in his life. This variety of feelings commonly includes affection, caring, liking, and attachment.
Love is an emotion that one feels towards a close person specifically. Love is defined as a deep affection towards one or many specific persons. Love is a combination of emotional, physical, mental, spiritual, and mystic attachment to a specific person.
It is such a feeling that is inseparable and unforgettable. Love is a step ahead of affection. If we love someone, we will feel affection for that person, but we do not love everyone for which we feel affection. Love is the world’s most strong and deeper feeling. It is unconditional. You start feeling it for someone without any reason. In simple words, love does not need a reason.
The strong feeling of love is associated with positive feelings like care, trust, warmth, and happiness. In love, a person uses to like every aspect of the person’s personality with whom he is in love. There are four types of love, according to ancient Greeks. These are named as phileo, storge, eros, and agape.
Phileo is one of the affectionate, warm, and platonic love. We feel this kind of love towards friends. Storge is the love we feel towards relatives and family. Eros is the kind of love that is passionate love that is commonly found between lovers. This kind of love is characterized by longing and desire. Agape is the pure and ideal love which is opposite to eros.
On the whole, love is a feeling that makes oneself happy and others too. The four types of love indicate different intensities and levels, but all these types share a common element of kindness and attraction.
What is Affection?
Affection is a gentle and mild feeling of liking, caring, and fondness. Affection is a feeling that a person experiences many times in his/her life. The feeling of attraction can either be towards a person or a thing, although the degree of fondness and attraction in affection is not as strong as in love.
Affection is a mild feeling that is also sometimes considered as the first step towards love. Affection is the feeling that one feels towards someone else’s beauty, looks, or some other appealing trait. If we love someone, we will feel affection for that person, but we do not love everyone for which we feel affection. Affection is generated by factors like attraction and fondness towards someone.
In affection, a person adores something or someone. The feeling of affection does not contain passionate, sensual or romantic feelings. Affection is also deprived of sexuality or intimacy. However, the feeling of affection is communicated through cute and gentle gestures, words, or touches.
The common acts of affection are a hug, kiss on the forehead, cheek, or nose. Affection is a kind of feeling that makes you feel safe and cared for. In simple words, affection can be taken as an earlier phase of love and love can not happen without affection.
Affection is a very gentle and moderate feeling. It can be seen in a relationship between two friends, a child, and a mother, etc. One can also feel affection for that one does not love. For example, a person can feel affection for his/her roommate or neighbor, but this does not mean that he/she loves his/her neighbor.
Key Differences
Conclusion
Love and affection are the two different feelings that are commonly experienced by human beings. Both the feelings are different from each other in their intensity, experience, and various other aspects
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pbXFn5yrnZ6Ysm%2FDyKSgaKSfq7JuwtJmmJ%2BelZjBqrvNaA%3D%3D