Love styles theory was formulated by the Canadian psychologist, John Alan Lee in 1973. This theory presents six types of love: 1) Eros, 2) Ludus, 3) Storge, 4) Mania, 5) Pragma, and 6) Agape.

John Lee has distinguished these types of love from one another based on the style of expression of love. He has categorized the types of love into primary styles of love and secondary styles of love, as follows:

1. Primary styles of love: Eros, Ludus, and Storge.
2. Secondary styles of love: Mania, Pragma, and Agape.

Love is a natural feeling of attraction towards someone, but it is a complex and diverse phenomenon. However, this theory provides a detailed insight into this complex and diverse phenomenon, as follows.

Eros, a Greek term, means passionate, sexual, or romantic love. In this type of love, the partners are physically attracted to each other. They want to satisfy their sexual urges through a romantic relationship that involves sex, touch, hearing, sight, and smell.

People usually fall in this love at first sight where a person gets physically attracted to another person and develops emotions of intimacy towards that person. The emotion of attraction becomes so intense that the individual expresses readiness to go into a close physical relationship with the beloved. A highly erotic person may develop this type of love even for a stranger who comes across them for the first time. This type of love also plays a role of bond in conjugal relationships where the person’s choice and selection of mate were primarily based on other factors such as a couple in an arranged marriage.

The expression of erotic love is generally controlled by the socio-cultural environment which provides norms and values for the expression of such love and selection of a mate. 

Ludus, a Latin term, means a game. Such lovers view love as a game for them. They establish a close and intimate relationship, but the relationship is based on tricks played by the partner. The individual assures the partner that he or she sincerely loves the partner, but in reality, the individual may have other two or three love affairs too. The assurance of sincerity is given to the partner simply to save their relationship but at the same time, the individual is also keeping love relationships with others. 

Such love can be called immature love which is generally exhibited by people with flirtatious tendencies. Such people may have a non-serious attitude towards love; and may simply have the desire to have fun and play tricks with several partners. They are not much concerned about the emotions of the other person because they take the relationship for fun and enjoyment. Most times, if the person gets bored of the relationship, the deceitful relationship comes to an end.

Storge, a Greek term, means familial love. A family is a group of people living together. The term familial love is used here to refer to the love that arises in people living together or are near to one another. This applies to various groups including family itself, but also to other groups such as a group of people working together at a workplace or studying together at an institution. 

People may develop a love for those who are near to them because they have more chances to meet each other, talk to each other, know each other, and are easily influenced by each other. It is natural that when we meet someone frequently, we slowly and gradually start liking them. When we spend time with others frequently, we sometimes develop a habit of enjoying with them, and we miss them when they are not with us – this leads to the development of love for them – the need to be together. For this reason, people working together at some place may generally tend to marry each other.

Since this type of love arises among people living together, therefore, such love is not necessarily always and only based on intimacy but simply on care and respect for one another. For instance, this type of love also exists among the members of a family (brother, sister, mother, father, children) where the relationship is based on concern, care and respect for one another. The point here to understand is that storge love is more about psychological inclination rather than physical inclination. For instance, this type of love may also exist in close friends who share common values, beliefs and attitudes. In such a case, the friends develop a sense of companionship and loyal closeness and thus, they become ready to help each other in their hard times.

Mania, a Greek term, means mental illness generally marked by euphoria, excitement, or obsession. This type of love is characterized by obsessiveness and madness. The individual feels that he or she needs the beloved intensely. This need for the beloved is so intense that the lover shows extreme possessiveness about the beloved. For instance, the lover may not tolerate even if his or her beloved simply talk to someone else (other than the lover). Another characteristic of such love is having an extreme fantasy. The individual lives in a fantasy world of love where they always think and fantasize things about the relationship and the partner.

Agape, a Greek term, means altruistic love, and the highest and purest form of love. In this type of love, an individual loves another person selflessly. The individual takes care of the partner without expecting anything in return. It is selfless and unconditional love. Such love is not based on conditions or the give-and-take principle but is only based on giving without condition. It is the purest form of love, however, sometimes an agapic lover may be taken for granted by the partner, which may lead to hurt the lover emotionally.

The instances of agapic love can be observed in a relationship based on care and respect and also sometimes in relationships based on intimacy. Apart from routine life, in a religious context this love can be exemplified by the love of God with man, and the love of man for God.

Pragma, a Greek word, means practical and businesslike. In this type of love, people are attracted towards a particular person because of some characteristics of the person (social or economic characteristics: status and wealth). The lover is attracted towards the person because he or she sees social or economic benefits in the person.

This type of love is not purely driven by emotions (such as in mania love) or romantic urges (such as in eros love) but is majorly driven by rational thoughts and urges. It is a practical form of love where the lover weighs the pros and cons of the person (e.g., educational attainment, profession, financial and social background) and decides rationally about how much these characteristics are going to benefit the lover.