Amor e violência na intimidade: da essência à constru？？o social

in this article we intend to describe and analyze theoretical approaches on love formulated by social sciences, namely psychology. our goal is to present a general understanding about how the phenomenon has been conceptualized and analyzing how love and violence have been articulated. considering the main contributions and limitations of each theory, we sustain that love is a culturally constructed phenomenon and that the adoption of a constructionist approach is needed to understand how violence and love are related and to deconstruct discourses that may contribute to violent behaviors.