Storge

Storge (στοργή, storgē), also called familial love, is the Greek word for natural affection —such as the love of a parent towards offspring, and vice versa.

In social psychology, storge is the form of love between friends.

Extensiveness
Storge or affection is a wide-ranging force which can apply between family members, friends, pets and owners, companions or colleagues; it can also blend with and help underpin other types of tie such as passionate love or friendship.

Thus storge may be used as a general term to describe the love between exceptional friends, and the desire for them to care compassionately for one another.

Storge love
Another interpretation is for storge to be used to describe a sexual relationship between two people that gradually grew out of a friendship —storgic lovers sometimes cannot pinpoint the moment that friendship turned to love. Storgic lovers are friends first, and the friendship can endure even beyond the breakup of the sexual relationship. They want their significant others to also be their best friends, and will choose their mates based on similar goals and interests – homogamy.

Storgic lovers place much importance on commitment, and find that their motivation to avoid committing infidelity is to preserve the trust between the two partners. Children and marriage are seen as legitimate longterm aims for their bond, while passionate sexual intensity is of lesser importance than in other love styles.

Advantages/disadvantages
Advantages of storgic love may be the level of friendship, understanding, and intimacy that the partners share, while disadvantages may include a lack of passion and potential boredom in the relationship.

Affection can also prove a smothering, infantilizing force; it may be vitiated by jealousy, the taking of liberties, and/or reluctance to change.