While research-based knowledge of love and relationships remains piecemeal, patchy, and dispersed across many publication outlets, the volume addresses these challenges by providing a common platform for researchers to look beyond their disciplinary boundaries and contribute by making the scholarly mosaic of love knowledge more comprehensive. The book presents love and relationship studies from multidisciplinary and international perspectives, compiling a collection of chapters on the diversity of love and love-related topics across various fields of science and practice.

This first volume in a new series from the International Institute of Love Studies compiles diverse research on love and relationships worldwide. The volume presents a valuable collection of love studies, beginning with foundational conceptual analyses in psychological, linguistic, and anthropological data. It progresses into the social and cultural dimensions of love-related experiences, concluding with a deep dive into the psychological complexities of the modern experiences involved in love and love-related relationships.

This volume is an essential resource for researchers and practitioners who are interested in understanding the diversity of multidisciplinary and international perspectives on love research. The book paves the way for cross-disciplinary and international understanding, as well as future cross-cultural collaboration between researchers from around the world and across disciplines.

Victor Karandashev is an Emeritus Professor of Psychology, currently at the International Institute of Love Studies, Michigan, USA. He is a scholar with extensive international and cross-cultural experience and interests. He conducted research on international psychology in several European countries, including universities in Germany, Norway, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK. He was a Fulbright scholar in the USA. He presented his work related to international and cross-cultural psychology at many conferences. He co-edited three volumes of Teaching Psychology Around the World (2007, 2009, 2012).

His major area of research interest is the study of love and culture, the topic about which he has published many journal articles, chapters, and monographs.

His studies have substantially expanded the multifaceted understanding of love and relationships and advanced the field by conceptual and psychometric investigation of the multidimensionality of love, love attitudes, and interpersonal attraction. His most distinguished achievements in the research of love and love-related constructs include explorations of various aspects of these topics, in particular:

(1) the multidimensionality of passionate, companionate, and romantic love (e.g., Karandashev et al., 2015; 2016); 
(2) interpersonal physical attraction and sensory modalities involved in love (e.g., Karandashev et al., 2014; 2016; 2020); 
(3) validation and psychometric investigation of the Quadrangular Love Theory and Scale (e.g., Karandashev et al., 2019; 2022); 
(4) explicit and implicit interpersonal attitudes (Karandashev & Evans, 2017),
(5) the diversity of love constructs in cultural perspectives (e.g., Karandashev, 2015; 2018; Karandashev et al., 2016; 2020; 2022).

His recent books, Romantic Love in Cultural Contexts (2017), Cross-Cultural Perspectives on the Experience and Expression of Love (2019), Cultural Models of Emotions (2021), Cultural Typologies of Love (2022), The Varieties of Love as Interpersonal Attraction (2024), and The Biological Evolution of Love (2026), are among the most distinguished interdisciplinary contributions to the field.

He is a member of the International Institute of Love Studies Advisory Board and a lead organizer of their annual International Conferences on Love and Relationships (2024–2026).