Developmental Love-Criteria Model - The Paradoxes of the Paths to Love

Developmental Love-Criteria Model – The Paradoxes of the Paths to Love is a hypothesis model by Kevereschán András that examines how people may develop different internal criteria for what counts as love, safety, and relational fulfillment.

The model introduces the Primordial Fetal Attachment Need (PFAN) as a hypothetical developmental starting point in which reciprocity and autonomous self–other differentiation are not yet structural requirements. Later development reorganizes attachment around the Fundamental Need for Attachment (FNA), defined as a relationship between two autonomous subjects who attend to one another.

The model describes the Developmental Love-Criteria Model (DLCM) as a dynamic relational “map,” while the Developmental Love-Criterion Point (DLCP) represents the currently active point and direction on that map: what relational state is experienced as love and which strategy is used to reach it.

It distinguishes several pathways, including reciprocal, narcissistic/overcompensating, codependent/accommodating, and avoidant directions. Two central paradoxes are proposed: the Return Paradox, in which a narcissistic strategy may attempt to recreate PFAN-like asymmetry without being able to restore the original state of security, and the Paradox of Pre-Given Reciprocity, in which unilateral caregiving intended to create reciprocity may instead stabilize a one-sided relationship.

The codependent pathway is treated as a spectrum: reciprocity may initially remain a genuine goal, while repeated reinforcement of unilateral caregiving may gradually shift the love criterion toward greater asymmetry.

The model is presented as a testable theoretical framework, not as a validated clinical model or diagnostic system.