Gary Chapman's Five Love Languages is a popular way of thinking about the ways we give and express love. It has gained widespread popularity and helped many couples think more clearly about the way they show love and use actions to maintain their relationships. But the research shows that not everything about this theory should be accepted without hesitation.

Close examination has found that having a mismatch in your Love Language as a couple doesn't actually have any impact on marital satisfaction. Not only that but thinking of love only in terms of actions and trying to fill your spouse's "love tank" can open the door to self-centered or even manipulative behavior.

Love is expressed in actions, but it is so much more than that too. Love is an emotion which needs to be felt before it is acted upon. And perhaps this core of love as an emotion is more important that exactly which types of action you use to display it.