Explores the difference between sexual desire and love. The class debates how the two are linked and whether or not they can be mutually exclusive. Lecture reveals the role of oxytocin in partner bonding, and relates how the ratio of positive to negative responses decides the success of a relationship.
Subjects: Relationships / Family / Parenting
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Cross-Cultural Look at Mate Selection
Considers the factors that contribute to effective mate selection. Lecture outlines factors critical to a successful match, such as finances, family values, children, and spirituality. The class poses the question, “When do you really fall in love – before you get married or afterward?”
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Dating – Is it Out-Dated?
Explores the best strategies for meeting new love prospects. Relationship experts discuss the various ways in which singles meet and reveal how such factors as proximity, timing, and intent affect the outcome. Internet dating services and the role of alcohol in the meet-and-greet process are discussed.
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What Attracts men? What Turns Men Off?
Men share their thoughts on what attracts them. Relationship experts explain why men fall in love faster than women but are slower to commit. Students learn why men often find women more attractive than women find themselves and why the innate “hyperarousal response” predisposes men to be hypersensitive to criticism and shame.
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What Attracts Women? What Turns Women off?
Women share opinions on the qualities that attract them most. The lesson helps provide answers to Freud’s question, “What do women want?” Lecture reveals what male attributes are deemed “good” by women, why women fall prey to the lure of “bad boys”, and how the evolution of the female brain directly affects this dichotomy of impulses.
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Communication Patterns in StepFamilies
Examines the various ways stepfamilies are formed and their key characteristics. The class introduces the four stages of stepfamily development, and describes the communication challenges stepfamilies face with regard to history, labeling, and the ways in which stepfamilies and their members are viewed by society. Discussion offers insights into blended families that include research on the subject and a personal testimonial on becoming a step-mother. Featured interview: Professor Pamela Cooper (Northwestern University).
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Improving Family Communication: Instruction and Therapy
Provides an introduction to the wide range of approaches used to improve family communication. The various theoretical approaches to these strategies are discussed as are the strengths and weakness of particular approaches, such as Marriage Encounter. Students review some of the common denominators that exist between disparate approaches. A discussion outlines the differences between therapy models that focus on the individual and those that involve the entire family as a system. Featured interviews: Professor Mary Anne Fitzpatrick (University of Wisconsin – Madison) and Professor Dr. William Pinsof (Northwestern University), President and CEO of The Family Institute at Northwestern University.
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Optimal Family Communication Patterns
Provides a course review that recaps the ways in which individuals, partners and family members communicate in order to enhance everyday interaction. Particularly optimal communication techniques such as emotion coaching, storytelling and reading, listening are reviewed and future trends in family communication are discussed. Students are coached through a summary of the key course concepts. Featured interviews: Professor Rives Collins of (Northwestern University), Professor John Gottman (University of Washington), and Dr. Charles Wilkinson, Marriage and Family Therapist.
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Communication in Single Parent and Other Family Forms
Presents an overview of the specific communication dimensions of single parent families, gay male and lesbian families, and adoptive families. Discussion provides a brief run-down of the ways in which single parent families are formed, and reviews the communication rules unique to single parent families. Issues related to male-headed, single-parent families are also discussed. Also explored are the unique communication structures in gay male and lesbian relationships and adoptive family structures. Featured interview: Professor Marcia Dixson (Indiana-Purdue University).
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Sexuality and Communication
Discusses the difficult but necessary function of talking about sexuality in the family. Students see how discussions about sex help children internalize facts, attitudes, and expectations that will have long-lasting impact on their lives. The class highlights communication between sex partners and discusses the affect of sexual communication on parent-child interactions. Definitions of what constitutes healthy or unhealthy sexuality in families are offered. Featured interview: Maureen Sheehy, M.S.W., Family Life Educator (Evanston, Illinois).