Relationships and Intimacy: Learning about Relationships While Building Them
Edition: 3
Copyright: 2024
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Understanding ourselves and what we need and want from relationships in our lives is often a subject left for us to discover on our own as we age and develop. Yet, what would it be like if one could learn about the relationships we have and the ones we want in the safety of a group focused on that conversation? This is what this course is all about.
Through social groups and interactive lectures, you will gain a better understanding of the psychological and sociological aspects of relationships while applying what is learned to your own lives. A social group is a gathering of fellow students assigned to both participate and lead in a process that explores one’s own thoughts, feelings, and experiences considering what is being learned. From discussing self-identity, friendships, family, romantic, sexual relationships, and everything in between, you will engage terminology, theory, and personal relationship methods to discover and define intimacy on your own terms.
By the end of Relationships and Intimacy: Learning about Relationships While Building Them, readers will not only have learned about relationships and intimacy but will have practiced the art of developing healthy relationships.
Introduction
CHAPTER 1 Relationships and Intimacy
Why Do We Study Relationships and Intimacy?
What Is Intimacy?
References
CHAPTER 2 Is There a Method to Understanding Relationships?
YOURS Is the Process
Scientific Method: Underlying Relationship Science
Good Questions, Good Research
YOURS Is a Language
References
CHAPTER 3 Theories: The Lens from Which We Look at Relationships
Evolutionary Theory
Attachment Theory
Family Systems Theory and Genograms
References
CHAPTER 4 Personal Identity and Relationships
Sex and Gender
In Our Own Skin
Discerning Our Personal Identities
References
CHAPTER 5 Learning About Relationships and Intimacy Through Media
Love Songs
Screenplays and Scripts
Examining Relationships Through Documentary Film
References
CHAPTER 6 Our Brain on Chemicals
What Does Attraction Mean?
The Chemistry of Love
Chemical Connections of Lust, Attraction, and Attachment
References
CHAPTER 7 Personality and Preferences: Knowing Our Self While Knowing Others
The Myers–Briggs Type Indicator
Energy Continuum: Extroversion (E) or Introversion (I)
Information Continuum: Sensing (S) or Intuition (N)
Processing and Decision-Making Indicator: Thinking (T) or Feeling (F)
The Organization Indicator: Judging (J) and Perceiving (P)
Applying the Answers: Your Type
Dr. Helen Fisher’s Personality Test: The Anatomy of Love
Combining Perspectives to Gain a Bigger Picture of Ourselves
References
CHAPTER 8 Building Healthy Relationships: Understanding Our Past, Present, and Future
Evaluating Your Socialized Self
Beliefs and Values in Developing Relationships
Seven Questions for Couples Considering Long-Term Relationships
References
CHAPTER 9 Communication: The Art of Vulnerability
Vulnerability and Belonging
Motivations
Enhancement Motive
The Justification Motive
Accuracy Motive
Empathy Accuracy Motive
Healthy Relationship Skills
Emotion Regulation
The 10 and 10
Are You There for Me?
References
CHAPTER 10 Long-Term Commitments in the 21st Century
The Difference Between Planning for a Wedding and Marriage
References
CHAPTER 11 The Good, Bad, and Ugly: Stress and Crisis in Relationships
Stressors and Breakups
How Close Are You to the Problem?
Divorce: The Phases and Stages of Divorce
Phases of Separation
Reference
CHAPTER 12 Bringing New Relationships into the World: Birth, Adoption, and parenting
Complications with Biological Conception
Adoption
Healthy Parenting
Aging Together: Raising Children as You Age
Sibling Life
References
Afterword: Looking Forward to a Life of Relationships
Jan Todd is Assistant Professor of Sociology in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Emporia State University. Dr. Todd graduated from Kansas State University with a Ph.D. in Sociology in 2020 with previous degrees of M.Div. from Saint Paul School of Theology and B.A. in Business Administration from Southwestern College. Her interests of International Development, Theory, Relationship and Trust studies focus on the impact of relationships that develop within institutions that are globalizing. Under the umbrella of the globalizing process, people are introduced and brought together to form new relationships in ways that in prior decades may have seemed impossible. This focus developed while an Ordained Elder in the United Methodist Church when the phenomena of foreign-born pastors serving mostly white communities in Kansas and Nebraska increased substantially in the early 2000's to present. A case study based on this relationship model formed the basis of her Thesis. Understanding relationships and how they are built based on levels of trust and bridged intimacy underscores many of her projects and studies. Dr. Todd teaches Intimate Relationships, Social Problems, the Family in Social Context, and various courses on the Sociology of Religion, Rural Development and Theory.