HU Credits: 2

Degree/Cycle: 2nd degree (Master)

Responsible Department: Social Work

Semester: 1st Semester

Teaching Languages: Hebrew

Campus: Mt. Scopus

Course/Module Coordinator: Osnat Zamir

Coordinator Email: osnat.zamir@mail.huji.ac.il

Coordinator Office Hours:

Teaching Staff:
Dr. Zamir Osnat

Course/Module description:
This course is focused on couple communication, a key predictor of healthy marital relationships, relationship satisfaction, parent-child relationship quality, healthy child development, and the mental and physical health of family members.
The course presents major issues in couple communication, such as conflict management, domestic violence, intimacy, and support. The course will provide knowledge on couple communication within different contexts, including developmental, cultural, gender, stress, trauma, and emotional distress. This course introduces theories, research methods, and research in the field of couple communication. The course is designed to teach students to analyze couple interactions and patterns in clinical practice.Finally, the course is designed to provide practical knowledge on context-informed interventions facilitating healthy couple communication.

Course/Module aims:
1. The course will provide students with practical knowledge of identifying and analyzing couple communication patterns
2. The course will provide students with knowledge on couple communication theories, major concepts, research methods, and studies in the field of couple communication
3. The course will provide students with knowledge on the ramifications of couple communication on relationship quality and dynamics, family relations, and physical and mental health.
4. Students will learn to analyze couple interactions and processes within intra-personal and ecological contexts including personality, stress, trauma, emotional distress, gender and culture
5. Provide practical knowledge on context-informed interventions facilitating healthy couple communication.

Learning outcomes - On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:
1. The students will identify and analyze couple interactions and communication patterns
2. Students will analyze reciprocal dyadic processes between spouses
3. The students will analyze a couple of communication patterns based on theory and research
4. Students will analyze couple interactions based on the intrapsychic and environmental contexts of intimate partners
5. By identifying communication problems and their context, students will be able to plan effective interventions facilitating couple interaction

Attendance requirements(%):
At least 80%

Teaching arrangement and method of instruction:

Course/Module Content:
Introduction - Basic concepts, theories, and research methods
Behavioral analysis
Patterns of couple interaction
Conflict management
Coercion and hostility
Effective problem solving
Intimacy and support
Attachment and couple communication
Stress and couple communication
Trauma, emotional distress and couple communication
Gender, culture, and couple communication

Required Reading:
Christensen, A., Eldridge, K., Catta‐Preta, A.B., Lim, V.R. and Santagata, R. (2006), Cross‐cultural consistency of the demand/withdraw interaction pattern in couples. Journal of Marriage and Family, 68. 1029-1044. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2006.00311.x
Collins, N. L., & Feeney, B. C. (2004). Working models of attachment shape perceptions of social support: Evidence from experimental and observational studies. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 87(3), 363–383. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.87.3.363
Feeney, J., & Fitzgerald, J. (2019). Attachment, conflict and relationship quality: Laboratory-based and clinical insights. Current opinion in psychology, 25, 127-131.‏
Friedlander, M. L., Lee, M., & Escudero, V. (2019). What we do and do not know about the nature and analysis of couple interaction. Couple and Family Psychology: Research and Practice, 8(1), 24–44. https://doi.org/10.1037/cfp0000114
Goff, B. S., & Smith, D. B. (2005). Systemic traumatic stress: the couple adaptation to traumatic stress model. Journal of marital and family therapy, 31(2), 145–157. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1752-0606.2005.tb01552.x
Gottman, J. M., & Levenson, R. W. (2000). The timing of divorce: Predicting when a couple will divorce over a 14‐year period. Journal of Marriage and Family, 62(3), 737-745.
Gottman, J. M., Coan, J., Carrere, S., & Swanson, C. (1998). Predicting marital happiness and stability from newlywed interactions. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 5-22.
Heyman R. E. (2001). Observation of couple conflicts: Clinical assessment applications, stubborn truths, and shaky foundations. Psychological assessment, 13(1), 5–35.
Heyman, R. E., Slep, A. M. S., Giresi, J., & Baucom, K. J. W. (2022). Couple conflict behavior: Disentangling associations with relationship dissatisfaction and intimate partner violence. Journal of Family Issues, 0(0).
Kanter, J. B., Lavner, J. A., Lannin, D. G., Hilgard, J., & Monk, J. K. (2022). Does couple communication predict later relationship quality and dissolution? A meta‐analysis. Journal of Marriage and Family, 84(2), 533-551.
Karney, B. R., & Bradbury, T. N. (1995). The longitudinal course of marital quality and stability: A review of theory, methods, and research. Psychological Bulletin, 118(1), 3–34. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.118.1.3
Kiecolt-Glaser, J. K., Bane, C., Glaser, R., & Malarkey, W. B. (2003). Love, marriage, and divorce: Newlyweds' stress hormones foreshadow relationship changes. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 71, 176–188. doi:10.1037/0022-006X.71.1.176
Schofield, T. J., Conger, R. D., & Conger, K. J. (2017). Disrupting intergenerational continuity in harsh parenting: Self-control and a supportive partner. Development and Psychopathology, 29(4), 1279-1287.‏
Sommer, J., Iyican, S., & Babcock, J. (2019). The relation between contempt, anger, and intimate partner violence: A dyadic approach. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 34(15), 3059-3079.
Zamir, O., Gewirtz, A. H., Cheng, C. H., Zhang, N., & Lavee, Y. (2020). Psychological distress and communication quality in military couples after deployment to war. Journal of Family Psychology, 34(4), 383–391. https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0000589

Additional Reading Material:
Coan, J. A., & Gottman, J. M. (2007). The Specific Affect (SPAFF) coding system. In J. A. Coan and J. J. B. Allen (Eds.) Handbook of Emotion Elicitation and Assessment (pp. 106-123), New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Grading Scheme :
Essay / Project / Final Assignment / Home Exam / Referat 80 %
Submission assignments during the semester: Exercises / Essays / Audits / Reports / Forum / Simulation / others 20 %

Additional information: