My name is Whitney Hagen, I am originally from the rural mountains of western Maryland. I

completed my bachelor’s degree in psychology and women’s studies as well as my master’s in

experimental psychology at Towson University in Baltimore, MD. I am currently a third-year

counseling psychology doctoral student at the U of U. My primary interests are in gender and

sexuality with a focus on social justice and activism. In general, I am fascinated by people’s

subjective experiences of their identities and how they create meaning from those identities.

I am currently doing my third-year counseling practicum at the Women’s Resource Center. As

a developing counseling psychologist, I have a strong interest in positive psychology.

Throughout my practice, I emphasize positive coping strategies and personal growth. I’m

excited to have the opportunity to be a teaching assistant to this online positive psychology

series and look forward to working with you all!

Gain an understanding of what skills, characteristics and traits constitute a good

relationship and how to implement these in different situations throughout life.

Understand globally and explore individually the nature and importance of intimacy,

the influence of culture, individual differences, experience, and human nature on

intimacy and relationship skills.

Improve relationship assessment scores.

Explore personality, self concept, expectations and communication styles and how

they will and do impact personal relationships. Use knowledge to complete a

relationship improvement project.

Create and sustain dialogue with other class members regarding course material.

Required for all students: Brehm, Miller, Perlman, Campbell, Intimate Relationships, Third

Edition. ISBN-10: 0070074526 or ISBN-13: 978-0070074521

In addition students will be required to read articles and chapters from books which will be

outlined in your assignments each week and can be found on our Course E-Reserve.

The textbook may be obtained from Specialty Books

. In addition, amazon.com ( or other similar internet

booksellers are good alternatives. Newer editions will work if you want to buy one.

1. Post serious introduction about yourself

2. Complete pre and post assessment

3. Complete readings, watch assigned videos, take relationship assessments or surveys,

review assigned PPT presentations, and engage in online class discussions. I will post

questions each week for discussion. You will receive 4 pts per week for these

discussions.

4. Complete Relationship Project

5. (Graduate students only) Complete a research paper and Power Point presentation on the

topic for the class to view.

6. Movie and paper assignment

7. Take an open book final exam (you may use your notes, also).

You will introduce yourself to your classmates by doing the following: Introduce yourself, tell us

about your major, and explain why you're taking this class. Write a short paragraph of you

interacting in a relationship or with another person. This experience should show your character

"at your best". Also, attach a picture of yourself. Post this the first week of class on the

discussion page under serious introductions.

You will be required to take a Quality of Life Questionnaire which can be found on the home

page. You will take it the first week of class and the last week of class and mail your results to

the instructor. 2 pts will be given for doing this.

Our class holds a weekly or biweekly discussion on a message board entailing a Question(s) of

the Week, feedback on videos watched and/or feedback regarding other exercises engaged in.

After completing the assignments given, you will post an opinion or give feedback (supported by

an example, case study, or a “real life” experience of a relative or friend) AND write a response

to three other student’s comments. As support for comments, you may use ideas from your life or

the lives of others, readings from the textbooks, the lecture material, or videos.

The second week of class, you will take the RELATE (if your are currently in a relationship) or

READY (not in a relationship) assessment (the specifics of this will be given the first week of

class) and from this exercise you will decide on a habit or characteristic in yourself that

adversely affects your relationships and one that you want to change. This is a required

assignment and not an option. If you are in a relationship or are married, you might want your

partner to also take the assessment and you will see what you both need to do to improve your

relationship. Use your part for this project. You will use a goal sheet, given the second week of

class or another one of your choosing to outline what you will specifically do to change your

behavior. You will then use the exercises taught in the course and other strategies that you have

researched, used in the past, or studied in other courses to change. Next, the results will be

written up in an empirical paper (see sections needed below). You will have 10 weeks for this

project and the paper will be due by the end of the semester. Please address all of the points

listed below. You may want to read what is required in the paper, so that you include these in

your improvement strategies.

1. Introduction: What did you decide and why did you decide to change what you

(hopefully) changed? What variables facilitated and impeded this change? Give specific

examples. Outline your hypothesis about change and what specifically happened to you?

Use research to support your answers.

2. Methods: Describe the procedure(s) you used to change yourself. Include the goal sheet

given the second week of class. What strategies did you use? What is the psychology

behind these techniques? How did you measure change? Who did you use as your

support system and how did this support system facilitate change?

3. Results: What happened? Even though your self-report data may suggest the

intervention was effective, you must also provide corroborating evidence from other

sources. Reports from your support system: friends/family/coworkers (i.e. you have

seemed so much happier these days), behavioral measures (i.e. since using forgiveness in

my relationship, I have found my husband to be much more likely to send me flowers, are

all appropriate.

4. Discussion: Was your hypothesis confirmed or disconfirmed? Are your results

consistent with prior research? What have you learned about self-change, and

relationships? How did setting goals help you in this process of change? You might talk

about strengths, weaknesses, and difficulties in implementing your intervention, or you

might explain why some techniques seem to be more effective than others. What would

you do differently if you had the chance to do it again? Why?

5. Your Ideal Future Relationship (Final Section of the Paper):

Throughout the semester, we’ll discuss the different aspects of quality relationships and

intimacy. You should now know more about your past experiences, attachment styles,

and expectations for relationships, communication styles, concept of self and what kind

of future you would like to have in terms of relationships. Drawing from the numerous

readings and lecture material throughout the course, outline a vision of your ideal future

relationships. Describe what growth/change means to you, the process by which you hope

to grow, the facilitating and inhibiting factors to this process, and the strategies learned

from this course which helped you to change. Research has shown that the number one

source of an individual’s happiness is good relationships. Explain, what you have

learned about how relationships impact your happiness.

Guidelines for Writing the Paper

The paper must be typed and 8-10 pages long. In addition to the body of the paper include a

title page, abstract, references, table(s), and figure(s) if relevant.. It should be double spaced

and in 12-point font, black ink, “l” margins on all sides, and written following the procedures

and guidelines set forth by the Publication Manual of the American Psychological

Association (5th

ed.). Failure to do so will result in loss of points.

Do your best to keep references as current as possible (i.e. 2000-present) and limit your

references to scholarly books and articles with an emphasis on the latter. However, there are

some articles in popular magazines that are worthwhile and may be cited (i.e. Time

Magazine, Jan 17, 2005, The Science of Happiness). In addition, the Internet can be used if

the citation is from a scholarly source (i.e. PsycArticles). YouTube or the Happiness website

are not scholarly sources.

One part of this project does not carry more weight than the other. Both should be your best

work and exemplify careful thought, consideration and time spent. If one part is more

personal, the other part should be more academic. You must draw on the many readings in

the class. I also want to see that you have read/cited other research beyond those required by

this class. Please identify by * any works in your references that were specifically read for

this project. Failure to do so will result in point reduction.

One final note, change and the process to have good relationships is hard work. Please

commit yourself to personal growth and development but be patient. It does not happen all at

once. However, I fully believe that your hard work and determination will provide ample

opportunities for happiness as you progress through life in your relationships.

This assignment entails watching a movie from a list that I will give you and writing a paper on

relationship skills used by the people in the movie. More information will be given the week this

is assigned.

There will be opportunity for extra credit throughout the semester for those who wish to

participate.