This course is intended primarily for psychology majors and graduate students.  It covers psychological approaches to problems of adult intimacy. The  research and statistical methodology sequence (Psych. 302 and 303) is required. It is recommended that you do not take this course as your very first upper division core psychology class.

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Consumer Warning

Please note: This is not a how-to course about marriage! Although much of the course content deals with applied clinical psychology research, the emphasis is on understanding research methodology. Given the emphasis on marital dysfunctions, some people may find the course content depressing.  This course may trouble tenderhearted seeking to improve their own relationships! Your success in this course requires communication skills, written and oral.. If you have neglected your writing skills and they are not at college level, this course will be especially difficult. Your grade will reflect the quality of your writing.  Beware...this course will probably require a full 10 or more hours per week.

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    Readings and lectures will cover current developments in theories and research on the psychological aspects of marital interaction and marital dysfunction; methods for assessing conflict in intimate interactions; examples of techniques used to intervene in marital discord; and research and methodology pertaining to the evaluation of therapy outcomes. This is a clinically focused psychology course that emphasizes the knowledge generated by empirical studies. Being able to integrate material from diverse and often quite technical sources is necessary for success in this course. We will focus on the nature of psychological constructs in the area of marital and family distress.

One of the objectives of this course is to improve your critical thinking by involving you as much as possible in how psychologists generate knowledge in this area. The course surveys a wide variety of topics and issues in a very short time. You will be asked to think like a marital and family researcher. You will be asked to approach the material critically, noting methodological strengths and weaknesses in what you read and hear. This course is designed to allow for a great deal of independent study, given the limits of a large class size. You will be doing much of your learning on your own which may be a blessing or a curse.

There are a number of required course activities and options, all of which will necessitate careful planning on your part throughout this term. Experience has shown that  you will have major difficulty with this course by ignoring this advice.   Your grade will be based on your progress throughout the course as measured by a number of activities. There are many different course activities and options; it is essential that you stay on target and that you keep informed about class procedures and due dates.

Quick Overview of Course Requirements

1. You MUST have an active e-mail account for this course! These are available to all students (e.g., Gladstone account);
2. The course is on a Web page. Using a Web browser is essential: Lectures and other important information is available to you on the Marriage Web page; being comfortable with using the Web for gathering information is a goal of the course;
3. The assigned readings for this course are contained in a readings packet of 16 articles available at the bookstore;
4. Additional readings for the course will be self directed, based on journal articles you select from the library;
5. Journal Clubs (JC) --(2 articles): you will be presenting an oral discussion of 2 different articles, on two different occasions, outside of class, to a small group of classmates. Articles should be empirical studies published after 1990;
6. Section paper drafts -- four short drafts you will use to prepare a major term paper; these will due on specific dates;
7. Major term paper, referencing at least 10 articles, may include your JC articles but NOT the assigned readings):
8. Homework assignment using the Web to locate an interesting study, debate, or information on  the leading edge; briefly describe WEB site and what you got from it;
9. Three course related substantive e-mail postings (not, "hello, how are you?")

Journal Clubs:

You are required to participate in two Journal Clubs during eight of the 10 weeks in the term. JC's are limited to four persons per session. We will provide an advanced sign-up schedule of times for when the JC's will be held during the upcoming  week. There will be a sufficient number of sessions so that everyone will be able to participate in the required two sessions. Each session will last for 1 hour, during which time each person will have an opportunity to discuss an article with the other student members in that session. JC's are not to be used as office hour consultations (see below), but rather as an opportunity to exchange ideas in order to foster better understanding of the course material. You do not have to meet with the same group each time.

JC's are supposed to coordinate with sections I -IV of the course. Please do not sign up for
two JC meetings dealing using articles for the same section of the course! The articles
you choose to discuss in the JC's should relate to material you are working on (see Major
Term Paper, below). These discussions are supposed to give you practice in oral communication
and help you develop your ideas.
Your presentations (approximately 15 minutes including questions) will be graded on 20 total
points. There is a grading checklist for you to use so that you will know what to emphasize
in your presentation. Since this is a major investment of both your and our time we will
take missed appointments very seriously (there will be a loss of points if you fail to keep
our appointment time, since your slot could have been used by another student).
Major Term Paper

  The main product for the course is a major term paper. There are no exams. However, the course  requirements are  structured so that  you will gain the necessary knowledge to write a successful paper. For each section of the course  you will write a draft, on the section, as it applies to your paper topic. For example, if you were doing your paper on  depression and marriage, your first draft, following Section I of the course, would deal with the theories of how  depression and marriage are related. Each section of the course will pertain to your paper topic.
These draft papers (maximum 4 printed pages) should reflect your understanding of the material for the specific section, based on lectures, assigned readings, and your own library work (e.g., journal articles). The drafts will be graded and you can use the feedback to improve the quality of your paper. Each draft should clearly describe what information you intend to use in the paper. The drafts are your paper in progress, and they reflect your learning up to the point of the section itself. Thus, writing about assessment issues in depression and marriage (Section II) does not mean writing about therapy! Therapy would come later when we cover it.

Homework Assignment:
For your single homework assignment you will visit a web site that deals with marital research
and download information (or summarize it) that is state of the art. I want you to find some
information that interests you and that is not otherwise available to you. I have selected web
sites as starting places: these list publications, debates, sometimes professional issues. Find a
site and tell us what you found most useful and interesting.
The E-Mail Connection:
During the course we will also use e-mail to  make announcements; you should immediately
subscribe to the listserv, Marriage@lists.uoregon.edu. (see below for details). This will
allow you to post and/or read anything that concerns the course. From time to time I
will post announcements on the MARRIAGE list, and these will appear in your e-mail box.
MOTET  Discussion Forum
 
MOTET is a conferencing program that allows subscribers to post and read messages on
topics related to the course. It allows members to ask a question, respond to other people's
questions, post information, or otherwise communicate. It is different from e-mail in that it
keeps all the messages and these can reviewed at any time. Thus, one can review the course
of a discussion as it developed. The name of our conference is:   PSY473-S00.

You are required to make at least 3 postings to the MOTET discussion conference
(PSY473-S00) before the last week of class. You can ask questions, express ideas that
you want others to respond to, mention a good article you found, etc. Questions must
be course related, and we expect everyone who makes a posting to observe proper etiquette.
Anyone can ask or answer any course related question, exchange references, critique ideas,
ask about the homework, etc., but please, no personal disclosures, personal attacks, nor
obscenities. From time to time I will post a question that may prompt discussion.
 

GRADING
• Section paper drafts -- 25%
• Homework assignment -- 10%
• Major term paper, based on readings, lectures, and journal articles -- 40%
• Journal Clubs -- 15%
• MOTET Discussion -- 10%
I generally use the standard point system to assign letter grades, but I may
also tweak the distribution as needed so that it reflects the class's ability.
(E.g., if 90 is the highest grade I would be inclined to make that an A rather than an A-.)
Policy on missed assignments, and due dates:
 
• Draft Section papers due dates are April 13, May 2, May 16, and May 30th
       by the end of class on those days.
• Homework due date: Not later than April 27 2000.
• Any work turned in after the due date will loose points; it will not be
         graded three days after the due date.
• Last day to turn in Term Paper June 6, 2000, by 12:00PM certain.
        Late papers not accepted.

• April 13, 2000     Due date for Section I Draft
• April 27, 2000     Last date to turn in Homework
• May 2,  2000      Due date for Section II Draft
• May 16, 2000    Due date for Section III Draft
• May 30, 2000      Due date for Section IV Draft
• June 6,  2000      Last day to turn in Term Paper
Email, Offices, and Phones
Class listserv -- marriage@oregon.uoregon.edu
Prof. Weiss - rlweiss@oregon.uoregon.edu   385 Straub 6-4900
TA: Laura Jone@laurajdarkwing.uoregon.edu  320 Straub 6-4990
     Be sure to put "MARRIAGE 473" in the subject line of your e-mail.

1. To subscribe for the first time to the MARRIAGE@oregon.uoregon.edu  list
(necessary to receive important messages and course requirements):
       NOTE: You must already have an active e-mail account (e.g., Gladstone, AOL, etc.) to
                   subscribe to a  list. The "list" makes every message available to all people on the list;
                   it is a common mailbox.  Use PINE or EUDORA (recommended), or any e-mail
                   program and send a message to:

                                             MAJORDOMO@lists.uoregon.edu
                                               Leave the SUBJECT line blank
                                               In the body of the message area write:
                                                   SUBSCRIBE MARRIAGE
                                                   END

           When you want to get off the list (i.e., no longer want to see this mail) just send:

                                      MAJORDOMO@lists.uoregon.edu
                                         Leave the SUBJECT line blank
                                         In the body of the message area write:
                                                  UNSUBSCRIBE MARRIAGE
                                                   END
                     To send a message to the entire class, just send it to MARRIAGE@lists.uoregon.edu.

Messages sent to the Marriage list will go to everyone on the list. For example, if you wish
to send Sam and the class the same message, just send it to Marriage;  don't send one to Sam
and also CC to Marriage. If Sam is on the Marriage list he will get it; if you send it to Sam's
address AND to Marriage, he will get it twice. This can be annoying! Use your "reply"key carefully.

2. To send a message to the instructor only (not to the entire class) use either rlweiss@oregon.uoregon.edu or lauraj@darkwing.uoregon.edu. Be sure to put
"MARRIAGE 473" in the subject line of the address section. These communications
should be about the course (e.g. ,"could teaching staff help with a question", or "assignment
dates, next scheduled Journal Club meeting time," "office hours" etc.etc.)
     Please use these individual accounts only as necessary, since these are our regular mail boxes
and we get alot of  mail; your course messages will be filtered into a special mailbox so that we can answer quickly.
                       Be sure to put "473 Marriage" in the subject line.
__________________________________________________________________________
 

                                       Note: Journal Clubs meet for 1 hr each in   [  ]  Straub; you must have signed  up in advance for each session.