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The Arts and Science of Relationships: Understanding Human Needs

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The Arts and Science of Relationships: Understanding Human Needs

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Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.
4.5

1,833 reviews

Beginner level
No prior experience required
Flexible schedule
3 weeks at 10 hours a week
Learn at your own pace
97%
Most learners liked this course

Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.
4.5

1,833 reviews

Beginner level
No prior experience required
Flexible schedule
3 weeks at 10 hours a week
Learn at your own pace
97%
Most learners liked this course

There are 6 modules in this course

This course provides an introduction to:

1. Basic concepts of The Strategies and Skills Learning and Development System (SSLD), their relevance for every day relationships and provide advanced concepts for participants who work in fields of social work and health care . 2. Basic practice principles and methods of SSLD, illustrated by relationship management case studies. 3. The SSLD framework for relationship management assessment; N3C (needs, circumstances, characteristics, capacity) and problem translation. 4. Core competencies in the relationship management application of the SSLD system: Observation learning, simulation, real life implementation, review and monitoring.

Introducing the course and the basic concepts of SSLD (Strategies & Skills Learning & Development).

What's included

21 videos7 readings8 assignments

21 videosβ€’Total 45 minutes
  • Introducing Your Course Instructor!β€’2 minutes
  • What is this course about?β€’1 minute
  • Relationships Overviewβ€’1 minute
  • 1.1 Why do people get involved in relationships?β€’3 minutes
  • 1.2 Intrinsic & Extrinsic Needsβ€’3 minutes
  • 1.3 Relationships & Selfβ€’1 minute
  • 1.4 Relationship & Wellnessβ€’1 minute
  • What is SSLD?β€’6 minutes
  • 1.5 Introducing N3Cβ€’1 minute
  • 1.6 Individualized N3Cβ€’1 minute
  • 1.7 N3C: Circumstancesβ€’4 minutes
  • 1.8 N3C: Characteristicsβ€’2 minutes
  • 1.9 N3C: Capacityβ€’3 minutes
  • Relationship & N3Cβ€’3 minutes
  • Problem Translationβ€’2 minutes
  • 1.10 Differences & Biodiversityβ€’3 minutes
  • 1.11 Similarities & Differencesβ€’2 minutes
  • 1.12 Capacity to deal with differencesβ€’3 minutes
  • 1.13 Managing Differencesβ€’2 minutes
  • 1.14 Managing Differences: Examplesβ€’3 minutes
  • Conclusionβ€’1 minute
7 readingsβ€’Total 74 minutes
  • Our Dedicated Teamβ€’2 minutes
  • Course Readings and Resourcesβ€’2 minutes
  • Recommended Reading for Module 1β€’10 minutes
  • Needs and Wantsβ€’10 minutes
  • Examples of Problem Translationβ€’10 minutes
  • Module 1 Lecture Noteβ€’10 minutes
  • Additional Resources for Module 1β€’30 minutes
8 assignmentsβ€’Total 170 minutes
  • Why do YOU have relationships?β€’10 minutes
  • N3C Case Analysis Practiceβ€’20 minutes
  • The Controlling Partner: Underlying Needsβ€’15 minutes
  • Managing Differencesβ€’30 minutes
  • Optional: Demographic Surveyβ€’30 minutes
  • Optional: Pre-course quiz regarding learning expectationβ€’30 minutes
  • Your attitude towards differencesβ€’30 minutes
  • Differences in Relationshipsβ€’5 minutes

SSLD conceptualization of relationship: Addressing participants’ needs as key condition of possibility. This module will discuss the social exchange theory, life-scripts, managing differences, and responsive assertiveness

What's included

17 videos5 readings6 assignments2 discussion prompts

17 videosβ€’Total 64 minutes
  • Overview of Module 2β€’2 minutes
  • 2.1 Social Scriptsβ€’4 minutes
  • 2.2 Social Scripts and Trapsβ€’2 minutes
  • 2.3 Social Scripts and Traps: Consumerismβ€’4 minutes
  • 2.4 Social Scripts: Attachment Theoryβ€’3 minutes
  • 2.5 SSLD on changing relationship patternβ€’2 minutes
  • 2.6 Natural Imaginationβ€’5 minutes
  • 2.7 Game Plan & Human Natureβ€’3 minutes
  • 2.8 "The One" Mythβ€’5 minutes
  • 2.9 How much is up to us?β€’2 minutes
  • 2.10 Mind Reading Fantasyβ€’3 minutes
  • 2.11 Spontaneityβ€’3 minutes
  • 2.12 Game Planβ€’3 minutes
  • How to Create a Game Plan for your relationship?β€’12 minutes
  • Online Datingβ€’5 minutes
  • 2.13: First Impressionsβ€’8 minutes
  • Conclusionβ€’1 minute
5 readingsβ€’Total 65 minutes
  • Introduction to Social Scriptsβ€’5 minutes
  • Recommended Reading on Attachment Theoryβ€’10 minutes
  • Recommended Reading on Initial Contactβ€’10 minutes
  • Module 2 Lecture Notesβ€’10 minutes
  • Additional Resources for Module 2β€’30 minutes
6 assignmentsβ€’Total 100 minutes
  • Your Social Scripts and Relationshipsβ€’10 minutes
  • Strategies on Changing Relationship Patternβ€’10 minutes
  • Create a game plan for your first (or next) date!β€’10 minutes
  • Impression managementβ€’10 minutes
  • Form of Relationshipsβ€’30 minutes
  • How important are they?β€’30 minutes
2 discussion promptsβ€’Total 20 minutes
  • Share your online dating experienceβ€’10 minutes
  • Reflecting on First Impressionsβ€’10 minutes

This module covers topics on how to build and manage your relationships through effective communication skills such as listening, understanding, reception, and expression.

What's included

27 videos3 readings9 assignments1 peer review

27 videosβ€’Total 111 minutes
  • Overview of Module 3β€’2 minutes
  • 3.1 The 4 Content Areasβ€’3 minutes
  • 3.2 Four Content Areas - How are they useful?β€’4 minutes
  • 3.3 Reception Overviewβ€’2 minutes
  • 3.4 Reception - Ideas 1: Attitudesβ€’4 minutes
  • 3.5 Reception - Ideas 2: Positionβ€’2 minutes
  • 3.6 Reception - Ideas 3: Opinionsβ€’4 minutes
  • 3.7 Reception - Emotional Contentβ€’6 minutes
  • 3.8 Reception - Importance of Understanding Someone's Needsβ€’2 minutes
  • 3.9 Reception - Needsβ€’6 minutes
  • 3.10 Attributions 1: Introductionβ€’4 minutes
  • 3.11 Attributions 2: Multiple Contingencies Thinkingβ€’3 minutes
  • 3.12 Attributions 3: Needsβ€’3 minutes
  • 3.13 Signifying Actsβ€’4 minutes
  • 3.14 Signifying Acts and Cultureβ€’3 minutes
  • 3.15 Cultural Literacy Approachβ€’5 minutes
  • Reception to Expressionβ€’1 minute
  • 3.16 Expression: Factsβ€’6 minutes
  • 3.17 Expression - Ideas 1: Matching N3Cβ€’2 minutes
  • 3.18 Expression - Ideas 2: Technical Tipsβ€’4 minutes
  • 3.19 Expression - Ideas 3: Staying Attunedβ€’4 minutes
  • 3.20 Expression - Emotions 1: Experience, Expression and Feedbackβ€’4 minutes
  • 3.21 Expression - Emotions 2: Regulationsβ€’4 minutes
  • 3.22 Expression - Emotions 3: Emotional Workβ€’2 minutes
  • 3.23 Expression - Needsβ€’7 minutes
  • Conclusionβ€’2 minutes
  • Emotional work vs. Emotional Regulationβ€’19 minutes
3 readingsβ€’Total 25 minutes
  • Recommended Reading for Module 3β€’5 minutes
  • Module 3 Lecture Notesβ€’10 minutes
  • Additional Resources for Module 3β€’10 minutes
9 assignmentsβ€’Total 230 minutes
  • Identifying the 4 content areasβ€’30 minutes
  • Differentiating Needs & Wantsβ€’30 minutes
  • Listening to Needsβ€’30 minutes
  • Understanding Attributions & Signifying Actsβ€’30 minutes
  • Expressing Facts or Ideasβ€’30 minutes
  • Expressing Needsβ€’30 minutes
  • What are their emotions?β€’10 minutes
  • Needs Assessment through Conversationsβ€’10 minutes
  • Expressing Emotionsβ€’30 minutes
1 peer reviewβ€’Total 30 minutes
  • Learning to Manage Your Emotions Better?β€’30 minutes

This module addresses relationship building based on communication, reception, and expression skills learned in Module 3. Additional topics on relationship problems will also be discussed.

What's included

26 videos4 readings8 assignments

26 videosβ€’Total 93 minutes
  • Overview of Module 4β€’1 minute
  • 4.1 Social Exchange Theory and Beyondβ€’5 minutes
  • 4.2 Value Reconsideredβ€’5 minutes
  • 4.3 The 6 Domains of Our Lifeworldβ€’6 minutes
  • 4.4 The Issue of Powerβ€’5 minutes
  • 4.5 Power, Balance and Givingβ€’4 minutes
  • 4.6 Compatibility: Needsβ€’4 minutes
  • 4.7 Compatibility: Circumstancesβ€’3 minutes
  • 4.8 Compatibility: Characteristics & Capacityβ€’4 minutes
  • 4.9 Compatibility, Differences and Changesβ€’3 minutes
  • 4.10 Intimacyβ€’4 minutes
  • 4.11 Idea of Intimacy 1β€’4 minutes
  • 4.12 Idea of Intimacy 2β€’2 minutes
  • 4.13 Fear of Intimacyβ€’3 minutes
  • 4.14 Fear of Commitmentβ€’3 minutes
  • 4.15 Building Intimacyβ€’4 minutes
  • 4.16 The Role of Physical Intimacyβ€’3 minutes
  • 4.17 Intimacy and Sharing of Personal Difficultiesβ€’3 minutes
  • 4.18 Physical Intimacy and Presenceβ€’6 minutes
  • 4.19 SSLD Strategies for Building & Maintaining Relationshipsβ€’5 minutes
  • 4.20 To Grow or Not to Grow?β€’3 minutes
  • 4.21 Growth and Intimacyβ€’2 minutes
  • 4.22 Stability or Excitement?β€’3 minutes
  • 4.23 Happenings or Rituals?β€’3 minutes
  • 4.24 Achieving Win-Win Arrangementsβ€’3 minutes
  • Conclusionβ€’1 minute
4 readingsβ€’Total 40 minutes
  • Recommended Reading for Module 4β€’10 minutes
  • Relationship Building Toolsβ€’10 minutes
  • Module 4 Lecture Notesβ€’10 minutes
  • Additional Resources for Module 4β€’10 minutes
8 assignmentsβ€’Total 135 minutes
  • What are the 6 domains of our lifeworld?β€’5 minutes
  • Assessing Compatibilityβ€’10 minutes
  • Exploring Your Own Idea of Intimacyβ€’10 minutes
  • Creating Your Own Happenings and Ritualsβ€’30 minutes
  • Valuable Lessons Learnedβ€’30 minutes
  • Examining the Social Exchange Perspectiveβ€’30 minutes
  • Driving factors of Power in a Relationshipβ€’10 minutes
  • Enhancing presence onlineβ€’10 minutes

Introduction to the concept of Six Domains of Human Life and its application in different parts of a relationship. This module explores the transformation and termination of relationships and their challenges.

What's included

21 videos3 readings12 assignments

21 videosβ€’Total 97 minutes
  • Overview of Module 5β€’3 minutes
  • 5.1 Culture, History, and Technologyβ€’2 minutes
  • 5.2 Six Domains of Transformation - Environmentβ€’3 minutes
  • 5.3 Six Domains of Transformation - Cognitionβ€’2 minutes
  • 5.4 Six Domains of Transformation - Emotion & Motivationβ€’4 minutes
  • 5.5 Six Domains of Transformation - Body & Behaviourβ€’4 minutes
  • 5.6 Mutual Needsβ€’2 minutes
  • 5.7 Separation-Individuation 1β€’6 minutes
  • 5.8 Separation-Individuation 2β€’4 minutes
  • 5.9 How can we deal with each other's unmet needs?β€’3 minutes
  • 5.10 Aging: Part 1β€’6 minutes
  • 5.11 Aging: Part 2β€’3 minutes
  • 5.12 Transformation & Terminationβ€’3 minutes
  • 5.13 Coping with transformation and terminationβ€’6 minutes
  • 5.14 Coping with emotional challengesβ€’4 minutes
  • 5.15 Coping with major life transitionsβ€’4 minutes
  • 5.16 Self-Preservationβ€’6 minutes
  • 5.17 Difficult Transitionβ€’3 minutes
  • 5.18 Lifeworld Designβ€’8 minutes
  • Conclusionβ€’0 minutes
  • The Breakup Journeyβ€’22 minutes
3 readingsβ€’Total 30 minutes
  • Recommended Reading for Module 5β€’10 minutes
  • Module 5 Lecture Notesβ€’10 minutes
  • Additional Resources for Module 5β€’10 minutes
12 assignmentsβ€’Total 245 minutes
  • Relationships that Need to be Transformedβ€’5 minutes
  • Transformed Relationshipsβ€’10 minutes
  • Managing Transformationβ€’10 minutes
  • Get Over Self-Blame and Guiltβ€’30 minutes
  • Managing the Emotional Challenges of Transformation/Terminationβ€’30 minutes
  • Major Transitions in Lifeβ€’30 minutes
  • Cultural Rulesβ€’5 minutes
  • Where do you experience it in your body?β€’5 minutes
  • Relationships and Agingβ€’30 minutes
  • Optional Quiz: Love Beyond Deathβ€’30 minutes
  • Experience of Terminationβ€’30 minutes
  • Your Transformed Relationshipβ€’30 minutes

The final module covers various topics related to relationships, including love, sexuality, intimacy, and relationship problems.

What's included

23 videos2 readings9 assignments1 peer review

23 videosβ€’Total 114 minutes
  • Overview of Module 6β€’3 minutes
  • 6.1 What is Loveβ€’4 minutes
  • 6.2 Six Domains of Loveβ€’7 minutes
  • 6.3 Concluding on What is Loveβ€’1 minute
  • 6.4 Sexualityβ€’3 minutes
  • 6.5 Needs Addressed by Sexβ€’4 minutes
  • 6.6 Psychological Needsβ€’3 minutes
  • 6.7 Social Needsβ€’5 minutes
  • 6.8 Spiritualityβ€’2 minutes
  • 6.9 Sex and Quality of Relationshipβ€’5 minutes
  • 6.10 Diversity in Sexual Expressionβ€’6 minutes
  • 6.11 Erotic Justiceβ€’6 minutes
  • 6.12 Instrumental Relationshipsβ€’6 minutes
  • 6.13 Relationship Problems - Communicationβ€’5 minutes
  • 6.14 A Case on Relationship Problemβ€’3 minutes
  • 6.15 Dealing with Relationship Problemsβ€’6 minutes
  • 6.16 Affairs: Part 1β€’6 minutes
  • 6.17 Affairs: Part 2 - Affairs and Beyondβ€’4 minutes
  • 6.18 Dysfunctional Relationshipsβ€’7 minutes
  • 6.19 The Challenges of Transformation and Changeβ€’3 minutes
  • 6.20 It all comes back to the self: The SSLD idealβ€’3 minutes
  • Concluding the Courseβ€’2 minutes
  • Engaging Non-Normative Sexualities & Desiresβ€’20 minutes
2 readingsβ€’Total 20 minutes
  • Module 6 Lecture Notesβ€’10 minutes
  • Additional Resources for Module 6β€’10 minutes
9 assignmentsβ€’Total 150 minutes
  • Your Own Idea of Loveβ€’5 minutes
  • Activity, Interaction, and Relationshipβ€’10 minutes
  • Communicating the Meaning of Sexβ€’5 minutes
  • Deviant Sexual Practice and Cultureβ€’5 minutes
  • Social Disadvantage and Sexual Life-Chancesβ€’5 minutes
  • Dysfunctional Relationshipβ€’30 minutes
  • Reviewβ€’30 minutes
  • Have You Changed?β€’30 minutes
  • Course Evaluationβ€’30 minutes
1 peer reviewβ€’Total 120 minutes
  • Sharing A Good Lessonβ€’120 minutes

Instructor

Instructor ratings
4.6 (607 ratings)
University of Toronto
2 Coursesβ€’262,875 learners

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Showing 3 of 1833

M
Β·

Reviewed on Apr 23, 2020

Really fun and felt like I learned a lot about myself. If you are looking for insight on your relationships whether it is your significant other, best friend, or family than this class is for you!!!!

BJ
Β·

Reviewed on Jan 23, 2022

This course was very helpful; if I hadn't lived through a few relationships, I would have learned even more. The tools for conquering differences and communicating were most helpful!

CH
Β·

Reviewed on Nov 16, 2023

I really enjoyed this course - for the foundations and practical applications. I recommend to future participants to really follow the recommended schedule. I didn't am hustling to finish.

Frequently asked questions

You'll learn how to understand relationships through human needs, communicate more effectively, and make sense of patterns that help or hurt connection. It starts with core ideas like needs versus wants and the N3C framework, then moves into communication, intimacy, compatibility, and relationship change. You'll apply those ideas through case analyses and reflective exercises, including work on translating a relationship problem into underlying needs.

No, you don't need prior training to start. The course begins with everyday relationship questions and introduces its main ideas step by step, including needs, circumstances, and communication skills. If you work in areas like social work or health care, some material may feel especially relevant, but it isn't required.

Yes, it's a good fit if you're new to studying relationships and want a guided way to think about them. The course explains concepts clearly, then reinforces them with quizzes, readings, and short written activities instead of assuming prior expertise. It may feel less suitable if you're looking only for quick advice, because it asks you to reflect and work with frameworks throughout.

Plan on about 33 hours in total, or roughly 3 to 4 weeks at around 10 hours a week. The workload is steady rather than intense, with time split across video lessons, readings, quizzes, and written reflections or peer review tasks. The course includes lessons, readings, quizzes, and practice assignments throughout.

Yes, but the practice is reflective and case-based rather than project or lab-based. You'll work through quizzes, written exercises, and peer review tasks that ask you to analyze relationship situations, build a personal game plan, or identify unmet needs behind a conflict. That guided practice helps you use the ideas on real situations instead of only reading about them.

You'll cover how human needs shape relationships, how to assess a situation with N3C, and how SSLD reframes problems into learning goals. The course also moves through communication, social scripts, attachment patterns, intimacy, sexuality, compatibility, and the transformation or ending of relationships. Overall, it gives you a way to understand both everyday tensions and bigger relationship shifts with more clarity.

After finishing, you should be able to look at a relationship issue more clearly and respond with a more deliberate plan. You'll know how to identify unmet needs, listen for emotions and meanings in conversation, and express your own needs more effectively. For example, you could take a recurring conflict and turn it into a clearer assessment of what each person needs and what might help next.

It's more concept-focused, with guided practice built in. Most of the course is about understanding frameworks for relationships and communication, while quizzes, case analyses, and written exercises help you apply them.

Choose this course if you want a relationships course with a clear method, not just general advice. Its distinctive angle is the way it ties everyday topics like dating, communication, intimacy, and breakups back to human needs, using frameworks such as SSLD and N3C plus case-based reflection. If you want a thoughtful course that helps you analyze your own relationships as well as understand others, this is likely a better fit than a lighter tip-based alternative.

Financial aid available,

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