Teaching Relationship Science

Relationship science spans multiple disciplines of inquiry, ranging from neuroscience to demography, and is a dynamic enterprise, rich with ongoing discovery. The field’s breadth and pace thus present both challenges and opportunities to those who introduce it to others. This chapter draws on surveys and interviews of instructors to consider their choices of the topics they teach, comparing the content of relationships courses from one discipline to another. Substantial similarities and disciplinary distinctiveness are both found to exist. Then, we focus on the partnerships between teachers and their students, examining how specific relationship processes (such as self-disclosure) and qualities of instructors (such as empathy and immediacy) contribute to student engagement and learning. We also address new challenges in the teaching of relationship science that include the remote nature of online instruction, the increasing diversity of our students, and the emergence of generative artificial intelligence. Finally, the value of relationships courses to the students who take them is assessed.