Course Description:
The lives of women will be explored from several psychological perspectives, including the Stone Center relational model. The current research on girls and adolescent females will be studied including the work of Dr. Carol Gilligan and her colleagues. Female biological development and sexuality will be discussed. Cross-cultural and minority patterns of female socialization will be examined. The course includes practical exercises such as tire changing, learning self-defense techniques, using the new computer technology, and presenting and discussing family heirlooms.

Course Prerequisites: General Psychology 110.

Course Objectives:
At the end of the course, the students should be able to:
A. Distinguish between the concepts of "sex" and "gender".
B. Identify patterns of gender socialization in majority and minority women, including the similarities and differences among women of color, disabled women, lesbians, immigrants.
C. Identify unconscious ideologies concerning males and females, using the work of Stoller and Chodorow.
D. Compare and contrast female development using psychoanalytic, social learning and relational theory.
E. Describe the self-in-relation model of the Stone Center.
F. Identify critical adjustments for women throughout the lifespan, from infancy to old age, such as parental expectations, identity formation, menstruation, marriage, divorce, menopause, widowhood.
G. Compare the types of mental illness and life problems of males and females, including the political and social forces which contribute to the naming of patterns of disturbance.
H. Identify the differences between young girls (9-11) and older adolescents (13-15), using Gilligan's theory of voice.
I. Identify the similarities between young girls and adult women in therapy, using the concepts of voice and empathic resonance.
J. Identify therapies that are potentially useful for women, including relational therapy and self-help groups.
K. Identify the causes and consequences of domestic violence, including the impact on children.

Student Learning Outcomes:
A. Students learn interviewing techniques and produce a biography of their own mother based on the interviews. The biography should identify the impact of various institutions of socialization on her development. These include: the family, school, peers, religion. The paper should also include information on the goals and ambitions of the mother at different time periods, i.e. primary school, high school. The paper should discuss the impact of life events on the mother=s goals and ambitions (marriage, children, crises). The paper should include the mother=s reflections on what she would have done differently and her dreams and goals for the future.

B. Students complete an oral presentation to the class. Each one brings an artifact made by a woman in their family and discusses its history, significance and importance.
C. Students complete a practical exercise (tire changing).
D. Students successfully complete 3 exams.

Topical Outline:
1. Theories of female psychological development (2 wks)
A. Psychoanalytic
B. Social Learning
C. Relational
2. Research Issues. (1 wk)
A. Bias in research
B. Limitations of research studies
3. Life span development (3 wks)
A. Prenatal environment
B. Infancy
C. Childhood
D. Early adolescence
E. Late adolescence
F. Adulthood
G. Middle age
H. Old age
4. Psychological Adjustment (3 wks)
A. Defining mental illness
B. Psychotherapy
C. Alternative treatments
5. Re-visioning the future (6 wks)
A. Working with pre-adolescent girls
B. Constructing gender and cultural dialogues

Teaching methods: small group discussions, speakers, films, posting messages to a class listserv, modeling tire changing, self-defense class.

Methods of Assessment: Three exams, biography of one's mother, interviews with pre- and adolescent girls, oral presentation and practical exercise

Suggested Text: Elizabeth Rider (2000). Our voices: The psychology of women. Wadsworth.
Other materials provided by the instructor.

Pertinent references:
Jean Baker Miller and Irene P. Stiver (1994). Movement in therapy: Honoring the "strategies of disconnection." Wellesley, MA: The Stone
Center, Work in Progress No. 65.
Jean Baker Miller and Irene Stiver (1995). Relational images and their meanings in psychotherapy. Wellesley, MA: The Stone Center, Work in Progress No. 74.
Stephen Bergman and Janet L. Surrey (1994). Couples therapy: A relational approach. Wellesley, MA: The Stone Center, Work in Progress No. 66.
Lyn Brown and Carol Gilligan (1992). Meeting at the crossroads: Women's psychology and girls' development.
Paula J. Caplan (1994). You're smarter that they make you feel: How the experts intimidate us and what we can do about it. NY: The Free Press.
L. Comas- Diaz and B. Greene (Eds)(1994). Women of color: Integrating ethnic and gender identities in psychotherapy. NY: Guilford Press.
Dana Crowley Jack (1991). Silencing the self: Women and depression, Cambridge MA: Beverly Daniel Tatum (1993). Racial identity development and relational theory: The case of Black women in White communities. Wellesley, MA. The Stone Center, Work in Progress No. 63.
Elizabeth Debold, Marie Wilson and Idelisse Malave (1993). Mother daughter revolution: From betrayal to power. Reading MA: Addison Wesley.
Sumru Erkut, Fern Marx, Jacqueline Fields and Rachel Sing (1996). Raising competent girls: One size does not fit all. Wellesley, MA: The Stone Center, Working Paper No. 282.
Joyce Fletcher (1996). Relational theory in the workplace. Wellesley, MA: The Stone Center, Work in Progress No. 77.
Cynthia Garcia Coll, Robin Cook-Nobles and Janet Surrey (1993). Building connection through diversity. Wellesley, MA: The Stone Center, Working Paper no. 64.
Cynthia Garcia Coll, Janet L. Surrey, & Kathy Weingarten (1998). Mothering against the odds: Diverse voices of contemporary mothers. NY: The Guilford Press.
Carol Gilligan, Nona P. Lyons and Trudy J. Hanmer (1990). The relational worlds of adolescent girls at Emma Willard School. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.
Judith Jordan, Alexandra G. Kaplan, Jean Baker Miller, Irene P. Stiver, Janet L. Surrey (1991). Women's growth in connection:
Writings from the Stone Center. NY: Guilford Press.
Judith V. Jordan (1994). A relational persepctive on self-esteem. Wellesley, MA: The Stone Center, Work in Progress No. 70.
Judith Jordan (1995). Relational awareness: transforming disconnection. Wellesley, MA: The Stone Center, Work in Progress No. 76.
Judith Jordan, Stephen Bergman, Cynthia Garcia Coll, Natalie Eldridge, Julie Mencher, Jean Baker Miller (1997). Women=s growth in diversity. NY: Guilford Press.
Judith Lewis Herman (1997). Trauma and Recovery. NY: Basic Books.
Jill McLean Taylor, Carol Gilligan, and Amy Sullivan (1995). Between voice and silence: Women and girls: race and relationship. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Peggy Orenstein (1994). School girls: Young women, self-esteem and the confidence gap. NY: Doubleday.
Mary Pipher. (1994). Reviving Ophelia: Saving the selves of adolescent girls. NY: Ballantine Books.
Marsha Pravder Mirkin and Pamela Gelb (1995). Consciousness of context in relational couples therapy. Wellesley, MA: The Stone Center, Working Paper no. 93.
Samuel Shem and Janet Surrey (1998). We have to talk: Healing dialogues between women and men. NY: Basic Books.
Irene Stiver and Jean Baker Miller (1998). The healing connection: How women form relationships in therapy and in life. NY: Guilford Press.

Preparer's Name and Date: Toby Silverman, Ph.D., 9/2000.

Original Departmental Approval Date: 1976.

Reviser's Name and Date: Toby Silverman 9/2000.

Departmental Revision Approval Date: 9/2000.