Delhi University Introduces 'Negotiating Intimate Relationships' Course for Undergraduates

Delhi University (DU) is set to launch a new elective course titled "Negotiating Intimate Relationships" in the 2025–26 academic session. Offered by the Department of Psychology, this four-credit course is open to all undergraduate students who have completed their Class 12 examinations, regardless of their academic discipline.

Course Overview

The course aims to address the emotional complexities and psychological challenges faced by young adults in the digital era. It seeks to help students understand the psychological foundations of intimate relationships, develop emotional resilience, and promote healthy interpersonal connections.

Course Structure

The course will consist of three lectures and one tutorial per week, covering four major thematic units:

• Psychology of Friendships and Intimate Relationships: Explores the psychology behind friendships and close bonds, providing students with a theoretical and practical framework to understand human connections.
• Understanding Love and Sexuality: Delves into various theories of love and sexuality, including Robert Sternberg’s triangular theory of love and the two-factor theory, enabling students to critically analyze the basis of romantic and emotional attachment.
• Identifying Red Flags in Relationships: Focuses on recognizing signs of emotional manipulation, jealousy, and intimate partner violence, issues that have increasingly become a cause for concern in student populations.
• Building Healthy Relationships: Emphasizes strategies to nurture fulfilling, respectful, and long-term relationships, highlighting emotional intelligence and offering students tools for resolving interpersonal conflict in a constructive manner.

Interactive Learning Approach

Although there is no formal practical component, the tutorial sessions are expected to be highly interactive. Activities will include film reviews, debates on contemporary dating culture, group discussions, and analyses of social media networks. Students will critically assess films such as Kabir Singh and Titanic to examine portrayals of love, obsession, and conflict in popular culture. They will also engage in applied exercises using tools such as Sternberg’s triangular love scale to assess their romantic relationships and deepen their understanding of intimacy and emotional dynamics.

Addressing Contemporary Issues

The course has been conceptualized in response to the growing emotional distress and reported incidents of interpersonal violence and toxic relationships among youth. DU hopes that structured academic engagement will foster greater emotional intelligence and self-awareness in students.

Course Objectives

According to the official course outline, the key objectives are to help students:

• Understand the psychological underpinnings of intimate relationships;
• Recognize emotional triggers and sources of interpersonal conflict;
• Cultivate the ability to form meaningful, respectful, and emotionally healthy bonds.

By the end of the course, students are expected to be able to analyze the psychological roots of love, distress, and attachment, and to apply their insights to real-life relational experiences. 

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