What are people most afraid of? What do our dreams mean? Are we natural-born racists? What makes us happy? What are the causes and cures of mental illness? This course tries to answer these questions and many others, providing a comprehensive overview of the scientific study of thought and behavior. It explores topics such as perception, communication, learning, memory, decision-making, persuasion, emotions, and social behavior. We will look at how these aspects of the mind develop in children, how they differ across people, how they are wired-up in the brain, and how they break down due to illness and injury.
About this Course
Skills you will gain
Offered by

Yale University
For more than 300 years, Yale University has inspired the minds that inspire the world. Based in New Haven, Connecticut, Yale brings people and ideas together for positive impact around the globe. A research university that focuses on students and encourages learning as an essential way of life, Yale is a place for connection, creativity, and innovation among cultures and across disciplines.
Syllabus - What you will learn from this course
Welcome to Introduction to Psychology
Meet Paul Bloom, your instructor.
Foundations
In this module, you will learn about foundational psychological theories and findings in psychology. We will start with the discovery that our mental lives have a physical basis, introducing the field of neuroscience. And then we will turn to two major psychological theories that have come to shape the world that we now live in—Freud’s psychodynamic theory and Skinner’s theory of behaviorism.
Development and Language
In this module, you will learn about foundational psychological research into development and language. Specifically, you will learn about methods for studying how infants and children think and the core discoveries that they have led to. Then you will learn about the structure of language, how language is learned, and end with a little bit on animal communication, language processing, and relationship between language and thought.
Cognition
In this module, you will learn about cognitive psychology. Specifically, you will learn about how we perceive the world, how attention works, and we store our experiences in memory.
Self and others
In this module, you will learn about psychology examining the self and others. Specifically, in the first half, you will learn about social and non-social emotions. In the second half, you will learn about how we deal with other people—social psychology.
Reviews
TOP REVIEWS FROM INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY
Was very useful and insightful. Being an educator, t allowed to delve into various aspects which allows to understand differences i children .and underlying reasons. Thanks for wonderful experience
This was my second course using this site, and with Professor Bloom, and once again it was great. I've genuinely learnt a lot, and I've found a new love for psychology I never would have found before.
Professor Bloom has quite engaging style of teaching and the animations in this course provided nice visual reference.Overall, it's a nice course if you want to learn basic introduction of psychology.
This course is very insightful and I have learned quite a lot. My favourite area though is Clinical Psychology and Positive Psychology. I believe I will be better able to understand persons around me.
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