Introduction to Psychology (Coursera)

Syllabus

WEEK 1
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.

WEEK 2
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.

WEEK 3
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.

WEEK 4
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.

WEEK 5
Variation
In this module, you will learn human variation. The focus will focus on personality and intelligence, and the role of genes and environment in explaining individual differences. The second half will focus on clinical psychology by reviewing prominent mental illnesses and therapies.

WEEK 6
The good life
In the final module, you will learn how psychologists measure happiness and what factors contribute to the good life