Course description

Why do we remember some things and forget others? Why does a group sometimes make a worse decision than one person would? Why can two people see the same event so differently? This course is a friendly introduction to psychology, the scientific study of how we think, feel, remember and behave.

It's written for curious adults in the UK, for people thinking about studying psychology, and for anyone whose work is mostly about people. You learn the main ideas one at a time: the approaches psychologists take, how research works, the brain, perception and attention, learning, memory, thinking and biases, emotion and motivation, personality, development across life and social psychology. Along the way you meet the well-known studies, what they reported and why some are now criticised. You finish by writing your own short analysis of an everyday situation using ideas from the course.

There are 10 sections and 50 written lessons, each with a worked example, common slips, questions people often ask and a short exercise to try, and each section ends with a short quiz. You follow a few made-up people in Shrewsbury, mainly Flurina, a learning support assistant at a college, and, in the final section, Seraina, a new shift supervisor at a garden centre working out why her team has stopped using a new watering sheet. Every section has a practice pack with a worksheet, example answers, a cheat sheet, worked examples and a concept summary sheet, plus extras such as a study design worksheet, simple drawings of the brain, memory and conditioning, a memory techniques planner, a bias spotting worksheet, myth or fact sheets, case scenarios, a course glossary and a final project template with a worked example.

What you'll learn

• What psychology is: the scientific study of the mind and behaviour, where it came from, and seven approaches: biological, behavioural, cognitive, psychodynamic, humanistic, social and developmental.
• How psychologists study people: theories and predictions, observations, surveys and case studies, experiments, correlation and cause, samples, replication and research ethics.
• The brain and nervous system: neurons and synapses, the parts of the brain, how the brain is studied, hormones and the stress response, nature and nurture, and brain myths.
• Perception and attention: sensation and perception, illusions and depth cues, selective attention and multitasking, and how expectations shape what we see.
• Learning: classical and operant conditioning, reinforcement and punishment, learning by watching others, and using these ideas kindly in everyday life.
• Memory: how memory works, kinds of long-term memory, why we forget, false memories and eyewitnesses, and study methods with good evidence behind them.
• Thinking, problem solving and biases: fast and slow thinking, problem solving, mental shortcuts, common biases and a checklist for better decisions.
• Emotion, motivation, personality and development: theories of emotion, what drives us, the Big Five personality traits, development across the lifespan, and attachment.
• Social psychology: conformity, obedience and roles, attitudes and persuasion, groups and bystanders, and prejudice, with the criticisms and ethics of well-known studies.
• Psychology in your life and your final project: an outline of mental health and where to get help, UK careers and study routes, pop psychology myths, a worked analysis and your own final project.

Who it's for

Adults who want to understand people better, at home or at work, and anyone wondering whether to study psychology further. You don't need any science background or maths to start. A notebook is all you need.

What this course is, and isn't

This course is an educational introduction to psychology. It isn't therapy or treatment, it can't diagnose anything and it doesn't qualify you to work as a psychologist. Health facts come from NHS pages, and careers facts from the HCPC, the British Psychological Society and the National Careers Service. If you need urgent help, call 999 or go to A&E if a life is at risk; for urgent mental health help, use NHS 111 in England or call 111 and press 2 in Wales, call NHS 24 on 111 in Scotland, or call Lifeline on 0808 808 8000 in Northern Ireland. Samaritans are free to call on 116 123. Flurina, Seraina and every other person in the course are fictional, and so are Severnside College and Brackenfold Garden Centre.

What will I learn?

• Explain what psychology is and compare seven main approaches, from biological to developmental
• Describe how psychologists study people, and tell a correlation from evidence of cause
• Outline how neurons, the brain, hormones and the stress response work, and spot common brain myths
• Explain how perception and attention work, and why we sometimes miss or misread what is in front of us
• Describe classical and operant conditioning and observational learning, with everyday examples
• Explain how memory works and why we forget, and use study methods with good evidence behind them
• Recognise common mental shortcuts and biases, and use a simple checklist for better decisions
• Describe ideas about emotion, motivation, personality traits and development across the lifespan
• Explain conformity, obedience, persuasion, bystander behaviour and prejudice, including the criticisms and ethics of well-known studies
• Know where to get mental health help in the UK, how psychologists are regulated, and how to analyse an everyday situation using psychology

Frequently asked questions