Introduction to Psychology

In this introductory lesson, psychology students go back in time, reviewing how various civilizations across the ages dealt with abnormal behavior.

In this basic psychology lesson, learn about positive and negative correlations, how to interpret data, and understand the relationships between variables.

In this lesson, review each part of the scientific method, and learn how to create and test a hypothesis for research, publish results, and form theories.

What are the differences among mental illness, insanity, and competency? In this psychology lesson, learn how criminals are judged based on psychological state.

In this psychology lesson, learn how the two halves of the brain work together—and separately—and the pros and cons of being a lefty or a righty.

This psychology lesson offers a quick tour of the more important parts of the brain. Learn to identify the parts of the picture for this lesson!

Learn about the several interconnected nervous systems in your body. Find out how they are arranged, which does what, and how they affect one another.

Discover how your brain sends signals to all parts of your body, and vice versa. It involves chemicals, ions, insulation, and maybe even a party!

Learn about the unsung heroes of the nervous system: glia! Glial cells can help or hinder, heal or hurt, but they don't get any respect—except here.

The dendrite's connected to the soma! The soma's connected to the axon! The axon's connected to—what? Learn about the structure of the neuron in this lesson!

If you ever wanted to know how drugs work in our brains, here it is! Learn how signals are sent between the cells that make up nerves, and how drugs work.

Learn about what scientists think is the most common way we forget things (hint: it's probably not what you think!), plus hints on how to not lose information.

Learn how your brain retrieves memories—or, perhaps, doesn't. Plus, hear why some of what you remember happening in your life didn't actually happen!

How can two brown-eyed parents have a blue-eyed child? Is there a gene for intelligence? Learn all about hereditary and genetics in this psychology lesson.

Understand the progress of human prenatal development, from conception to birth—and learn why it's so amazing that any of us made it this far!

Feeling happy or sad or angry? In this psychology lesson, learn different ideas concerning how our bodies process and show all kinds of emotions.

Ever wonder why you get sick after you've been stressed out? Or what a psychosomatic disorder is? In this psychology lesson, Dr. Lisa Fosbender explains it all.

Do you (or someone you know) praise kids for everything they do, even if they don't do it well? Learn why this isn't a good idea in this lecture.

How do others describe you? Learn how traits have been used to describe personality for centuries, as well as more recent scientific ways of using them.

A therapy based on learning? How does reward and punishment fix a mental disorder? And why can't we tickle ourselves? Discover operant therapies in this lesson.

Have you ever been accused of being "born with an attitude"? Want to see if that actually happens? Dr. Lisa Fosbender explains it all in this psychology lesson.

Who do we tend to wind up with and why? Do opposites attract? In this social psychology lesson, Professor Fosbender lays down the rules of attraction.

Have you got rhythm? You do! Learn more about biological rhythms (as well as why staying up late on days off isn't a good idea) in this psychology lesson.

Learn some of the possible reasons why we do what we do, from a biological perspective, in this introductory psychology lesson from Dr. Lisa Fosbender.

In this psychology lesson, learn about the biological underpinnings of our personalities, from genetic influences to neurotransmitters to brain wiring.

Learn about classical conditioning, Pavlov's dogs, and why phobias are so hard to get over in this introductory psychology lesson from Dr. Lisa Fosbender.

Learn some of the psychological techniques that salespeople use to get you to buy things in this psychology lesson from Dr. Lisa Fosbender.

Learn about the two different types of deafness/hearing impairments, and discover what you can do to minimize your chance of losing your hearing.

In this psychology lesson, learn about the most common (and probably most familiar) methods of research into behavior and how variables affect an experiment.

In this psychology lesson, learn more about how scientific experiments are designed, to ensure that the results obtained are as accurate as possible.

Learn about the different types of addiction and dependence, and also a bit about why not all drugs (psychoactive and otherwise) work for everyone.

In this introductory psychology lesson, learn about the different types of ESP, about the evidence supporting their existence, and about why we want to believe.

What exactly is language? In this lesson, learn what makes a language, why animals aren't considered to have languages, and the importance of syntax.

In this lesson about experiments, learn how experiments are set up, what researchers are looking for, and how something simple can wreck everything.

In this psychology lesson, learn about the two basic ways research is performed and why it's impossible to test everything to prove that A causes B.