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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Introduction to Psychology by Yale University

4.9
stars
27,753 ratings

About the Course

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....

Top reviews

TP

Dec 17, 2021

An excellent course to get a general idea about psychology as well as understanding of what to do next if you are into learning more. Very useful links for extra reading. And very engaging instructor.

IS

Nov 4, 2023

A very comprehensive course, giving you the insights into the field of psychology, even with no prior background of psychology, and containing interesting references and examples throughout the course

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51 - 75 of 6,107 Reviews for Introduction to Psychology

By K E

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May 12, 2020

This was a brilliant course , and would definitely recommend it to my friends and colleagues who wish to pursue a course on psychology professor Bloom's lectures were very informative and detailed.

By Yousra K

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Nov 20, 2019

I enjoyed it thoroughly, it was precise and with animations it helped me memorized things that were new for me. I enjoyed it and never wanted it to come to and end.

By Megan G

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Feb 20, 2022

This course desperately needs to be updated. It has incredibly outdated language around gender and sexuality - to the point of being offensive - and shockingly detrimental and outdated content with regards to mental health, trauma, and mental illness. Some examples: - In the video lecture on parenting, Bloom talks about the idea that children are to blame for their bad/abusive parents: "So, for instance, children who are spanked tend to be more violent. Now, one possibility is there are genes that make parents likely to spank and children likely to be violent or genes that proposed people say to low impulse control lean both to the spanking of bad behavior. A second possibility maybe the one that most people believe is that parents spanking their kid makes her kid meaner. But a third possibility is if you have an aggressive and violent kid, you're more likely to spank him or her and that will be a child effect." - The comment, again, in the parenting lecture, "Which is that parenting doesn't matter anywhere near as much as people believe it does." This course doesn't have ANY discussion of attachment theory or trauma. Parenting matters HUGELY in terms of its effects on children with regards to so, so many things. It actually changes their brain structure, in the case of emotional neglect or abuse of any kind. I was shocked that none of this was addressed. It ignores a huge portion of psychological findings in the past few years, blames the victims (your parents are spanking you because you're bad/violent). I was absolutely appalled, as were my psychologist friends with whom I shared this information. - In the first lecture in week 5, entitled "Mental Illness," I was once again SHOCKED to hear this statement, "What you find in these pages is a lot of things, this includes some crazy people muttering on the streets as in schizophrenia." In a lecture on mental illness, a psychologist labels someone with schizophrenia as "crazy"? Unbelievable. First of all, there should be compassionate, people-first language. Secondly, to label someone with mental illness as "crazy" is offensive and inaccurate. I was totally shocked to hear that in this course. - Later on, and I have to find it, Bloom talked about "alcoholics and drug addicts" - again, I was shocked to see a complete refusal to use people-first language. I expected to hear "someone with alcoholism or drug addiction." This course, as I mentioned, desperately needs to be updated. It needs: - something that addresses attachment theory & the impact of trauma - people-first language - a more nuanced, scientifically-updated understanding of gender and sexuality This course is far, far behind the times. It's victim-blaming and heteronormative.

By Amir P

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Jan 7, 2019

The content was interesting but the teaching process was quite boring. nevertheless loved the course.

By Amareesh C

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Apr 14, 2020

an brief overview on basics of course

By ANITA K

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Jan 13, 2019

The course is very basic.

By petya

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Dec 28, 2018

visual are cool, but very superficial

By Deleted A

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May 26, 2021

I don't understand why a professor could start a lecture on psychology by telling the multiple injuries the brain can suffer? why not start but saying what the brain does and how wonderful it is. Maybe this professor is himself suffering from some of this diseases. He should refocus his lectures to start with a positive view.

Regards

By Anandu G

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Apr 16, 2020

poor animation and presentation

By Диана Г

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Feb 15, 2020

My deepest gratitude to Professor Bloom for all the intelligence, knowledges, inspirations to learn more and tremendous efforts Professor Bloom put in this incredible course!

There are so many insights and knowledges that are fascinating!

I loved the structure of the course, the wide diversity of themes.

I never got bored even for a second, it was all so captivating, wise, well-informed, creative, bright and interesting.

I enjoyed the animation format so much, how beautiful and professionally this course is made.

One of my favorite part were the assignments, they are for sure one of the most intellegent assignments I have ever seen.

It's not just some randomly picked questions, but something that is well-considered, something that really make you think. It was so exciting to answer them.

If all the courses would be like this one course, honestly, I would never stop studying!)

I am very happy that I took this absolutely astonishing, perfectly-made course!

By James T

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Aug 12, 2020

I had previously enrolled in a few other courses of interest and quickly became bored or uninterested in completing those enrolled, until now. Psychology has always interested me and this course reaffirmed my interest. Professor Bloom's presentation kept my interest throughout the course and motivated me to work on it every day to see what's next. The subjects in the field of Psychology presented in this course related so much to what we as humans encounter daily - I would highly recommend this course to any one individual across all professions as we all need a general understanding of ourselves and to understand others in our lives...

By Ryan M T

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Dec 13, 2019

I found this course to be highly educational and useful for anyone who is interested in the field of psychology, such as myself. The entirety of the course provided very detailed information and resources for a large variety of topics, all of which were presented in an interesting way. Although Professor Bloom’s voice was a bit bland, the good points heavily outweigh the bad. All in all, I would absolutely recommend this course to anyone interested in the field of psychology, and I believe that it deserved every one of the 5 stars that I rated it.

By vani k

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Jul 14, 2021

I feel so blessed that I got to do this course. It has lectures of really knowledgable professor with absolutely relevant material and the quizzes kept me motivated to finish milestones and set for completion. I finished this course before the timeline, despite dealing with office work and managing my kid an family. I am so happy that I have now added the skill and knowledge that I was thinking for long to achieve. I am a finance professional and now have the foundational knowledge to build my career in psychology as well.

By riddhi v

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Feb 23, 2019

I have completed the course yet I didn't receive my certificate for the same. I had applied for the financial aid which was approved still the link for the sharable certificate is not displayed. Please help.

By Nuan

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Jun 27, 2022

Low-quality and sometime inconsiderate presentation. It feels more like an overview of the content creator's opinion or (scientific) standing about psychology instead of an introduction psych class which is supposed to be unbiased (less personal), full of scientifically proved theories (the annimation and poor presentation are not helping!) and psychologically interesting and helpful towards an online audience (instead of students trying to get an easy A). Learned all the way to week 5 and decided not to continue due to the poor scientific quality. I'd like an intro psych class NOT about understanding how certain researchers think (that's not introductory), BUT on what psychology is and how it can help! If I'm knowledgable enough of psych, then it might be good to attend an advanced psych course presented in a smililar style where I know how to extract the information to form my own understanding and research more into a subtopic I'm interested in, or intereact for clarification if I'm in an actual classroom. However, for an INTRODUCTORY online course... I now need to look somewhere else.

By Jessica t D

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Mar 12, 2021

The sound effects are loud and painful to anyone with a hearing disability, autism, et cetera and they completely distract from the professor's voice. The professor seems like a decent teacher and has a calming voice, but the animation just totally ruins the whole course.

By Lucy A

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Aug 31, 2022

I took this course because Im seriously considering to enrool to university for psychology and did not wanted to jump straight into it and put myself into debt in a case I would not feel like it's something I want to do. However this course helped me not only understand the basics, but also to find the path I wish to go for, the specific field I would love to get into and most of all it helped me to understand myself. To understand my own mental health (which is pretty poor) and why is it happening and see it, see myself from different perspective. It also helped me to see more openly towards other people. Everyone should at least see these videos to widen their knowledge!

By Wisp P

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Apr 1, 2021

This course was extremely well-planned, well-thought-through, and well-executed. The materials were split up in amazing, concise ways that further assist students in learning the topics. It covered all the basic materials to give you a firm foundation for the field of psychology. Mr. Bloom was an outstanding professor. He didn't answer questions. He raised more questions. He didn't teach. He guided our learning. He didn't use conventional techniques. He taught in ways to keep students engaged. Filled with humor, stories, and informational value, this course will most certainly change the way you perceive yourself.

By WIJAYASIRI , D

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Sep 11, 2020

This course was my first course on Coursera and I really learnt a lot from this. It was a new experience to me because at first I was surprised to see professor Bloom was not in the lecture for real and it didn't take a long time to me to get used to the graphics and I think graphics made the lecture series more interesting. At the beginning I read most of the reviews to get an idea about the course and there were both positive and negative ones. It is okay to read them but never depend on someone's review. Instead trust yourself and study well. Thank you Professor Bloom, Couesrea and COL for this opportunity.

By Elisabetta P

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May 15, 2020

This is a first time for me doing an online course and I have alot of health issues and low attention span but with this course I'm proud to say I passed! Thank you for such a rewarding experience, your videos were short enough and engaging with the animations to keep my attention. There were alot of relevant resources that were also very informative that enhanced the reading knowledge. With the way this course was set up it was fairly easy for me to get through and understand and I will be continuing on with other courses. Thanks for the self-esteem boost I so needed!

By HARDIK S

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Jul 20, 2021

If you don't know what a psychology is, this is a best course just for introduction but remember in mind, you will not be taught how to use diff therapies to how to help a person deal with depression and all of that which I thought when i joined this course. and its pretty much justified and ok for me coz it was just the introduction to psychology. but through this course, I really gained some insight to psychology and now i know which course to pursue i.e. some full therapy course like CBT, or mindfulness etc.

By S K

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Sep 8, 2022

First of all, the graphics (along with the sound effects) was beyond my expectations, the simplicity and the attention to minute details made the lectures really absorbing. The examples, stories, and flashbacks and in general, the way the content was conveyed was mainly comic and engaging; the syllable was well-designed in my opinion and easy to follow. The last but not the least, the tone, the fluency and the exquisite command of the lecturer made it the most enjoyable course I have passed on Coursera so far.

By Dimitri P

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Sep 1, 2022

Excellent introduction to the vast field of psychology. Great course. Taking slow progress into the technical asepcts was very much appreciated. the animated classroom setting was calming and helpful to process the information shared. The additional videos and images were most helpful in getting the concepts and idea. The lecture style of the professor was fantastic. He would not come right up and say what was correct or incorrect...but allowed the information to process to make up our own minds.

By Tanim J

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Jun 24, 2020

I have been doing online courses on various topics for years, but never came across one that is as interesting as this Intro course. It can be argued that as this is very basic psychology course, the non extensive lectures in various topics are bound to be interesting, which is true, but also apart from that, the professor is great, and the links to outside readings and the layout is also very thoughtful and designed to catch attention perfectly. What a great course!

By Tenzin K

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Oct 24, 2019

I joined this course for the purpose of understanding my own feelings. As you age and grow older, you are influenced by so many factors in your life that make you confused with your own thoughts, purposes, and feelings. This course not only helped me understand how the brain affects the mental state of life but also touched on many areas which were a bonus for me. I would like to thank Coursera and Professor Bloom for this great opportunity.