Ready to learn about psychology? It’s a fascinating area of study. Below you will find some great general and introductory psychology resources, including some video resources.

Crash Courses: Intro to Psychology

The Crash Courses YouTube channel provides an intro to psychology in 40 fun, irreverent videos, each averaging about 10 minutes. There’s no need to watch the whole series; each video covers a specific major topic, such as “The Chemical Mind,” “Sleep,” and “Rorschach & Freudians.”

An Overview of Psychology

This entry, written by a board-certified physician, offers a robust overview of the science of psychology. Starting with “what is psychology?”, the article touches on the origins and progress of psychology, psychology basics everyone should know and more.

Psychology Today

This is the online home for the popular magazine of the same name. Come here for posts that explore myriad topics from a psychological point of view – everything from aging to willpower.

Open Yale Courses: Introduction to Psychology

Even if you’re not enrolled at Yale, you can still sit in on a semester of intro to psychology classes. Watch 20 sessions and even take the midterm and final exams.

PsychCentral

Check out hundreds of entries and resources related to the field of mental health and psychology.

Scholarly Psychology Resources

Come here for dozens of scholarly psychology resources covering a wide range of topics, including cognitive science, humanistic psychology and psychology research.

To help you prepare for your psychology classes or study for upcoming quizzes or tests, we have found several links to psychology study resources.

Introduction and History of Psychology Flash Cards

Sortable and audible flashcards that allow students to hear or read the main terms used in psychology, as well as their definitions and examples.

Psychology Major Figures Study Guide

A study guide that features dozens of important figures in the field of psychology, and their contributions to this discipline.

PSY101 Study Guide

A comprehensive study guide for Psychology 101, a popular class for many college students. Utilize the learning objectives, questions and a test bank to help you successfully pass this class.

All About Psychology

A free Facebook page that allows psychology students and educators to communicate about this discipline. This social media resource provides helpful videos, blogs and posts to help you excel in this field.

Check out the resources below for teaching tips, lesson plans, curriculum and much more.

American Psychological Association

The APA offers a host of resources for the teaching of pre-college psychology. Come here for lesson plans, curriculum and more.

Society for the Teaching of Psychology

This is a great site for psychology teachers to bookmark. Find articles, presentations and more from members of the community of psychology educators.

Social Psychology Teaching Resources

Come here for many resources on teaching social psychology, including text book recommendations, lesson plans, classroom activities and more.

High School Psychology Teacher Resources

If you’re new to teaching psychology at the high school level, this is the guide for you. Sections include how to get started; lesson planning; and maintaining your health, among others.

To truly understand any subject, it is important to know its history. Use the resources below to learn about the origins and development of the discipline of psychology.

Outline of the History of Psychology

This brief outline lists advances in psychology in chronological order. Learn about the developments that have been made since the first psychological laboratory was opened in 1879 to what has occurred through the year 2000.

This Week in the History of Psychology Podcast

Recordings of a weekly podcast that ran from 2006 to 2007, written and produced by Christopher D. Green, professor of psychology at York University in Canada. In addition, this website features interviews, reviews and discussions about the history of psychology.

History of American Psychology

A detailed outline with dates and information on how American psychology has come to be defined studied and practiced. Learn how this discipline advanced in 700 years, from 1247-1997.

The American Psychological Association Historical Database Online

This historical database includes information on over 3,100 different events that shaped the field of psychology.

Society for the History of Psychology

A division of the American Psychological Association (APA), this organization includes scholars, educators and students who are interested in learning more about the history of psychology. Follow them on Facebook or Twitter to keep up with their discussions

Psychology is a broad field of study with many different theories and sub-theories on the subject. Use the resources below to learn more about six major schools of psychological thought.

Functionalism:  

Functional psychology focuses on what the mind does and how to describe thoughts and their influence without delving into how and why it is done. Below are resources to help you learn more about Functionalism.

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

A helpful resource that explains what functionalism is, lists the different varieties of functionalism and various theories on this topic.

Introduction to Functionalism

A resource that acknowledges that functionalism is a controversial area of study, and presents arguments of scholars and practitioners who present arguments against functionalism.

Gestalt Psychology:

This school of psychology applies logic to help patients problems solve problems. The belief in this field is that our brains use laws and rules to paint a whole picture out of incomplete information. Learn more about this school with the following resources.

The Gestalt Principles

This resource provides the six basic principles of Gestalt psychology.

Gestalt psychology facts, information, pictures

This resource includes detailed information about the field of Gestalt psychology, along with a bibliography that includes other relevant sources in this area of study.

Psychoanalysis:

Originated by Sigmund Freud, psychoanalytic theory holds that the subconscious mind influences our behavior. These resources can help you understand more about this school of psychology.

Psychoanalytic Theory & Approaches

This resource provides information on the history of psychoanalysis, as well as current treatment approaches.

Psychoanalysis: Freud’s Revolutionary Approach

A paper that focuses on the basic principles of psychoanalysis, as well as presenting expert views and criticisms.

Behaviorism:

Originating in the 1950’s by B.F. Skinner, who conducted experiments with animals, this school of psychology believes that psychology works best by observing behavior, instead of analyzing how the mind works. This theory focuses on experiments whose results can be duplicated in various settings. Learn more about behaviorism by visiting links to the sources below.

Behaviorism – Learning Theories

A resource that provides information on the major contributors to behaviorism, key concepts, as well as additional references.

Theories of Behavioral Psychology

This website provides an overview of behavioral psychology, including its history and main points.

Humanistic Psychology: 

This branch focuses on Abraham Maslow’s “hierarchy of needs” to explain that human motivations can help to explain behaviors. When humans try to meet their needs, they obtain self-satisfaction. Want to get more information on this topic? Visit the links below.

Overview of Humanistic Psychology

An article that provides the history of humanistic psychology and explains how it developed over time. Furthermore, readers can learn about how the humanist movement influenced this area of study.

The Humanistic Psychologist

A quarterly society journal that provides information on theories, philosophies, research and changes in psychotherapy.

Cognitivism: 

Just as behaviorism focuses on experimentation as a way to understand psychology, so does Cognitivism. The difference is that, unlike behaviorists, cognitivists do believe that psychologists can learn to understand the inner workings of the mind.

Teaching and Learning Resources

This resource provides a description of Cognitivism as it is seen from different viewpoints.

Cognitivism – Learning Theories

This site provides the key concepts of Cognitivism; major key players, such as Marriner David Merill and Roger Schank; as well as additional resources.

The reason that psychology is so broad and has various disciplines and sub-disciplines is because influential figures shaped this field. You cannot study psychology without learning about who was responsible for introducing unique perspectives to this field, and helping us to understand human behavior in a new light. Although there are a multitude of major influencers in psychology, below we include the top eight.

Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud is likely the most well known influencer on the field of psychology. His name is often brought up in conversations, and not just in psychology circles. You have undoubtedly heard terms such as Oedipus complex or Freudian slip, which originated from his beliefs. In fact, he coined many words in the English language, such as denial and neurotic. Learn more about Freud and his unique viewpoint on human behavior from the source below.

B.F. Skinner

An American psychologist, he is responsible for creating behaviorism, an entire school of thought of psychology. Skinner was a psychologist and an author, penning The Behavior of Organisms (1938), as well as Walden Two, a novel about his theories of behaviorism, as well as other books.

Albert Bandura

While focusing on social learning throughout his career, Bandura coined the Social Learning Theory, which was later renamed to Social Cognitive Theory. He helped pave the way for cognitive psychologists to focus on what motivates people to act in a certain way instead of simply focusing on behavioristic, or environmental influences.

Abraham Maslow

This psychologist focused his research on happy people, and concluded that for people to attempt self-actualization, their basic needs, such as food and shelter, must be met. Calling these basic human necessities, “the hierarchy of needs,” Maslow insisted that they must be met for people to be fulfilled.

Carl Rogers

Rogers was an American psychologist who, while believing the main points of Abraham Maslow’s “hierarchy of needs,” added to that theory a concept that stated that people also need an environment that offers them several things, such as genuineness, acceptance and empathy. Rogers argued that without these environmental factors, people and relationships would not be able to grow and develop properly.

Jean Piaget

This scholar became most influential in developmental psychology and cognitive theory as he devoted his life’s work to studying mental development among children. Some of his most famous theories are called “genetic epistemology.”

William James

An American physician, philosopher and psychologist, William James helped to form Harvard’s department of psychology. An interesting fact is that James didn’t believe that psychology was its own discipline, which may help to explain why Harvard’s psychology department was tied to its philosophy department in the beginning.

Ivan Pavlov

Pavlov was a Nobel-prize winning Russian psychologist who became famous in the discipline of psychology for studying salivating dogs. His contribution to classical conditioning helped to develop the very first experimental model of learning.