Propaganda and Ideology in Everyday Life
ADD FREE starts 11 May 2015
This free online course explores the building blocks of our political views: freedom, community, place, justice and choice. These words mean different things to different people – such radically different things in fact, that individuals, protest movements and entire states often go to war to assert their understanding of, say, freedom over somebody else’s. Over five weeks, we will explore how and why words come to mean such different things, across time and space. We will look at how individuals respond to the political propaganda they are exposed to, and how political ideas can impact on people’s everyday lives.

The Brain and Space
ADD FREE starts 11 May 2015
Knowing where things are is effortless. But "under the hood," your brain must figure out even the simplest of details about the world around you and your position in it. Recognizing your mother, finding your phone, going to the grocery store, playing the banjo – these require careful sleuthing and coordination across different sensory and motor domains. This course traces the brain's detective work to create this sense of space and argues that the brain's spatial focus permeates our cognitive abilities, affecting the way we think and remember.

Genius. Talent. Golden Mediocrity
ADD FREE starts 4 May 2015
Genius, talent and golden mediocrity are different dimensions of human existence. Our course shows how these three dimensions manifest themselves in life and how you can fulfill your genius, abilities, talents more fully and completely. The course is of an applied nature and is oriented to studies in the field of creative life intensification psychology, help with the experience of crises, human potential realization and care. It may be useful for professional psychologists, for specialists whose activity involves empathy, inspiration, understanding and creating of daily life, and for all who are interested in the topic.

Science of Happiness
ADD FREE always open
This course teaches the ground-breaking science of positive psychology, which explores the roots of a happy and meaningful life. Students will engage with some of the most provocative and practical lessons from this science, discovering how cutting-edge research can be applied to their own lives. Created by UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center, the course will zero in on a fundamental finding from positive psychology: that happiness is inextricably linked to having strong social connections and contributing to something bigger than yourself—the greater good.

What Is a Mind?
ADD FREE starts 11 May 2015
This free online course will bring together learners and practitioners interested in how the mind works. It aims to build bridges between traditionally antagonistic approaches to understanding the mind. Advances in the medical understanding of how the brain functions can shed light on neurological functions and disorders, but the essential question of what the mind is speaks to a different problem. Professor Mark Solms will bring in perspectives from a range of disciplines, to explore four specific aspects of the mind- subjectivity, intentionality, consciousness and agency.

Big Data: Measuring and Predicting Human Behavior
ADD FREE starts 20 April 2015
Join us in exploring how the vast amounts of data generated today can help us understand and even predict how humans behave in this free online course. We increasingly rely on networked computer systems and smart cards to support our everyday activities, and everything we do generates data – from buying bread at the supermarket, taking a ride on public transport, or calling a friend for a chat. This course will help you understand and unlock the power of these new datasets. You will gain an overview of the state of the art in big data research across a range of domains, including economics, crime and health. You will also acquire some basic practical skills for using data science, learning to write basic programs in R, create basic data visualisations and carry out simple analyses.

Psychology and Mental Health: Beyond Nature and Nurture
ADD FREE starts 20 April 2015
Learn how a psychological understanding of our emotions and behavior gives us new ways to improve mental health and well-being. Psychological therapies and the work of clinical psychologists are now very popular. This free online course provides an introduction to how psychologists understand emotions, behaviors and thinking patterns, and how this helps clinical psychologists make sense of clients' problems.

During these six weeks, you’ll explore some of the current challenges and debates in the area of diagnosis and treatment and discover new ways of thinking psychologically about mental health. You will gain new perspectives on the "nature vs nurture" debate, and explore how we are affected by life experiences. You will also discuss new research, which promises to help us improve our own mental health and well-being.

Primeros Auxilios Psicológicos
ADD FREE starts 4 May 2015
El curso desarrolla las competencias necesarias para aplicar los primeros auxilios psicológicos a personas afectadas por situaciones estresantes y/o traumáticas: accidentes de tráfico, agresiones, muertes repentinas, pero también por catástrofes naturales y cualquier otro tipo de emergencias comunitarias o masivas.

Computational Neuroscience
ADD FREE starts 1 May 2015
Understanding how the brain works is a major challenge in science today. This course will introduce you to basic computational techniques for analyzing, modeling and understanding the behavior of cells and circuits in the brain. No prior background in neuroscience is needed to take this course. Topics covered will include representation of information by spiking neurons, processing of information in neural networks, and algorithms for adaptation and learning. Matlab demonstrations and exercises will be used to provide a deeper understanding of concepts and methods introduced in the course.

Positive Behavior Support for Young Children
ADD FREE starts 31 March 2015
The overarching goal of the course is to learn evidence-based practices to support the social and emotional development of infants and young children. We will examine current research on the developmental trajectory of children with early-onset aggressive behaviors; positive behavior support program models; and intervention efforts that promote positive early childhood mental health. Evidence-based classroom management skills will also be explored. When you complete the course, you will have a solid understanding of how to design supportive environments.

Introduction to Human Behavioral Genetics
ADD FREE starts 16 Mar 2015
This course is an introduction to behavioral genetics, the field within psychology that demonstrated that Nature and Nurture both play a fundamental role in development of psychological traits. You’ll examine how early behavioral genetic research radically changed how psychologists conceptualized human behavior and how the mapping of the human genome is fundamentally altering current research approaches to a wide range of behavioral characteristics. The course will cover the traditional behavioral genetic methodologies of twin and adoption studies as well as modern approaches based on molecular genetic techniques.

Foundational Neuroscience for Perception and Action
ADD FREE starts 30 Mar 2015
In this course, you’ll learn the basic structure and function of the human nervous system, how nerve cells generate electrical signals and communicate, how they reshape their connections with use, and how neural systems integrate external and internal sensory signals to orchestrate action. The focus is on the basic components of the brain and spinal cord, how nerve cells generate electrical signals and communicate, the neural mechanisms of synaptic and circuit plasticity, and the organization of the sensory and motor systems that integrate experience and motivate behavior.

Understanding the Brain:
The Neurobiology of Everyday Life
ADD FREE starts 23 Feb 2015
In this free course from University of Chicago, offered at Coursera, you’ll learn how the nervous system produces behavior, how you use your brain every day, and how neuroscience explains common problems afflicting people today. This 10-week course is aimed at anyone interested in how the nervous system works. It opens by introducing basic neuroanatomy, neurodevelopment and mechanisms of neural communication. You’ll examine how injury and disease of different types and in different locations can alter a person's life. You will then use your understanding of fundamental neuroanatomy and physiology to examine how we perceive the outside world; how we act in the work volitionally or emotionally;; how our nervous system allows us to live; and how cognition operates to make us the human individuals that we are.

Child Health and Development
ADD FREE always open
This e-course from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health focuses on the core processes of growth and development in early to middle childhood. It considers developmental theories, issues and research findings related to physical growth and cognitive, emotional and social development. It also considers appropriate instruments to assess growth and development, and evaluates the efficacy of popular early-intervention programs designed to enhance development in at-risk populations of children.

The New Psychology of Depression
ADD FREE always open
We live in a world filled with material wealth and we live longer, healthier lives, yet anxiety, stress and depression are widespread. What are the driving forces behind these global epidemics? In this series, Professor Mark Williams and Dr. Danny Penman discuss recent scientific advances that have radically altered our understanding of depression and related disorders. Also discussed are the latest treatments and therapies that offer hope to those suffering from depression. Professor Williams co-developed Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), a treatment for anxiety, stress and depression that is at least as effective as drugs at preventing new episodes of depression. It is now one of the preferred treatments for depression recommended by the UK’s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. The same technique, based on an ancient form of meditation, can also help us cope more effectively with the relentless demands of our increasingly frantic world.

Environmental Psychology
ADD FREE always open
How are people affected by overcrowding, traffic congestion and noise? Why do people litter or vandalize their environments? How do buildings affect their occupants? Does the architectural design of apartment buildings influence patterns of neighboring and friendship formation? Can residential, work and neighborhood settings be designed to reduce stress and increase productivity? These are some of the questions that have concerned environmental psychologists, and this course explores the interdependence between physical and social aspects of our everyday environmental surroundings.

Psychology 101
ADD FREE always open
Psychology is the scientific study of behavior. Everyone is a psychologist - we explore our surroundings, we observe ourselves and others; we try to understand and explain our behaviors and quirks. This course from the University of California Berkeley will give you an introduction to the principal areas, problems and concepts of psychology, including topics such as development, learning, perceptions, emotion, personality, stress and pathology.