Discovering Psychology: 26 videos giving an overview of historic and current theories of human behavior

Each of these videos is about a 30 minutes long, and they are all available for free in two different ways. At this Web site, they can be viewed in pop-up screens and you also can access supplemental learning resources, and from here they can be viewed as Google videos. The series is described:

Highlighting major new developments in the field, this updated edition of Discovering Psychology offers high school and college students, and teachers of psychology at all levels, an overview of historic and current theories of human behavior. Stanford University professor and author Philip Zimbardo narrates as leading researchers, practitioners, and theorists probe the mysteries of the mind and body. Based on extensive investigation and authoritative scholarship, this introductory course in psychology features demonstrations, classic experiments and simulations, current research, documentary footage, and computer animation. This series is also valuable for teachers seeking to review the subject matter.

Topics include:

Cognitive Neuroscience

Cognitive neuroscience represents the attempt to understand mental processes at the level of the brain’s functioning and not merely from information-processing models and theories. It relies heavily on an empirical analysis of what is happening in the brain, and where, when a person thinks, reasons, decides, judges, encodes information, recalls information, learns, and solves problems. Cognitive neuroscience allies psychologists, biologists, brain researchers, and others in what is perhaps the most dramatic advance in the last decade of psychological research. With Dr. John Gabrieli of Stanford University and Dr. Stephen Kosslyn of Harvard University. New. Go to this unit.

Cultural Psychology

This newly emerging field is integrating cross-cultural research with social and personality psychology, anthropology, and other social sciences. Its main new perspective is centered on how cultures construct selves and other central aspects of individual personality, beliefs, values, and emotions — much of what we are and do. This area has become more important in both psychology and American society with the globalization of our planet, increasing interaction of people from different cultural backgrounds, and emerging issues of diversity. With Dr. Hazel Markus of Stanford University, Dr. Kaipeng Peng of the University of California, Berkeley, and Dr. Ricardo Munoz of the University of California, San Francisco and San Francisco General Hospital.

The Behaving Brain

This program discusses the structure and composition of the brain: how neurons function, how information is collected and transmitted, and how chemical reactions determine every thought, feeling, and action. With Dr. John Gabrieli of Stanford University and Dr. Mieke Verfaellie of Veterans Medical Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.

The Responsive Brain

How the brain controls behavior and, conversely, how behavior and environment influence the brain’s structure and functioning are the focus of this program. With Dr. Michael Meaney of McGill University and Dr. Russell Fernald of Stanford University.

Maturing and Aging

What really happens, physically and psychologically, as we age? This program looks at how society reacts to the last stages of life. With Dr. Laura Carstensen of Stanford University and Dr. Sherry Willis of Penn State University.

The Power of the Situation

This program examines how our beliefs and behavior can be influenced and manipulated by other people and subtle situational forces, and how social psychologists study human behavior within its broader social context. With Dr. Ellen Langer of Harvard University and Dr. Philip Zimbardo of Stanford University.

Constructing Social Reality

Many factors contribute to our interpretation of reality. This program demonstrates how understanding the psychological processes that govern our behavior may help us to become more empathetic and independent members of society. With Steven Hassan, M.Ed., of the Freedom of Mind Resource Center and Dr. Robert Cialdini of Arizona State University.