Coursera is an excellent online learning platform, partnered with well over 200 top universities and companies, offering over 7,000 courses, and used by millions of learners all over the world.
The best Coursera psychology courses are incredibly popular, and they have over 1,500 psychology-related courses to choose from, like clinical psychology, positive psychology, etc.
The Best Coursera Psychology Courses
In this article, I’ll be picking out some of the Coursera psychology courses that are the most worthy of your attention when you’re wondering about starting a new career.
I will include a bit of everything from short beginner’s level courses, all the way through to Master’s degree level courses, and include several courses that may be of real benefit in the world of work and beyond.
I will provide a little information on each of these courses and the link to click to find out more. (Check out ‘Is Coursera Legitimate?‘)
The first psychology course on the shortlist was chosen for its sheer popularity, while the remaining courses were chosen for the shortlist based on how useful they can be for the student in their working lives and their lives in general.
And without further ado, let’s get down to it!
1. Introduction To Psychology Offered By Yale University
This is one of the most popular Coursera psychology courses available. It has attracted over one million students, and has an average student rating of 4.9 stars out of 5, even after over 25,000 ratings.
It is aimed at beginners, and as such there are no entry requirements or prerequisites to worry about. (See ‘How To Get A Career With Coursera?‘)
The course is spread over the course of 6 weeks and totals just 15 hours to complete. It’s also 100% online, so you don’t have to make your way anywhere, and you can fit your classes in around your day.
It covers the foundations of psychology, human development and language, cognition, self, and others, variation (including abnormal psychology), and the psychology of happiness.
There are several videos to watch, several readings to do, and one quiz to test your subject understanding and recall every week.
Skills Developed:
- Reasoning
- Problem-solving
- Abstract thinking
- Analytical thinking
- Critical thinking
On passing the course, you will receive a course certificate, and there is financial aid available if you need it.
2. Emotional Intelligence: Cultivating Immensely Human Interactions Offered By the University Of Michigan University of Michigan
Social psychology has much to teach us about human interaction. And whatever organizations you become part of, you will need to be able to interact with others to the best effect.
That’s where courses like this one really come into their own.
This is a skill-based course aimed at developing your emotional intelligence so that you can build a rapport with others, analyze the behavior of others, truly listen, and adjust your behavior accordingly.
This course has attracted thousands of students and has earned an average user rating of 4.7 stars out of 5.
The course is spread over just 4 short weeks, but you will need to devote substantial time to the course for each of these weeks because it will take 19 hours to complete altogether.
The course covers self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and social acceleration. And it comes in the form of videos, readings, and quizzes.
Skills Developed:
- In-demand “soft” interpersonal skills
The course is 100% online, and you can reset your course deadlines according to your schedule if you need to.
On passing the course, you will receive a course certificate, and there is financial aid available if you need it.
3. Psychological First Aid Offered By Johns Hopkins University
What other topics could be more important to learn in psychology than psychological first aid?
This great course is built around the RAPID model of psychological first aid, where the acronym RAPID stands for Reflective listening, Assessment of needs, Prioritization, Intervention, and Disposition.
The course covers reflective listening and rapport, assessment and prioritization, and intervention and disposition.
The course is spread over just 4 short weeks, and the content only takes 6 hours to go through in total.
It’s mostly taught through video lectures, but there are a few readings also. And there are no pesky quizzes to worry about!
Hundreds of thousands of people have enrolled for this course already, and it has earned an average student rating of 4.8 stars out of 5, even after approximately 18,000 individual ratings.
Skills developed:
- Psychological first aid
- Active listening
- Reflective listening
- Crisis intervention
The course is 100% online, and you can reset your course deadlines according to your flexible schedule if you need to.
On passing the course, you will receive a course certificate, and there is financial aid available if you need it.
4. #Talkmentalillness Offered By University Of Colorado Boulder
Mental illness is a very real thing, and it can be an issue for a great many people.
And one of the key ways society can help with this issue is to encourage sufferers to talk about what’s going on with them, rather than bottling it all up and making things worse.
This is also very important when it comes to tackling the stigma associated with mental illness.
The purpose of this course is not only to boost mental illness awareness in those who take the course but also to provide the necessary skills required for discussing such illnesses.
The skills developed in this course can be important in every area of life and every corner of society, thus making it a very valuable course for those who wish to take it.
The course covers public perceptions of mental illness, specific psychological disorders, serious mental illness, disproportionate impacts on marginalized communities, evidence-based approaches to treatments, the science of happiness, and for the final project, you discuss mental illness on social media, whether it’s a personal story, or simply a reflection on what you’ve learned on the course.
Thousands of students have enrolled in this course, and it is rated at 4.4 stars out of 5.
The course is spread over 5 weeks and comes to 14 hours worth of material in total.
Skills developed:
- Mental Health Awareness
- Reducing stigma around mental illness
- Talking about depression
- Talking about anxiety
- Talking about suicide.
The course is 100% online, and you can reset your course deadlines according to your schedule if you need to.
On passing the course, you will receive a course certificate, and there is financial aid available if you need it.
5. Leading Teams Offered By The University Of Michigan
If there’s anywhere that a little knowledge of psychology comes in handy in the world of work, it’s the use it can have in leading teams. And that is the focus of this course.
The course covers designing your team for excellence, structuring your team for excellence, managing team dynamics, and creating sustainable team performance and learning.
Skills developed:
- Leadership
- Management
- Leadership Dynamics
- Team Management
This course has attracted tens of thousands of students and has earned an average student rating of 4.8 stars out of 5.
The course is spread over just 4 short weeks, and it will take just 11 hours to complete in total. There are several videos to watch, several readings to do, and quizzes to test your subject’s in-depth understanding and recall every week.
The course is 100% online, and you can reset your course deadlines according to your schedule if you need to.
On passing the course, you will receive a course certificate, and there is financial aid available if you need it.
6. Inspiring And Motivating Individuals Offered By The University Of Michigan
A particularly important part of business psychology is learning how to get the most out of a team, no matter its function.
And that’s where the value of this course lies, covering everything from creating a shared vision for your team, and aligning rewards with desired behaviors, all the way through to diagnosing and solving problems relating to motivation.
The course covers becoming a visionary leader, setting effective goals and expectations, understanding human needs and drivers of performance across cultures, and aligning rewards and human behavior.
Skills developed:
- Leadership
- Leadership Development
- Communication
- Goal setting
This course has attracted over one hundred thousand students and has earned an average student rating of 4.8 stars out of 5, even after well over 5,000 individual ratings.
The course is spread over just 4 short weeks, and it will take just 14 hours to complete in total. There are several videos to watch, several readings to do, and quizzes to test your subject understanding and recall every week.
The course is 100% online, and you can reset your course deadlines according to your schedule if you need to.
On passing the course, you will receive a course certificate, and there is financial aid available if you need it.
7. The Manager’s Toolkit: A Practical Guide To Managing People At Work Offered By The University Of London
Managing people is a central element of work and business, and can even have a greater impact on the business than other matters.
This course uses psychology to teach its students how best to manage people. And it is designed to be suitable for anyone for a first-time manager in retail, to office middle management.
The course covers how to conduct a good interview, and select your team members, leadership and decision-making, performance management, pay as a motivator, and crucially, managing conflict at work.
You will learn business psychology and HR theories, and what they mean for day-to-day people management at work.
Skills developed:
- Leadership
- Management
- Performance management
- Decision-making
This course has attracted over one hundred thousand students and has earned an average student rating of 4.6 stars out of 5, even after about 1,000 individual ratings.
The course is spread over just 6 short weeks, and it will take just 29 hours to complete in total. In the first week, you will only need to devote 1 hour of your time, but for the remaining weeks, you may need to devote up to 5 hours of time each week.
There are several videos to watch, several readings to do, and quizzes to test your subject understanding and recall every week.
The course is 100% online, and you can reset your course deadlines according to your schedule if you need to.
On passing the course, you will receive a course certificate, and there is financial aid available if you need it.