Dear Prof Bloom

I had 2 Psych courses as an undergrad, but it had all turned rather hazy in time, which is why I enrolled. Now, I'm relishing the course, and definitely taking all the time I need to LEARN it. I'm constantly behind schedule, but that's because I want to make the best of it, and I have other obligations as well. The second module gave me great insight into language teaching; I already had some knowledge of Skinner, Piaget and Chomsky, but it was superficial. Do I need it to teach English? Maybe not everyone, but I do. I need to see the foundation of the building in order to feel safe manipulating the top floor. I'm in the third part now, and the information I got from your talk as well as the appended articles about attention (esp. inattentional blindness) is going straight into a PP presentation I'm making about why my students shouldn't be checking Instagram while we're doing grammar (with proper referencing, of course). I've talked about it over the years, but with the proper references I'm hoping it'll be more effective.

So thank you already, although I might be writing a second review when I actually finish the course.

Yesim Erdogru

I think the course is comprehensive and there is a lot of effort taken place from cartoon video lectures, exams and recommended reading material from the Noba project to understand the theoretical concepts related to psychological wellbeing. The lecturer appears very enthusiastic about his subject area and I particularly enjoyed seeing how he co-worked with his wife for experimental studies. I found it very inspiring. Furthermore, this course is valuable especially within academia to understand students, co-workers, patients, experimental studies and is also beneficial for those who teach wellness modules or psychology courses. However, this course would be better done as a 14 week course rather than 7 week as the deadlines for the exams were too close so it didn't allow to digest the material and was more of a cramming method. Seven week course would be useful for students who are studying or in the field of psychology and sociology. On the other hand, learners like me who are not in the field would need extra time to grasp the theoretical knowledge from the lecture videos. Nevertheless, I would highly recommend the course to anyone.

Hello, I have been out of school since 2013, I am changing careers, and I felt like I was a little rusty. So, my brother told me about this website, and nervously, I decided to try it out to prepare myself for going back to college in the Fall of this year. This was my first course on Coursera. I really enjoyed it and Professor Bloom because I am a visual learner; therefore, it is a little hard for me to get it when the professor is just lecturing without any type of visual aid. However, I loved all of Professor Bloom's animations, Avtar's outfits, and videos. They were nice and helped me to grasp what he was talking about, easily. I am planning to take other courses on this website and if they are half as enjoyable as my Introduction to Psychology course was, then I am looking forward to having a wonderful time learning.

Thank Coursera staff and Professor Paul Bloom for helping me with the start of my new career. Be blessed and may God continue to keep you in your endeavors to help others learn. - Marylyn Alexander

Great for people that are curious towards the various areas of psychology but never studied it in the academy. It is a general overlook of it all. I like to read specialized books of the field and I wish I had taken this course 10 years ago, before those studies. I absolutely adored it and am craving a second part of the course. The Professor provides some pretty awesome extra material for the extra curious people. I have a very nonsense academic history, an associates in Physics, Bachelor in Music and now I was just accepted for a Masters in Psychology, this course laid down a pretty nice bed for what is to come, it pointed out four books (many more, I bought four of them) that added a great amount of knowledge to myself and that I am sure I will use throughout grad school. If you are a curious interested person yourself, do yourself a favor and buy "The Principles Of Psychology" by William James. If you take the course and use the book for consultation you will make the absolute best of it! Have a nice journey!

Intro Psych , my very first course taken on Coursera, was started along side another one here on Coursera. The latter course wasn't as engaging, educating and well made as this one. The professor can only be described as wonderful. His way of lecturing isn't by just telling us information, but also by making us a part of a discussion, this discussion helps us to understand and explore the topic of that week. There are extra readings, discussion forms and so many more recourses to learn more. Next, the videos used elements of visualization along side other elements to aid to the process of diving into the topics of the lectures. In addition Coursera has a few options that really made me see that online learning may be as beneficial or even a bit more in some fields. Some of those options: saving certain moments in the videos as notes, the transcript, etc. Lastly, the whole team behind this course must be at least applauded since this is a unpaid course. I am grateful for this provided opportunity to learn.

GRACIAS, GRACIAS, GRACIAS. No hay una palabra que pueda describir el agradecimiento que siento hacia Paul Bloom especialmente y hacia todos aquellos que habéis hecho posible este curso. Me han despertado el espíritu investigador, no dejo de leer , no paro de enlazar temas de consulta, formular hipótesis en mi cabeza, buscar más estudios, etc. Siempre he sentido la inquietud de aprender, de leer, etc., pero ahora es distinto, no hago más que pensar en hipótesis, estudios, experimentos , teorías, etc. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. There is no word that can describe the gratitude I feel towards Paul Bloom especially and towards all those who have made this course possible. They have awakened my research spirit, I can't stop reading, I can't stop linking topics for consultation, formulating hypotheses in my head, looking for more studies, etc. I have always felt the desire to learn, to read, etc., but now it is different, I only think about hypotheses, studies, experiments, theories, etc.

This was one of the most amazing courses I took. During the pandemic, I really missed the opportunity to learn something new, gain knowledge, and also regretted that I could not begin to study psychology as early as I wanted. And this course turned out to be magnificent in everything - the lectures of Professor Blossom were extremely interesting, entertaining, vivid in their examples from life, jokes, experiments, and much more. Do not forget about the amazing component of the course itself, it's visual part, and tasks that helped to consolidate knowledge. I was glad every minute that I could study on this course, was glad of the opportunity to be involved in the educational process, and found it extremely exciting and informative.

I highly recommend taking this course, as it perfectly expands our knowledge of psychology, not only as a science that deals with mental diseases but also with science that studies how we know the world and how we perceive it.

Instructor Paul Bloom is extremely engaging. The way he presents information is extremely simple, clear, but informative, and his voice is easy and pleasant to listen to, I was pleasantly surprised by the animations in the video and all the text in the slides provided. It was very organised and helped in my learning tremendously. Although this is one of the very few courses I have taken, it is the best one I have taken in terms of educational value and how interesting it is. For someone who was just auditing the course i.e. watching the videos & reading readings, not participating in discussion forums and more challenging assignments, the assignments provided were very suitable as they were pretty short but long enough to help me revise what I had learned, and having the readings at hand was something I appreciated. Would recommend to anyone interested in learning the very basics of psychology, just like me before this course. :)

Prof Paul Bloom has been very organized and patient in his content delivery, with admirable amount of consideration for students like me who has zero knowledge in Psychology. He made the complex concepts digestive and alert students with caution for the possibilities of sophistication in reality. He is very inspiring!

The layout of this course enables me to achieve work life balance through the autonomy of self management in terms of time, content for the day.

The multifaceted approach, lecture video with salient concepts illustrated with diagrams, lecture script and reading materials help me tremendously in understanding the newly learned content. With the short review test for each chapter, I could recap the knowledge before it eluded me.

I am begining to make sense of some people's behaviours now which perplex me in the past. Thank you so much for making this course available, and so efficiently taught.

Esse curso é muito rico! Recomendo a todos. Eu fiz ele a longo de um ano. Isso me permitiu ir refletindo com calma sobre cada assunto. Foi muito rico para a minha vida e acredito isso terá um impacto por toda ela. Aprendi muitas coisas novas e sempre levo conteúdo desde curso para discutir com a minha terapeuta.

Contudo, algumas partes me causaram crises existenciais (parece que eu não tenho uma personalidade, apenas genes e causalidade e isso é meio irritante as vezes), algumas vezes me questionei se alguns problemas eram insolucionáveis ou se eu não me sentiria mais feliz depois de atingir meu grande sonho. Mas o curso é bem sucedido em te dar recursos para estar aberto a uma nova perspectiva de vida. Pra quem quer aprender cientificamente sobre psicologia, também é um ótimo curso. Você terá uma breve noção sobre toda a área da psicologia e penso que é um ótimo começo.

Recomendo a todos! Curso incrível.

La psicologia es un tema que me ha apasionado siempre, sin embargo no he estado de acuerdo con muchas cursos cuadriculada que he recibido donde no se pasan de memorizar fechas , nombres y pensamientos de nuestros maestros de la Psicologia.

en este corto pero rico curso, he logrado avanzar y confirmar conceptos que he pensado no han sido salidos de la actualidad

El profesor tiene una manera muy amena de llevarnos por esos conocimientos básicos, donde descubro que no estoy tan lejos de la realidad cuando difiero de algunos pensamientos psicológicos, sin des-meritar otros, toda vez que los tiempos actuales nos llevan a repensar nuestra comprensión a las nuevas generaciones para avanzar hacia una cultura mas positiva.

Gracias profesor es usted un excelente profesional y por lo poco que pude ver me atrevo a decir que también lo es como persona.

Me encantaría asistir por lo menos a una charla presencial!!!!!!

This is the most well-structured and thought-through introductory course I have taken online (and I have taken a lot of courses). I am seriously concerned that any course I take from now on would be a dreadful disappointment in comparison. Apart from a great variety of topics that inspire further discussions and investigation, the course offers engaging animations to go with each video, and they have a great motivational and emotional impact on learners (I simply assume it's not just me). Additional and heart-felt thanks to professor Paul Bloom - an incredibly talented teacher and narrator who made me feel motivated to continue my studies. I watched every single video and read every single paper or resource that was recommended, and this is the highest praise a student can give. For anyone who is interested in the field of psychology, this is the best course you can possibly take.

Я очень благодарна за этот курс. Несмотря на то, что это - пропедевтика, а я изучаю психологию по университетским учебникам (а также слушая доступные лекции профессионалов на украинском и русском языках), сделала для себя ряд открытий. И с удовольствием теперь делюсь информацией со знакомыми. Так, к примеру, только из курса профессора Блума узнала про эффект Флинна.

В целом, материал систематизирован совсем не так, как я привыкла по украинским или российским учебникам, и многие акценты - отличаются. Очень интересен, например, подход к изучению истории психологии: у нас обычно дают больше школ и направлений, но менее аналитично.

Несмотря на внешнюю простоту курса и простоту тестов, над ответами пришлось подумать. Это - еще одно свидетельство глубины и полезности курса. Я очень довольна, что не зря, а с огромной пользой потратила время на него.

This is by far the best online class I have ever taken! The videos are engaging and wonderfully animated, and the lectures flow thanks to the teacher's clear passion for the subject. The videos are short enough that you can stay focused for the whole time and the content is accessible to all. There is almost no work required beyond sitting in front of your laptop to listen to the class and think about the questions asked in the lectures, which makes it a great class to audit alongside another (in-person) one or whilst doing a job.

As a political scientist, I often read articles co-written with psychologists. I am grateful for this course as it has given me a good overview of the training these academics get and the ways in which the discipline thinks and engages with questions about behavior & thoughts. I cannot recommend this class enough!

I believe for those who learn better understanding the abstract way, rather than by learning the definitions, this is a wonderful course. Professor Bloom does a great job explaining/ making sense of psychology by using real-life situations. It is also pleasant that terminologies (accurate to the topics ) can be found in the readings to further enhance your understanding. Also, for international students, with English being their second/third language, like my case, it is quite comprehensive. The lectures use images and bullet points as support.

Also, as a side note: this course is free and I attended pricey psychology classes previously (in the same length of 6 weeks. I think that the quality of this course is at the equilibrium, or even better than other psychology courses.

Thank you for your efforts, Mr. Bloom, to provide this course!

Some have said how the cartoon has ruined these lectures. I disagree, I can get easily bored watching a person stare at me and talk. The animations have been well thought out and the mix of media has really helped keep my attention. The lectures themselves were great. There were done in bitesize segments and were simply explained so someone who has never studied Psychology before (like me) can easily understand the terminology and various studies. I'm really happy I chose to do this course, I'm happy that I completed it without being reminded, I'm happy that I actually took the information in and made notes. I'm also very happy with my overall grade, I stuck to the honor system which has made me all the more pleased to have passed! I'm thinking about studying social or clinical psychology in more depth and this has really helped!

My heartfelt gratitude extends to Coursera for its unwavering commitment to democratizing education and empowering individuals to strive for personal and intellectual growth. The platform's dedication to facilitating learning opportunities for all is commendable, and I am sincerely thankful for the transformative impact it has had on my educational journey. Dear Professor, I just wanted to take a moment to express my sincere gratitude for your guidance and expertise throughout [name of the course]. Your passion for the subject matter and dedication to teaching have truly made a difference in my learning experience. I am incredibly grateful for the knowledge and skills I have gained under your mentorship. Thank you for your commitment to education and for inspiring me to reach new heights. Warm regards, Mihaela-Silvia Surugiu

It was my first time doing online course. I loved everything about the course, when professor bloom was teaching it felt like I was sitting in the class. I would tell my kids that I am the one sitting with back pony tails. The course was an eye opener, for a lot of things. In my family I have 2 people that psychotic disorder - schizophrenia. I learn a lot and it will be so easy to understand more of what is happening with them. They explanation of the subjects was made simply. I also enjoy the subject about happiness. I am happy that I started the course and finish because it has been my dream to learn something about the mind and human behavior. I love it......I love it. THANK YOU PROFESSOR BLOOM YOU ARE DOING A GREAT JOB, KEEP IT UP. in my venda which is my home language. NDO LIVHUWA ....Angie from South African --Pretoria

I had to take up this course because I was under a dilemma if I had to take Psychology as my mainstream or Physics (which I am currently pursuing my under-graduate in) but unfortunately because I didn't have Biology in my high school stream, I couldn't take Psychology. I always wanted to know more about why humans are the way the are and this course surely paved a path towards me learning more about this. I am satisfied. Technically I guess that means happiness, now doesn't it?! I always wanted to be a mental health counsellor in a high school in India (which is my native) to create more awareness about it and make students take better decisions than what I did. Thank you Prof. Paul Bloom, it was a wonderful experience. Hope I could meet you when (I wish) I pursue my Masters in The United States. Thank You.

G. VIshvajith.

Since long I was curious about questions like why do we have the thoughts that we do? What makes us good and bad? Why can't we battle our intuitions and cravings???

All these questions and much further detailed knowledge has been imparted to me from this course. I have learned about the various fields in psychology and that too with fun! The interactive method of teaching, engaging videos, detailed course material - which doesn't just give data, but also explains the biological, evolutionary reasons behind them!

It has opened an entirely new direction for me and has made me confident over my decisions in daily life. I am now even further motivated to learn psychology in deeper aspect after this course.

Thank you Professor Bloom, Thank you Yale University and Thank You So So much Coursera!!!

Exceptionally good course, a great introduction to Psychology and Prof Bloom was very interesting. I loved the avatar of Prof Bloom and the overall graphics and presentation was wonderful.

I also loved the emphasis on modern science, on the brain, on evolutionary theory and also on Behavioral Psychology, Psychology of Happiness, the latter two subjects being relatively new. I took this course when I was a teenager in college in 1975. Now, I see how psychology has evolved and what were abnormalities in the DSM then, isn't in DSM-5. I see the shift in thinking from Psychoanalysis to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.

I am 65 by the way and recently retired. I couldn't think of a better way to spend my time than take this course and be amazed! Thanks Prof Bloom, thanks Yale and thanks Coursera.

I thoroughly enjoyed this course. I joined this course from sheer personal interest in the subject and now I want to take it up further. I am grateful to Professor Paul for giving the introductory advice about taking this course as a proper course ...sitting with a cup of coffee and taking notes. I have just entered the" senior citizen club" after retiring from the Indian Administrative Service but I felt I was a 20 year old under grad!! In addition to these lectures I simultaneously listened to the same lectures uploaded on Youtube ....for me that added to my enjoyment as I could actually see Prof. Bloom.

Thanks for creating this open course. I am seriouly thinking about taking up a few more similar courses. I would be interested in studying "Sadness"...

I greatly enjoyed this course. Everything about it, from start to finish was all I needed to be certain of the fact that I want to devote my life to studying psychology. I believe this course gave me all the knowledge I needed to kick off the fall semester and I cannot be more grateful! I especially enjoyed solving the quizzes and they were so simple considering Professor Bloom gave his all to make sure no matter whether or not you have a comprehensive knowledge of this subject, you will easily immerse yourself in his lectures. I appreciate his style and sense of humor and I am fond of the animation which makes things easy to understand. I certainly hope Professor Bloom publishes another course because I will for sure be among the first to enroll in it.

I just completed an online introduction to Psychology course under the expert tutelage of Professor Bloom, and it was an awe-inspiring experience. His unique teaching style and insightful examples struck a deep chord within me, despite having studied a similar course decades ago during my university days. The course proved to be a fantastic refresher, especially since my daughter is pursuing human behavior in her university studies, and I yearned for the ability to engage in academic conversations with her. Thanks to Professor Bloom, I broadened my understanding of this fascinating field and now engage in thought-provoking discussions with my daughter. I am deeply grateful for the invaluable knowledge imparted during this remarkable course.

Introduction to Psychology opened my mind to understand quite a few things I wish I knew before. My husband was diagnosed with several disorders of which biopolar was one. So many times he said that I did not understand what he was going through and he was right. Now, after he has passed on, with this course it is like a drawn curtain that was opened to let light into my mind. I am now seriously considering to continue with one of the many options available within the psychological environment. I am not able to support my husband but I will hopefully be able to have a meaningful input in the lifes of other sufferers - one way or the other. Thank you so much for the "light" you, Prof Bloom, has switched on in a once "dark" mind.