Apply For: 4 free online introductory psychology courses hosted by Yale, Carnegie Mellon, MIT, other

Mental health awareness is growing in countries all over the world, including Nigeria. Illness, grief, job loss, solitude, and other pandemic stressors are linked to mental health.

As reports indicate, these professionals have witnessed increased workloads and lengthier treatment waitlists since the pandemic, particularly in the United States, necessitating trained psychologists, according to reports.

Also, due to the demand for psychologists and mental health workers in the United States, their hourly wages increased by 9% to $18.36 in 2022, compared with the prior year. Senior leadership roles, such as behavioral health directors, saw a pay increase of 2% to more than $45 per hour, according to research.

The average salary for psychologists is nearly $100,000 per annum, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which also notes that the profession often requires a Ph.D. or Master’s degree.

If you are a Nigerian and would like to explore an interest in the discipline without committing to a degree program, then you can take advantage of the few free online courses hosted by Ivy League universities.

Here are some of them:

Yale University: Introduction to Psychology

Yale University has one of the best psychology programs in the country, through its free online Introduction to Psychology course. Paul Bloom, a prominent Yale psychology professor, teaches the course, and approximately 1 million students have taken it through Coursera. This 15-hour course delves into the concepts of perception, communication, learning, memory, decision-making, persuasion, emotions, and social behavior. In addition, the course covers cognition, development, and language.

Despite the fact that it is only an introductory course, 14% of students who completed it started a new career, according to Coursera. Enroll here

University of Chicago: Understanding the Brain: The Neurobiology of Everyday Life

Psychology and neurobiology are two disciplines that study how the neurological system generates behavior. The nervous system, perception and vision, hearing, mobility, and abstract functions are among the topics covered in this course, which is offered at the University of Chicago and takes roughly 28 hours to complete. Peggy Mason, a professor of neuroscience at the University of Chicago, is the instructor, and enrollment is open-ended. Students will integrate their knowledge of neurobiology into their understanding of how we see the environment, manage our bodies, and communicate with others. You can enroll here.

Carnegie Mellon University: Introduction to Psychology

Carnegie Mellon University is hosting the Introduction to Psychology course. This course emphasizes human behavior and the mind, but it also includes memory, personality, wellness, psychological diseases, and research methodologies.

The course is divided into 16 parts that include text, videos, exercises, and exams. The course lasts roughly 14 weeks, and the institution recommends that students finish at least one unit per week.

You can enroll here.

MIT: Introduction to Psychology

Through its open courseware platform, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology provides a free online Introduction to Psychology course. An MIT neuroscientist and well-known authority on cognition, John D. E. Gabrieli, offered this course at the undergraduate level. In addition to exploring how the mind and brain interact, the course covers memory, intelligence, emotion, personality, stress, adult development, and psychopathology.

Although the course is self-paced, it has resources, including lecture videos, examinations with answers, and additional notes from the instructor.

Enroll here.