Crash Course Psychology is a free series of 40 short videos, hosted by Hank Green, that covers the topics of an introductory psychology course in fast, illustrated episodes of around ten minutes each. It is one of the best-known educational series on YouTube and a popular way to preview or review a psychology class.
The videos are freely available on YouTube and on the Crash Course website, with no registration required.
How the 40 episodes are organised
| Episodes | Topics |
|---|---|
| 1-7 | What psychology is, research methods, the brain, sensation and perception |
| 8-12 | Consciousness, sleep and dreams, altered states, learning and conditioning |
| 13-17 | Memory, cognition, language, and motivation |
| 18-24 | Development, morality, adolescence, personality, intelligence, and bias |
| 25-27 | Emotion, stress, health, and sexuality |
| 28-36 | Psychological disorders and their treatments, from anxiety and depression to psychotherapy |
| 37-40 | Social psychology: social thinking, influence, prejudice, aggression, and altruism |
What the format does well
Each episode condenses a textbook chapter into a clear narrative with animations and memorable examples. The episode on Albert Bandura's Bobo doll experiment, for instance, turns a classic study on observational learning into a story that is easy to remember. The pace makes the series ideal for building a mental map of the field before studying it in depth.
Where it falls short
The speed that makes the videos engaging also limits their depth. There are no exercises, readings, or assessments, and complex topics such as psychological disorders are introduced rather than explored. The series was produced in 2014, so some examples and research references predate recent debates, such as the replication discussions that newer textbooks address.
For these reasons it works best as a complement to a structured source. The OpenStax Psychology 2e textbook in this category covers the same topics with more detail and review questions.
A study routine that uses both
- Watch the episode on a topic first, to get the overall picture.
- Read the matching textbook chapter and note anything the video simplified.
- Write three questions the episode raised for you and look for the answers in the reading.
- Rewatch the episode a week later as a quick review.
The series suits secondary and university students, and any adult who wants an accessible overview of psychology before committing to a longer course.