Psychology students need three basic types of resources to negotiate their degree earning years and on to establishing a successful professional foundation: those that support in-class work; those that help with student success outside the classroom; and those that help graduates find that all-important first professional job. Fortunately, all three types are well represented online. Here are some of the best.
The following resources focus on the acquisition and development of real knowledge, intellectual improvement and practical skills in the field of psychology. The information offered on these sites and in these courses provides a solid educational foundation in a broad variety subjects to anyone interested in psychology, and are especially helpful to psych students by supplementing their degree coursework.
A 26-part podcast course covering the ways in which personality may become disordered, with emphasis on normal human development as highlighted by psychopathology and problems of treatment.
ALISON is a global online learning community that provides free high-quality online education resources to help students develop “essential, certified workplace skills.” ALISON offers this course in psychology with an option to earn an official ALISON diploma.
This course examines Buddhism and its practices (such as meditation) as they relate to modern psychological concepts.
This six-week, nine-unit course focuses on how the brain creates a sense of spatial location from a variety of sensory and motor sources, and how this spatial sense shapes cognitive abilities.
Website dedicated to presenting full texts of historically significant documents from the scholarly literature of psychology that are now in the public domain. Includes an extensive list of suggested primary source materials.
Offered through Coursera. This course provides an introduction to the core models of psychological development and applied developmental psychology as it relates to the practice of clinical psychology of children and young people.
Comprehensive learning series covering every aspect of the world of psychology through 26 chapters with titles such as “The Behaving Brain,” “The Developing Child” and “Cognitive Processes.” Includes an extensive glossary and list of psychology pioneers.
Offered by Psychology.org, this is a comprehensive, open-source encyclopedia covering a variety of areas such as careers, paradigms and theories, and publications, along with additional reference materials.
Podcast lecture series that emphasizes the interdependence between the physical and social aspects of places.
An introductory course that surveys the scientific study of human nature such as how the mind works and how the brain supports the mind. Topics covered include the mental and neural sources of perception, memory, cognition, psychopathology and many others.
This site offefree courses from the Department of Psychology at Yale University. Of particular note is its “Introduction of Psychology” whose video elements can be accessed on iTunes and YouTube.
Offered through OpenLearning, this self-paced course is designed to help therapists and teachers adapt digital gamification and multimedia to provide effective brain stimulation.
Undergraduate level course that covers the relation of structure and function at various levels of neuronal integration. Topics include sensory and motor systems, sleep and dreaming, motivation and reward.
Funded by the National Science Foundation and part of the National Science Digital Library, OPL offers classic studies in psychology allowing students to participate and analyze data from their experiences.
This course reviews descriptive and analytic epidemiology for major mental disorders of childhood, adulthood, and late adult life. Designed for students, researchers, epidemiologists and public health professionals.
This course involves topics in language processing, including the structure of language, discourse, speech processing and ambiguity resolution.
This six-week course employs the RAPID model (Reflective listening, Assessment of needs, Prioritization, Intervention, and Disposition), to perspectives on injuries and trauma that are beyond those physical in nature. Offered through Coursera.
Another undergraduate course from MIT. Social Psychology offers an introduction to the subject and covers topics such as interpersonal and group dynamics, and how the thoughts, feelings and actions of the individual influence and are influenced by large and small groups.
Offered through edX, this 12-week introductory course discusses the psychology of everyday thinking. Can be taken for free or for a verified certificate with fee.
Studies quantitative approaches to theory construction in relation to multiple response variables. Topics include the statistical basis for causal inference, latent class regression, and analysis of panel data with observed and latent variable models.
The master’s thesis and doctoral dissertation are fundamental elements to the vast majority of psychology graduate programs available in the United States, although a few master’s programs offer completion of comprehensive exams in lieu of a formal thesis. In all cases, psychology grad students will be required to conduct a substantial amount of individual research in the course of earning their degrees. Online resources can prove to be extremely helpful to psychology students in their academic research work. A sample of what is available can be found by following the links below.
This APA page acts as a basic guidebook for students to researching and writing a doctoral dissertation or master’s thesis as part of their psychology grad school program.
Another excellent APA page offering an overview of psychology resources for college students as well as a comprehensive list of APA resources.
Sponsored by APS at Hanover College. This research resources page offers links to and brief descriptions of source sites for information and data for a variety of psychology subfields and topics.
A service of the U.S. Census Bureau. Not strictly for psychology students, TheDataWeb provides a portal to Federal census, economic, family, health, income and labor data.
A unit within the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research. The ICPSR maintains a data archive of more than one-half million files of research in the social sciences, including specialized collections of data in education, aging, criminal justice, substance abuse and 12 other fields.
One of the 27 institutions and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health. The NIMH is the lead federal agency for research on mental disorders. The site’s “Research Priorities” link will connect the visitor to a wealth of psychology-related government resources.
Another institute of the NIH, the NIDA offers a wealth of information and data on drugs and drug abuse including the Clinical Trials Network, with data on 3,000 patients from 13 clinical trials on substance abuse treatment.
This site contains the world’s largest centralized, curated repository of digital reconstructions of neurons. Users can search for data based on several factors including species, brain region and cell types.
Sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health, this site provides access to MRI data on a representative sample of approximately 500 children and young adults.
Index of hundreds of psychology-related research papers, with links and very brief topic descriptions. Listed by general subject.
One of the most important aspects to launching a successful career in any field is career prep, that is, the actions a student takes to make himself or herself known and attractive to potential employers before graduation. Here are some great sites psychology students can visit to help make that student/employer connection happen.
This site provides an excellent search engine for information on internship and postdocs for psychology students located throughout the U.S. and Canada.
The internship program’s goal is to prepare advanced doctoral-level students for entry-level professional clinical practice, interdisciplinary collaboration, advocacy and scientific investigation. This is a one-year clinical internship experience.
Children’s National, located in Washington, D.C., offers this pre-doctoral internship program in clinical and pediatric psychology. This is a full-year, full-time program that begins in July.
Offered through Duke’s Department of Psychiatry’s Division of Medical Psychology, this program provides one year of doctoral-level internship training in the essential skill areas of clinical psychology.
The National Science Foundation’s REU program sponsors active research participation by undergraduates in all areas funded by the NSF. Details, qualifications and time periods vary by specific opportunity.
Located in Chicago, this one-year program is designed to prepare clinical psychologists for careers addressing the behavioral health needs of individuals in the LGBTQ community.
Offered by OSU’s Counseling and Consultation Service, this 10-month internship is open to OSU students and provides advanced training in clinical counseling and the provision of supervised clinical interventions.
This program is open to advanced level pre-doctoral students currently enrolled in APA accredited doctoral programs in clinical or counseling psychology. Interns receive training in assessment and treatment of children and families in several interdisciplinary settings.
This full-time program is located at Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia. Interns rotate through services in other locations, including the acute inpatient unit, the community mental health program, the general medical hospital, and the palliative care cancer center.
Another important aspect to founding a solid career is to make oneself known to his or her academic peers and professional community, and the best way to do that is to connect with like-minded individuals through professional associations and societies, and on-campus groups and clubs, a number of which are listed here:
The AACPSY is an organization of Board Certified Clinical Psychologists whose mission is to promote high quality services in the field by encouraging high standards and ethical practice.
The ABPP’s main function is to provide specialty board certification for psychologists in the United States. Visitors to the site can additionally search the Board’s directory of Certified Psychologists.
The best known of all psychology-related professional associations, the APA claims an active membership of over 120,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. The APA includes over 55 divisions representing specific interest groups among its general membership.
The ABPSI is an independent organization of 1400 members whose purpose is to promote and advance the profession of African Psychology, influence and affect social change, and develop programs to solve problems in Black communities and other ethnic groups.
The Autism Society is the leading grassroots organization for autism professionals and laypersons alike. The Autism Society advocates for the rights of those with autism, as well as supports research efforts through projects, publications and conferences.
The NASP represents 25,000 school psychologists, graduate students, and related professionals in the U.S. and overseas in the advancement of practices to improve students’ learning, behavior and mental health.
The National Register credentials, promotes and advocates for health service psychologists in the United States and abroad. Students accessing the site can learn about health service psychology as well as the organization’s credentialing scholarship programs.
Psi Beta encourages professional development and psychological literacy among community and junior college students. Student members are eligible for Psi Beta scholarships and for student affiliate membership in APA and APS.
With more than 600,000 members, Psi Chi is the largest student psychological organization in the world. Psi Chi’s purpose is to, “encourage, stimulate, and maintain excellence in scholarship of the individual members in all fields, particularly in psychology, and to advance the science of psychology.”
The SIOP represents professionals working in the fields of industrial and organizational psychology, which are the specializations concerned with workplace and workforce mental health issues.
Page on the popular social media site for psychology professionals, students and others. Associated with the all-about-psychology.com website.
The APA’s Facebook page posts articles and information from the American Psychological Association and allows individuals to comment on them. Visitors can network with each other and access APA features such as its Career Center jobs list.
Psych Central’s forums are well populated with psychology professionals and students interested in a wide variety of topics. The site boasts over 385,000 members.
The GrandCafe.com is a great site to network with graduate students in general and psych grad students in particular.
Claiming 100,000 members, the PsychForums is a lively discussion board covering dozens of psychology-related topics under general headings that include Anxiety Disorders, Developmental Disorders, Addictions and Therapy & Coping, to name a few.
Another well-visited forum for anyone interested in psychology. Major section headings include: Exploring Psychology; Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology; and Academic Psychology and Careers.
Group for psychology students to connect with each other and share academic information and resources. There are currently over 63,000 group members.
Another active board with an overall theme of rational skepticism covering any number of psychology and neuroscience topics and issues.
Very active forum primarily for psychology doctoral students. Lots of posts on academic work, finding a job, finding and interviewing for internships, and much more.
This UK-based forum provides plenty of networking opportunities for psychology students on all degree levels and wherever they are located.
Among the best reasons to visit psychology professional association and society websites is that almost all of them offer useful and up-to-date information and news on current psychology issues and trends. They’re not the only ones, however. There are also a number of sites that provide access to high-level journals and articles on cutting edge research and findings by top psychology scholars and institutions, some of which are listed below.
Brought to you by Alltop, which describes itself as an “online magazine rack.” Alltop’s psychology page offers links to current news articles as well as dozens of sites that also provide news and information on psychology and related topics.
A great source for news and information on health topics of all kinds, in this case news on child psychology, the bulk of which is produced by HealthDay writers themselves.
Presented by Medical News Today, this site offers current news and commentary on psychology and psychiatry research from universities and professional journals throughout the world. Readers can sign up for e-mail alerts of recent articles.
This is essentially the online version of the famous newspaper’s Psychology and Psychologists print section. The site offers access to literally thousands of news articles on all aspects of psychology along with videos and other multimedia features.
PsychCentral describes itself as the, “largest and oldest independent mental health social network.” It’s news page offers a large variety of recent articles as well as an extensive archive of past posts.
The website for the popular magazine. Readers will find access to feature articles from PT itself as well as links to dozens of headlines and news stories from well-known and lesser-known sources alike.
PsycPORT is the news portal for the American Psychological Association. Here you’ll find a digest of psychology news articles culled from a variety of sources. There are also links to news articles on the APA, the APA press room and an events calendar.
This Science Daily site provides direct access to the latest psychology-related headlines and videos, as well as articles indexed by specific topic or disorder, such as autism, bipolar disorder, brain injury, depression, and dementia.
U.S. News & World Report’s Psychology article database offers up-to-date news on all areas of psychology from both its own reporters as well as from dozens of other publications.
WebMD is well known for its dictionary of medical terms and conditions, but it also offers access to current headlines and news articles. It’s Mental Health Center digests articles on mental health generally and provides links to other subjects like depression, eating disorders, and substance abuse.
The ARN reports on developments in neuroscience including molecular and cellular neuroscience, neurogenetics, behavior, cognitive neuroscience, systems neuroscience, and neurobiology of disease. Additionally, the ARN offers reviews in the history of neuroscience and ethics.
The ARP covers significant developments throughout the entire field of psychology such as cognitive processes, human development, clinical and counseling psychology, biological bases of behavior, psychopathology, personality, environmental psychology and others.
BBS is a peer-reviewed professional journal published by the Cambridge University Press. Subscribers can access the latest and archived issues of the journal as well as individual articles along with commentaries on each article from specialists within and across specific disciplines.
The JACP is the official journal of the International Society for Research in Child and Adolescent Psychopathology. It focuses on research on psychopathology in childhood and adolescence, with an emphasis on empirical studies of major childhood disorders.
The JOPD provides access to peer-reviewed data papers that describe psychology datasets with high reuse potential. The JOPD publishes continuously with new papers put online immediately upon passing peer review.
MP is a peer-reviewed journal that offers papers on the biological mechanisms that underlie psychiatric disorders and their treatment with an emphasis on studies “at the interface of pre-clinical and clinical research.” Published by Nature Publishing Group.
One member of the family of Nature Review professional journals, Nature Reviews: Neuroscience’s content is organized into five main categories: research highlights, progress, reviews, analysis and perspectives. Its website offers several online features such as links to databases, PubMed, and animations.
The NEJM is arguably the most prestigious scholarly journal in the medical field, reporting on a wide range of related specialties including psychiatry. Readers can access research articles, reviews, and commentary at this website.
Published by the American Psychological Association, the Psychological Bulletin provides, “evaluative and integrative research reviews and interpretations of issues in scientific psychology.” Both qualitative and quantitative reviews are included.
Another American Psychological Association publication. Psychological Review offers articles that “make important theoretical contributions” to any and all areas of scientific psychology including systematic evaluations and alternative theories. It additionally provides commentary on the scientific psychology under the title of “Theoretical Notes.”
The explosion of recent technology breakthroughs, like big data and mobile devices, to name just two, have given rise to changes in every corner of the digital information world, including both psychology and education. The result is a whole new approach to learning and practicing psychology, one that will undoubtedly prove more expansive and inclusive at the same time. What will happen specifically, only time will tell. In the meantime, here a few newer applications, tools and other technology available now for psychology students. Some of these applications can be downloaded for free, while others charge a nominal fee.
APA Journals Pro, from the American Psychological Association, is a free app that allows users to search more than 160,000 articles from a variety of professional journals, from those recently published to archived articles going back to 1984.
Educational application that employs Adaptive Learning Technology, a “flash card” system that the developer claims significantly lessens the time needed to learn new terms and definitions in preparation for the AP Psychology Test.
This application is designed to provide information and tools related to the sixteen Myers and Briggs personality types based on the work of Carl Jung. It is available for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch.
This free Android app provides the user with easy access to important information on psychotropic medications such as antidepressants, antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, and anti-anxiety medications. The Apple version of this application can be found here.
PsycExplorer is a comprehensive application that provides access to news, information and journal articles, blogs, podcasts and more for psychology students, professionals and those simply interested in psychology. It is for iPad and iPhone.
Geared toward psychology students, the PsychGuide app is short for the Psychology Student Survival Guide, which the developers describe as, “designed to inform psychology students at every stage of their educational journey.” The app is available for iPad and iPhone.
This free application for Android devices explores in detail the basic psychology subjects of behaviorism, cognitivism, humanistic psychology, psychoanalysis, and psychobiology. A paid version adds the subject of transpersonal psychology and a dictionary with information on important psychologists.
Another test prep application for Apple devices. Psyc Test Hero offers concept maps, audio definitions and review quizzes in subjects that include biological psychology, research methods, personality, learning, psychological disorders and more.
School Psychology Tools offers a useful set of tools geared primarily for school psychologists that includes: interval, duration, frequency and APC observations; peer comparison, observation reports and charts; and featured content from school psychology opinion leaders. It is available for Apple and Android platforms.
Designed to facilitate the study of a range of psychology subjects including memory, conditioning, neuroscience, and personality. Also included is a dictionary of common vocabulary terms and key figures in the history of psychology. Compatible with iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch.
This free tool allows the user to visually explore each region of the brain, how each functions, what happens when injured how each section is influenced by mental illness.
Provides a vast array of tools for psychological assessment including resources for use by practicing psychologists. Additionally, offers information for allied mental health professionals, educators, students and patients.
Assessments.com provides, “best-of-breed tools for administering research-validated assessment instruments over the Internet.” Users can collect data using hand-picked assessment instruments, create action plans based on their findings, and generate outcome reports to assess change.
Excellent resource for free, instant access to a variety of college-level psychology textbooks. Included are links to peer reviews with assessment data and accessibility reviews for many of the available texts.
MERLOT stands for Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching. The MERLOT II’s Psychology Community Portal is a clearinghouse of information on psychology in a huge range of subjects and variety of forms.
Describes itself as a “dynamic non-profit digital ecosystem serving millions of users per month in the delivery of educational content.” It allows authors to share their work with learners who can download and view that work anytime, anywhere on almost any e-device. Sponsored by Rice University.
Huge comprehensive listing of known psychology-related research projects administered online. Researchers, including those at colleges and universities around the world, can post their studies here to solicit participants.
A huge, comprehensive clearinghouse of tools for psychologists, students and others. From here you can download tools such as free CBT worksheets, information sheets, self-help guides and more. Available in over 30 languages.
The Simple Mapper tool allows users to create interactive mapping graphics, diagrams and workflow charts. Users can also post their own maps as well as browse those created by others.
This site offers access to a number of psychology-related computer simulations developed by a professor at Indiana University for an undergraduate course in Complex Adaptive Systems.
