The way humans think and behave is endlessly fascinating and often surprising. Professional psychologists spend their working lives analyzing individuals’ mental processes and responses. Their subject is a science, but their practice and approach are governed by ethics and morality. We may all consider ourselves to be incidental psychologists in our daily interactions, confident of our ability to judge character, read body language, or to get to know someone, only to find ourselves confounded by seemingly unpredictable actions. Why do entirely good people sometimes do bad things? Is personality inherited or learned? Is there really such a thing as "being normal"?

Psychology: A Crash Course looks at how these and many other questions have exercised the minds of those leading the way in psychology for more than 100 years. It’s a story of bold thinking, ingenious experiments, and sometimes startling conclusions that will make you stop and think.