• University of Warwick

The Mind is Flat: The Shocking Shallowness of Human Psychology

4.1 (18 reviews)

Discover how to make better personal and professional decisions, and how the brain could be more flexible than we think.

97,764 enrolled on this course

The Mind is Flat: The Shocking Shallowness of Human Psychology
  • Duration6 weeks
  • Weekly study5 hours
  • LearnFree
  • Extra BenefitsFrom $59Find out more
Overview
Topics
Start dates
Requirements
Educators
Learner reviews
Try it
More courses

Explore the forces shaping human behaviour

We are often told that our minds are shaped by ‘deep’ factors – subconscious motives or hidden beliefs that can be uncovered through therapy, lab experiments, or brain scanning.

While not entirely incorrect, the brain also improvises – inventing these motives at the moment of decision. Understanding this could help make the world a better place.

On this course, you’ll explore why we take risks, and why we fear them. You’ll learn from top behavioural experts in numerous fields about how our minds are ‘flatter’ than we think, uncovering the influence of marketing and peer behaviour in the process.

Now an award-winning book: The Mind is Flat: The Illusion of Mental Depth and The Improvised Mind (Winner, American Association of Publishers PROSE award for best book in Clinical Psychology, 2019).

What topics will you cover?

  • Why we take risks and why we fear them
  • How people succeed or fail to work with other people successfully
  • How our behaviour, governed by a plethora of complicated psychological forces, makes sense at all
  • The theory that we are creating an improvised character and trying to stay in our role
  • How we can make society more coherent and create a better world

When would you like to start?

Start straight away and learn at your own pace. If the course hasn’t started yet you’ll see the future date listed below.

  • Available now

Who is the course for?

No special knowledge or previous experience of studying is required.

Who will you learn with?

Nick Chater

I have over 200 publications and four awards for my research. I've recently co-hosted two series of The Human Zoo on the UK’s BBC Radio 4.

Who developed the course?

The University of Warwick

The University of Warwick is forward-looking, entrepreneurial and globally connected. With new ways of thinking and achieving it stands out from its competitors as an inspiring place to study.

Learner reviews

Join this course

Start this course for free, upgrade for extra benefits, or buy Unlimited to access this course and hundreds of other short courses for a year.

Free
$0

Join free and you will get:

  • Access to this course for 8 weeks

Upgrade
$59

Upgrade this course and you will get:

  • Access to this course for as long as it’s on FutureLearn
  • Access to this course’s tests as well as a print and digital Certificate of Achievement once you’re eligible
Join and upgrade

Unlimited (New!)
$279.99 for one year

Buy Unlimited and you will get:

  • Access to this course, and hundreds of other FutureLearn short courses and tests for a year
  • A printable digital Certificate of Achievement on all short courses once you’re eligible
  • The freedom to keep access to any course you've achieved a digital Certificate of Achievement on, for as long as the course exists on FutureLearn
  • The flexibility to complete your choice of short courses in your own time within the year
Find out more about upgrades or Unlimited.

Get a taste of this course

Find out what this course is like by previewing some of the course steps before you join:

More courses you might like

Learners who joined this course have also enjoyed these courses.