The Mind is Flat: The Shocking Shallowness of Human Psychology
Discover how to make better personal and professional decisions, and how the brain could be more flexible than we think.
Duration
6 weeksWeekly study
5 hours
The Mind is Flat: The Shocking Shallowness of Human Psychology
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
Learning on this course
You can take this self-guided course and learn at your own pace. On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.
Who is the course for?
No special knowledge or previous experience of studying is required.
Who will you learn with?
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.
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Choose the best way to learn for you! | $15.83/month Billed at $189.99 for a year | $59 |
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| Certificate when you're eligible | Digital only | Printed and digital |
Ways to learn
Buy Unlimited to access this course and hundreds of other short courses for a year or Upgrade just this course for extra benefits. Or, join this course with free basic access, limited to 8 weeks (excludes tests and certificates).
Unlimited
$15.83/month
Billed at $189.99 for a year
Learners who purchase Unlimited complete 15x as many courses!*
- Access to this course
- Access to ALL eligible short courses with additional benefits, for a year
- Discuss your learning in comments
- Tests to boost your learning
- Digital certificate when you're eligible
Upgrade this course
$59
Unlock your expertise
- Access to this course
- Discuss your learning in comments
- Tests to boost your learning
- Printed and digital certificate when you’re eligible
Basic access
Free
Try before you buy
- Limited access to course content for 8 weeks
Find out more about certificates, Upgrades or Unlimited.
Sale price available until 6 December 2021 at 23:59 (UTC). T&Cs apply.
Join this course for free with basic access. Access to this course only limited to 8 weeks. Excludes tests and certificates.
*FutureLearn considers a short course complete when a learner has engaged with 90% of the content. Learners who began a 1 year subscription period of Unlimited in October 2019 to September 2020 (inclusive) generated 14.78 times as many completed enrolments per user in that year than users who joined FutureLearn in October 2019 to September 2020 (inclusive) generated in their first year of enrolment.
*FutureLearn considers a short course complete when a learner has engaged with 90% of the content. Learners who began a 1 year subscription period of Unlimited in October 2019 to September 2020 (inclusive) generated 14.78 times as many completed enrolments per user in that year than users who joined FutureLearn in October 2019 to September 2020 (inclusive) generated in their first year of enrolment.
Learning on FutureLearn
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- Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps, but you can complete them as quickly or slowly as you like
- Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
- Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores
Join a global classroom
- Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
- Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
- Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others
Map your progress
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- Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
- Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate
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