"Understanding the Human Mind: Excluding other human minds, your mind is the most complicated piece of the universe that humans currently know about. The rules that govern it are mysterious and elusive. Maybe our brains just aren't complex enough to understand themselves, but that's not gonna stop us from trying."

"Exploration of Human Consciousness and Psychology: 'From the efforts of those early thinkers up until today, the field of psychology has been all about tackling some of the big questions. How can humans do horrible things like commit genocide and torture other humans, and how come we know those things are horrible? Do we have free will or are we simply driven by our environment, biology, and nonconscious influences? What is mental illness and what can we do about it? And what is consciousness or the notion of self? If I lose my awareness of myself, am I still human?'"

"Legacy of Freud: Sigmund Freud was one of the most tremendously influential and controversial thinkers of his time, maybe of all time. His theories helped build our views on childhood, personality, dreams, and sexuality, and his work fueled a legacy of both support and opposition."

"Diversity in Psychology: In truth, psychology is one of the most wildly diverse sciences in terms of the questions it proposes, the methods it applies, and the different schools of thought and disciplines it contains."

"Adaptive Behaviors and Evolution: 'This approach, functionalism, was inspired by Charles Darwin's idea that adaptive behaviors are conserved throughout the evolutionary process.'"

"Freud's Impact on Mental Health Treatment: So what Freud was really saying was that mental disorders could be healed through talk therapy and self discovery. And this was a really big breakthrough, because prior to this, people with mental illnesses would be confined to sanatoriums, and at best given menial labor to do, and at worst shackled to a bed frame."

"Freud's Impact on Psychology: Whether you love him or hate him, and make no mistake, plenty of people vehemently disagreed with him, there is no question that Freud's impact on psychology was monumental."

"Evolution of Psychology: Today's formal definition of psychology, the study of behavior and mental processes, is a nice amalgamation that pulls from all these different schools of thought."

"The Complexity of the Human Mind: The human mind is complicated. There is no single way to effectively crack it open. It must be pried at from all sides. Harvard astronomer Owen Gingerich has gazed into the distant horizons of space, and even he has acknowledged that the human brain is by far the most complex physical object known to us in the entire cosmos. And we all get to have one of our very own."

"Exploring Psychology: We here at crash course are really excited to spend the next several months delving into the world of psychology, how it applies to our lives, our minds, and our hearts, and how it deepens our understanding of each other, our world, and ourselves."