Psychopathology
What Is a Mental Disorder?
The conceptual and scientific problems of defining, classifying, and understanding mental disorder.
Introductory · 10 core readings
A curated reading guide to psychology
Essential readings. Thoughtfully selected.
Explore psychology through its foundational texts, influential research, and enduring debates. Curated syllabi explain what to read, why it matters, and how the readings connect.
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How to Read Psychological Science
Learn to read psychological claims through conceptual frameworks, research syntheses, and studies spanning measurement, development, biology, culture, and scientific uncertainty.
Introductory · 12 core readings · 6 units · No prerequisites
Begin the syllabus →Browse by area
All areas →- Learning & Behavior
How does experience change behavior?
- Cognition
How do we perceive, remember, reason, and decide?
- Development
How do minds and behavior change across the lifespan?
- Social Psychology
How do other people and social situations shape us?
- Individual Differences
How do we describe, measure, and explain differences between people?
- Biological Psychology
How do biological processes support psychological functioning?
- Psychopathology
How should we understand, explain, and classify psychological problems?
- Psychotherapy & Psychological Change
How does psychological treatment produce change, and how would we know?
- Culture & Psychology
How do cultural worlds and psychological processes shape one another?
- Methods, Measurement & Scientific Reasoning
What makes a psychological claim convincing?
Featured syllabi
All syllabi →Deliberately selective
Psychology Reader is deliberately selective. We choose readings because they make an important intellectual contribution, not simply because they are famous or highly cited. Every reading must pass one test: what would a reader fail to understand if it were removed?
We distinguish a work that was historically influential from one that remains a strong foundation for current understanding, and we say specifically what later evidence supports, challenges, and leaves unresolved.
How readings are selected →