Psychology: online course with internship agreement
The Psychology online course teaches you to use psychology in everyday work. You learn to judge whether a study supports a claim and to spot cognitive biases in decisions. It covers team psychological safety, recognising distress without diagnosing, and telling persuasion from dark patterns. It suits people in marketing, HR, UX and operations. Study 100 % online for 180 days, with an internship agreement included, for €200.
- 180 days of access
- 100 % online, at your own pace
- Level: beginner · No prior knowledge of psychology required
- Assessment: 10 quizzes (50 questions) and a final project
- Internship agreement included
- Certificate with a verifiable QR code
- Languages: Spanish, English, French
- Price: €200
Who it is for
- Professionals in marketing, sales, HR or operations who are often handed claims that begin 'studies show…'
- People aiming for UX research, product, pricing or recruitment roles who want a grounding in psychology
- New team leads who want to build psychological safety and motivation in their teams
- Anyone curious about psychology who has no formal training in the subject
What do you need to start?
Prior knowledge
- No prior study of psychology is needed
- Comfortable reading longer texts in English and reflecting on workplace scenarios
- Some experience of working life helps, as most examples are set in offices, teams and online shops
Software and equipment
- A computer with a stable internet connection
- An up-to-date web browser to follow the course online
- No specialist software, accounts or paid licences are needed for this course
What you'll be able to do
- Assess whether a 'studies show' claim is solid evidence before it becomes policy or a training slide
- Recognise common cognitive biases, such as anchoring and sunk cost, in pricing and project decisions
- Explain, using Project Aristotle, why psychological safety predicts team performance better than talent or seniority
- Tell a practice that supports autonomy, competence or relatedness apart from a purely extrinsic incentive
- Judge whether a leader's behaviour builds or damages psychological safety, and suggest an alternative
- Notice signs of distress in a colleague and respond without attempting a diagnosis
- Identify at least three dark patterns in a digital interface using a testable rule of thumb
- Explain why a psychological finding that sounds universal may not hold across cultures or life stages
Skills you will practise
- Evaluating research evidence
- Replication crisis
- Cognitive biases
- Behavioural economics
- Psychological safety
- Self-determination theory
- PERMA wellbeing model
- Dark pattern detection
- Workplace communication
- Cross-cultural psychology
Syllabus
- The science of psychology and the replication crisis — How psychological evidence is produced, why many findings fail to replicate, and how to check a 'studies show' claim before acting on it.
- Cognitive biases and behavioural economics — Well-established decision patterns, such as anchoring and sunk cost, and where using them responsibly becomes manipulation.
- Memory, attention and learning at work — Why training that feels effective on the day is forgotten weeks later, and what helps learning last on the job.
- Emotional intelligence and workplace communication — Handling tense messages and accusations calmly so that a workplace conflict stays a short problem instead of a long one.
- Organisational psychology: motivation, teams and leadership — Psychological safety, Project Aristotle, Deci and Ryan's self-determination theory, and leadership as situational behaviour rather than a fixed personality trait.
- Mental health awareness at work — Recognising a lasting change in a colleague's behaviour and responding supportively, without diagnosing or treating.
- Positive psychology and wellbeing: Seligman's PERMA — The scientific study of what helps people and teams function well, and how to build wellbeing on purpose for sustainable performance.
- An overview of psychotherapy for non-specialists — What happens in counselling and therapy, how approaches such as CBT differ, and how to answer colleagues' questions about support services.
- Consumer and digital psychology: attention, persuasion and dark patterns — How interfaces use cognitive shortcuts, and a testable rule for telling honest persuasion from manipulative dark patterns.
- Cross-cultural and developmental psychology — How culture and life stage shape the mind, and what this course does and does not qualify you to do.
Internship agreement
With this course, an intern could support an HR, people and culture or recruitment team, for example by reviewing training materials for retention or by drafting internal communication guidelines. Another option is marketing, UX or e-commerce, where tasks might include auditing checkout flows and sign-up journeys for dark patterns or checking whether claims based on 'research' hold up.
The internship can run at the same time as the course, within the 180 days of access.
Frequently asked questions
Which jobs does the Psychology course prepare me for, and what does it not qualify me to do?
The Psychology course applies psychology to roles where demand for it actually lies: UX research, product management, conversion and pricing analysis, HR and recruitment, and marketing. It does not qualify you to diagnose, offer therapy or practise as a psychologist. These require a clinical licence. The mental health module teaches you to recognise distress, not to treat it. The course also does not replace trademarked programmes such as Mental Health First Aid (MHFA).
What could I actually do during the internship with this course?
You find the host company yourself, and the school issues the internship agreement. In HR or people and culture, you could help redesign induction material so that it is remembered after four weeks, or support a team-climate review. In marketing, UX or e-commerce, you could audit sign-up and checkout flows for dark patterns or check whether 'studies show' claims hold up before they reach a campaign.
Which theories and methods does the course cover?
The course covers the replication crisis and how to judge evidence, as well as cognitive biases and behavioural economics. It includes Google's Project Aristotle research on psychological safety and Deci and Ryan's self-determination theory. You also study Seligman's PERMA wellbeing model, an introduction to psychotherapy approaches such as CBT, a rule of thumb for identifying dark patterns, and cross-cultural and developmental psychology.
If I use psychology in marketing or UX, am I manipulating people?
Not necessarily. A common belief is that ethical design avoids anchoring, social proof and scarcity messages altogether. The Psychology course draws the line more precisely: would the user still choose this if it were shown plainly and could be undone as easily as it was chosen? A message such as 'only 2 left' is acceptable if it is true. Being common practice does not make a design legal or ethical.
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Content updated: 07/10/2026