Psychology Films

This section features a range of individual Psychology films to enhance teaching and learning.
Click any film to see more information about it.
 Alternatively, check-out our Psychology Film Club if you’re in the market for a great subscription offer.
 

Dynamic Learning: Context-Dependent Memory

If you’ve ever returned somewhere and found your mind suddenly filled with memories, you’ve experienced what psychologists call context-dependent memory. Research has shown that our

Psychology Film Club

Designed to enhance the teaching of A-level and AP Psychology, an annual subscription to the Film Club gives you unlimited access to all of our

Dynamic Learning: Metacognition

Over 30 years of educational research has shown that metacognition – an awareness of how we think – helps students take more control over their

Active Listening

As students we spend a lot of time listening. But because we don’t always fully engage with what we’re hearing we frequently miss a lot

Dynamic Learning: Dual Coding

Dual coding involves using verbal and visual cues to help develop your learning and recall. So if you like two-for-one offers, this one’s for you.

Dynamic Learning: Retrieval Practice

This short film shows you how to use retrieval practice to improve your understanding, develop your recall to identify gaps in your knowledge. While most

Dynamic Learning: Sleep and Memory

Recent scientific research has shown us the benefits of sleep. And we’re increasingly aware that good sleep is crucial to memory and learning. Of course,

Mass Killers: Mythologies

Mass killings, described by the FBI as four or more unlawful killings in a single event, devastate communities and create fear across countries. But if

Lost in the Mall: The Memory Wars

In this film, Profess or Elizabeth Loftus explains how her ‘lost in the mall’ technique demonstrated the creation of false memories. The ‘memory war’ that followed not only threatened her professional reputation but also her life.

Aftershock: obedience and identity

Generations of students have been taught that Milgram’s famous obedience experiments demonstrated how easily ordinary people can be persuaded to harm others when instructed to

The Ethics of Abortion

The controversies surrounding abortion involve a clash between two fundamental rights: the right of the unborn child, or foetus, and the rights of the mother.

Media and Aggression

Media Effects: Can we learn aggression from aggressive media? This film looks at experimental, longitudinal and case study research evidence and how social learning, script

Rosenhan: being sane in insane places

This haunting film provides a brilliant summary of one of the most infamous experiments ever conducted in psychology, looking at its origins, methods, quite extraordinary

Attachment and Child Development

Attachment: Three short films looking at different aspects of attachment and child development: Bowlby: Attachment and Maternal Deprivation  In the 1930s a young psychiatrist noticed

Aspects of Sleep

Sleep: Four short films that examine different aspects of the psychology of sleep: 1.Why Do We Sleep?  We’ll spend about a third of our lives

Maths in Psychology: Student Pack

In these 6 short films, UK psychology teacher and examiner Deb Gajic walks students through a range of classic psychological tests, showing them step-by-step how

Wilcoxen Signed Rank Test

How to Calculate: Experienced Psychology teacher Deb Gajic shows students how to calculate and apply the Wilcoxen Signed Ranks Test to a contemporary psychological hypothesis:

Probability Tests

How to Calculate: In this short film Deb Gajic looks at probability – and how it can be applied in Psychology – through the concepts

Mann-Whitney Test

How to Calculate: In this filmed walk-through, UK Psychology teacher and examiner Deb Gajic shows you how to calculate and apply the Mann Whitney U

Chi Square Test

How to Calculate: Deb Gajic demonstrates how to calculate and apply Chi Square to a contemporary psychological context – Piaget’s Conservation Experiment – using the

Sign Test

How to Calculate: In this short film Deb Gajic demonstrates how to calculate and apply the Sign Test to a contemporary psychological problem / hypothesis:

Spearman’s Rho

How To Calculate: If your students are having trouble understanding Spearman’s Rho – or you simply want to give them a concise step-by-step walk-through –

A Science of Love?

Why do we fall in love? What makes us fall in love? And what happens to love? Poets, historians, philosophers, have been writing about these

False Memories

Elizabeth Loftus’ pioneering research on “false memories” made a crucial contribution to the “recovered memory” debate and this film, featuring original interview footage of Loftus,

Jim Fallon: Natural Born Killer?

Neuroscientist Jim Fallon uncovered the defining characteristics of the “serial killer brain”, only to discover he too had the brain and genes of what he

Rethinking Obesity: Nature via Nurture

This film explores an interactionist approach to obesity: Part 1: shows how cultural and environmental changes have altered our relationship with food and created an

Beyond Milgram: Obedience and Identity

Generations of students have been taught that Milgram’s famous obedience experiments demonstrated how easily ordinary people can be persuaded to harm others when instructed to

Beyond Genetics

There’s a revolution challenging a century of taken for granted assumptions about genetics and raising new questions: How does environment affect gene expression? Could we

 Are You What Your Mother Ate?

The foetal susceptibility hypothesis suggests the nourishment an embryo receives from its a mother is a major determinant of health in later life. In this

A Cage and Freezing Water

Students can read about the causes of depression and the therapies for its treatment. But what’s it actually like to suffer from depression? This short

Behind the Statistics

Three short films highlighting the importance of the methodological processes underpinning the production of statistical data. In this film we combine three of our standalone

Individualistic and Situational Psychology

Issues and Debates: Most psychology is individualistic, suggesting that people’s behaviour is a product of their biological inheritance and personal experiences. This short film, using

Determinism and Free Will

Issues and Debates: Do we really have free will? And, if so, where does it come from? In this film, Professor Patrick Haggard explains the

The Nature-Nurture Debate

Issues and Debates: Is human behaviour explained primarily by what we inherit (nature) or what we experience (nurture)? This film uses the question of whether

Is Psychology a Science?

Issues and Debates: A perennial question, both inside and outside Psychology, is whether or not it can be considered a science. This film: explains the

Reductionism and Psychology

Issues and Debates: This film illustrates both the importance and limitations of reductionism in psychological explanation using the example of research into diet and obesity. 

Socially Sensitive Research

Issues and Debates: While ethics is about the conduct of research, socially sensitive research is about the consequences. Might it harm some individuals or groups?

Ethnocentrism

Issues and Debates: Does psychology have ethnocentric biases?  This film begins by explaining the key concept of social construction and then illustrates three sources of

Ethics and Ethical Issues

Issues and Debates: This film begins by looking at how stricter ethical guidelines were developed in psychology.  Using one of our on-going research projects, it

Beyond the Bystander Effect

The Bystander Effect has long been used to explain the general lack of public help towards people who have been harmed, or are at risk

Criminal Offender Profiling

Profiling: An area that’s captured the public imagination from tv shows like Mindhunter and Criminal Minds is criminal profiling. But what’s the reality behind the

Variables

Research Methods: Although the idea of variables can seem dull and uninspiring, they are crucial because they’re everywhere in psychology. This film provides a clear

Reliability and Validity

Research Methods: Psychologists have told us a lot about human behaviour, but can we trust the findings? This film looks at the part played by

Sampling

Research Methods: Sampling is crucial in psychology but can be difficult to understand. This film offers a helping hand with a series of visual images

Correlations

Research Methods: Correlations are relationships and this film begins by illustrating how the strength and direction of those relationships is measured. It then uses real

Case Study Research

Research Methods: This film uses the well-known case of Genie, a girl kept in solitary confinement from infancy until she was 13, to illustrate the

Self-Report Methods

Research Methods: Self-report methods gather data directly from the participants and this short film illustrates and compares questionnaire and interview methods. The film also identifies

Naturalistic Observation

Research Methods: Some research questions in psychology involve getting out and seeing how people actually behave in real life situations. This is called naturalistic observation.

Experimental Design

Research Methods: What is the most effective time of day for students to learn new material? We begin with this research question to give practical

Non-Experimental Methods in Psychology

Research Methods: Non-Experimental Research Methods in Psychology combines three of our standalone films (Naturalistic Observation, Self Report Methods and Case Studies) into one complete film,

Experimental Methods in Psychology

Research Methods:  Experimental Methods in Psychology combines three of our standalone films (Laboratory, Field and Natural Experiments) into one complete film, designed as an introductory

Natural Experiments

Research Methods: In Natural Experiments circumstances present researchers with an opportunity to test the effect of one variable on another in ways that could not

Field Experiments

Research Methods: Three classic studies – Hofling’s study of nurse obedience, Fischer’s test of the cognitive interview and the Pilliavins’ research on Good Samaritans –

Laboratory Experiments

Research Methods: This short introductory film uses some famous psychological studies to explain the experimental method and to illustrate how laboratory experiments are done. The