Open Educational Resources and Psychology

This collection was curated by an ASCCC OERI discipline lead. A comprehensive list of current discipline leads is available.

The curated list provided here is intended to facilitate faculty selection of an OER text in lieu of a commercial text. If you are aware of additional resources that should be included, please contact us via our general OER e-mail.

Introductory Psychology (C-ID PSY 110)

• Psychology 2e (Spielmen, Jenkins, and Lovett, 2020) (OpenStax) (CC BY 4.0); Introductory Psychology (OpenStax) – LibreTexts (CC BY 4.0)  Includes: Powerpoint Slides, Test Bank, and Instructor Manual (Free registration and/or login required for all). OpenStax is maintained (and supported) by Rice University.  Students have the option of accessing free digital versions or purchasing a print version. CVC-OEI has imported the OpenStax text into Canvas. Additionally, lumen learning offers an enhanced version of the digital text with embedded multiple choices.  There are also openly available slides, assignments, and question banks available CC-BY. Additionally, lumen learning offers an enhanced version of the digital text with embedded multiple choices.  There are also openly available slides, assignments, and question banks available CC-BY.
• Discover Psychology 2.0: A Brief Introductory Text (Diener and Biswas-Diener) (CC-BY-NC-SA) Includes: Powerpoint Slides, Test Bank (Free registration and/or login required), and Instructor Manual. Noba is “the dream project” of Ed and Carol Diener.  It has modules written by some big names in psychology  including Elizabeth Loftus, Ed Diener, Susan Fiske, David Buss, and many, many others.  There are also many links to animations and videos that are quite useful.  Students have the option of accessing free digital versions or purchasing a print version.
• Introduction to Psychology: 1st Canadian Edition (Stangor & Walinga) (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) Includes: Powerpoint Slides and Test Bank (Free registration and/or login required for both). Introduction to Psychology: 1st Canadian Edition was adapted by Jennifer Walinga from Charles Stangor’s textbook, Introduction to Psychology.  The adaptation and development of ancillary materials were supported by the B.C. (British Columbia) Open Textbook Project.  Students have the option of accessing a free digital version or purchasing a print version (although the shipping costs can be high). A version of this book by Cummings and Sanders is also available with a glossary and slides and test bank also available after verification of instructor status.
• Psychology: The Science of Human Potential by Jeffrey Levy (CC-BY 4.0) The Science of Human Potential is designed to be a concise, cohesive introduction to psychology textbook. Psychology is described as a science studying how hereditary (nature) and experiential (nurture) variables interact to influence the thoughts, feelings, and behaviour of individuals. The remainder of the text is organized into sections entitled “Mostly Nature” (biological psychology; sensation and perception; motivation and emotion), “Mostly Nurture” (direct learning; indirect or observational learning; cognition), and “Nature/Nurture” (human potential, with regard to each of human development, personality, social psychology, maladaptive behaviour, and professional psychology). Includes H5P review exercises at the end of each chapter. Readable and editable versions are available, as is a hardcopy for sale.

Psychology of Personal and Social Adjustment (C-ID PSY 115)

No resources identified.

Introduction to Abnormal Psychology (C-ID PSY 120)

• Fundamentals of Psychological DIsorders (Alexis Bridley and Lee Daffin, 2022) – Pressbooks (CC-BY-NC SA 4.0) Fundamentals of Psychological Disorders (formerly Abnormal Psychology) is an Open Education Resource written by Alexis Bridley, Ph.D. and Lee W. Daffin Jr., Ph.D. through Washington State University which tackles the difficult topic of mental disorders in 15 modules and is updated through the DSM-5-TR. After the first three foundational modules, a discussion of mental disorders ensues to include depressive, anxiety, personality, schizophrenic, eating, and obsessive-compulsive to name a few.
• Abnormal Psychology (Jorden Cummings, 2020) – Pressbooks (CC BY-NC-SA) Compilation from Bridley and Daffin, Openstax, NOBA and new information as well.
• Introduction to Abnormal Psychology (Raechel Soicher, 2022) – Noba project (CC BY-NC-SA) Abnormal psychology Noba collection.
• Abnormal Psychology (Lumen Learning) (Varied Licenses – terms of each page must be reviewed) Includes Videos (Requires Login) and Case Studies. The Lumen Learning textbook uses a mix of OER sources (Noba) and other sources (Wikipedia, Psychology today, etc.).  It is not a complete textbook that could be printed. 
• Ancillary materials for Abnormal Psychology (Sean Callahn, Elizabeth Ann Dose, Luba Ibrahim & Marla Means, 2022) – Open ALG Affordable Learning Georgia (CC BY-NC-SA) Ancillary materials for Abnormal Psych including PPTs, resource manual, case studies and test banks.

Introduction to Human Sexuality (C-ID PSY 130)

• Introduction to Human Sexuality (Ericka Goerling and Emerson Wolfe, 2021) – OpenOregon Pressbooks (CC BY-NC-SA)
  An open textbook in two introductory volumes. Funded by Open Oregon in 2020-21 according to the author’s introduction.

Introduction to Biological Psychology (C-ID PSY 150)

Of the following, only the OERI’s Biopsychology is a complete text. Although still identified as a draft due to the need to significantly reduce the size of a number of chapters, faculty piloted its use during the fall 2022 term and revisions are in progress.

• Biopsychology (ASCCC OERI, 2022 Draft) – Libretexts (License varies) View each page for licensing information. Chapters by different authors on all topics generally covered in biological psychology courses.
• Understanding Biological Behavior (First Edition) (Miguel) (Noba) (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) These are modules – not a full text. Noba is “the dream project” of Ed and Carol Diener.  It has modules written by some big names in psychology.  Students have the option of accessing free digital versions or purchasing a print version.  It has not been confirmed that this resource is sufficient to serve as a stand-alone text.
• Psychology as a Biological Science by Peter Lindberg (CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0) This collection has a lot of overlap with the book above in terms of the same modules but there are a few differences and is certainly organized in a different fashion.  This resource is not sufficient to serve as a stand-alone text.

Introduction to Social Psychology (C-ID PSY 170)

• Together: The Science of Social Psychology (Variety of Authors) (Noba) (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) Includes: PowerPoint Slides, Test Bank (Free registration and/or login required), and Instructor Manual (The supplementary materials are organized by module rather than by text). Noba is “the dream project” of Ed and Carol Diener.  It has modules written by some big names in psychology including Elizabeth Loftus, Ed Diener, Susan Fiske, David Buss, and many, many others.  Students have the option of accessing free digital versions or purchasing a print version.
• Principles of Social Psychology – 1^st International Edition (last updated 2021) (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) Principles of Social Psychology-1st International Edition was adapted by Rajiv Jhangiani and Hammond Tarry from Charles Stagnor’s textbook Principles of Social Psychology.  Includes Powerpoint Slides and Test Bank (Free registration and/or login required for both).
• Principles of Social Psychology (University of Minnesota Libraries, 2015) (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) This book was originally written by Charles Stangor (although the author’s name has been removed at the request of the publisher) and is now maintained by the University of Minnesota, on which the 2021 revised version is based.  There is an extra chapter on social affect and the chapter on social cognition is called social learning and cognition. Students can order a print version of the international textbook from the University of Toronto site but it ships from Canada.All of the instructor resources are for the international version but should work for either version.

Introduction to Lifespan Psychology (C-ID PSY 180)

• Lifespan Development: A Psychological Perspective Second Edition (Lally and Valentine-French, 2019) (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0) This age-based approach textbook was written by Martha Lally and Suzanne Valentine-French and was funded by a grant from the College of Lake County Foundation and supported by the Business and Social Sciences Division. Chapter narration files (Andrea Pantoja Garvey, 2022) (CC BY-NC-SA) are available in Canvas Commons.
• Psychology through the Lifespan (Alisa Beyer and Julie Lazzara, 2020) (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0) Downloadable and viewable at the site. Age-based approach textbook for lifespan developmental psychology course, updated summer 2020.  Google slides (CC BY-NC-SA) developed by Fernando Romero are available.
• Human Growth and Development Question Library (Cotter, Fisk and Grissett, 2018) – Galileo (CC BY-SA) This set of questions for use with quizzes and tests was created under a Round Four ALG Textbook Transformation Grant with an accompanying PowerPoint lecture set. The course uses the free and open Human Development sections of Boundless Psychology.
• Lifespan Development (Lumen Learning) (Varied Licenses – terms of each page must be reviewed) Includes: PowerPoint Slides, Test Bank, and Instructor Manual (Free registration and/or login required for all). This appears to be a complete book (although it does not appear to have a link that will facilitate download or printing). In addition to the faculty resources (which you can request access to), there are pre-recorded lectures and study guides. Finally, there are a variety of relevant videos.
• Human Development (Callahan, Dose, Wright, Pace, Earl, and Nummerdor, 2020) – Georgia Highlands College (Varied Licenses)
  Instructor resources – discussion questions, video links. Test bank available upon request

Introduction to Research Methods in Psychology (without and with lab) (C-ID PSY 200/CID PSY 205B)

• Research Methods in Psychology – 4th American Edition (Cuttler, Jhangiani, and Leighton, 2019) (CC BY-NC-SA) This book was originally written by Paul Price (although the author’s name has been removed at the request of the publisher) and is now maintained by the University of Minnesota.  There is another edition at https://kpu.pressbooks.pub/psychmethods4e/ which is by Jhangiani, Chiang, Cuttler and Leighton powered by Pressbooks.  The second author’s name is missing on the UNM website that is linked above There is also an international version (it appears to be an older edition) of the book (Research Methods in Psychology: 2nd Canadian Edition) that is updated and maintained by the University of Toronto. Students can order a print version of the international textbook but it ships from Canada. Lecture slides are available.
• Research Methods for Psychology (T. L. Brink, 2018) (CC BY-NC-SA) T.L. Brink is a social scientist and author of fifteen books, two dozen encyclopedia articles, and hundreds of journal articles, reviews and conference presentations.  He has posted a few textbooks with resources that include PowerPoints, games, videos, and quizzes.  One thing to note is that all of the resources are easily available to students.
• Research Methods in Psychology (Dudley, 2019) (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) Adapted by Michael G. Dudley from a work produced and distributed under a Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC-SA) in 2010 by a publisher who has requested that they and the original author not receive attribution. Work supported by Palomar foundation.
• Psychology Research Methods and Statistics (Pearcey, Kirsner, Randall, Willard, Williamson, and Downtain, 2017) (CC BY 4.0) Affordable Learning Georgia Grants Collections are intended to provide faculty with the frameworks to quickly implement or revise the same materials as a Textbook Transformation Grants team, along with the aims and lessons learned from project teams during the implementation process. **There is usable material here, but it is not a textbook, but rather modules/ppt etc that were developed for stat and research method classes at Kennesaw State University***

Psychological Statistics/Statistics for the Social Sciences (C-ID MATH 110)

Elementary Statistics for Behavioral and Social Sciences (Oja) – LibreTexts (CC BY-NC-SA/CC BY-SA)   Worksheets for each chapter are in Canvas Commons under PSYC 2200. The author, Michelle Oja, is a California Community College faculty member. The licensing for this textbook changes based on the page (sub-section).  As most of the textbook was modified from Foster et al. (2021), much of the textbook is CC BY-NC-SA.  Most of the other authors’ work is licensed as CC BY-SA.

Introduction to Psychological Statistics by Foster, Lane, Scott, Hebl, Guerra, Osherson, Zimmer, 2018 (CC BY-NC-SA) University of Missouri – St. Louis “We are constantly bombarded by information, and finding a way to filter that information in an objective way is crucial to surviving this onslaught with your sanity intact. This is what statistics, and logic we use in it, enables us to do. Through the lens of statistics, we learn to find the signal hidden in the noise when it is there and to know when an apparent trend or pattern is really just randomness. The study of statistics involves math and relies upon calculations of numbers. But it also relies heavily on how the numbers are chosen and how the statistics are interpreted.” Authors are from Univ of Missouri, Rice and Univ of Houston

Some other resources to consider:

• TeachPsychScience (TeachPsychScience)  (CC not readily available) (appears to be copyrighted per the bottom of the page) A large number of peer reviewed activities to demonstrate a variety of research methods and statistics concepts posted. “Go beyond classroom discussions of psychology to immerse your students in psychological research. Login below to access demonstrations, assign experiments to your students to participate in, and download datasets for students to analyze.”
• The Mind Project (TheMindProject) (CC not readily available) appears to be copyrighted as of 2018. Offers interactive virtual labs.
• ASCCC OER Initiative
• VassarStats [1] – free online stats calculator (copyrighted but works well)
• QuickCalcs (GraphPad)  (copyrighted but works well)
• Face Research (FaceResearch) (CC BY 4.0) – sampling demo and also attractiveness demo
• APA Online Psychology Laboratory (APA) (CC not readily available) – the apa studies
• APA style information with free tutorials (APA Style Team, 2020) (CC not readily available)
• Rossman/Chance Applet Collection (RossmanChance) (CC not readily available) – demos and simulations; ohhhhh the simulations. Apps are so good you can effectively use them for legit monte carlo simulations.
• Jamovi: Stats. Open. Now. (CC BY-NC) – Jamovi is a free to use statistical software. It mirrors the SPSS interface, but is more user-friendly because it gives real-time statistical output in the same window as the data. Also, Jamovi runs on R, so you can click “syntax mode” to get the R code. And it can run more rigorous analyses than the basic version of SPSS. Also, there’s a beta version that runs in a web browser so students who use tablets and phones can still run analyses (they don’t need to download it to a computer).
• Finally for courses which teach Child Development as a Developmental Psychology course there is a full chronological text available

Psychology-Specific OER Collections

• Noba (NobaProject) (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) Noba offers “Comprehensive content from ADHD to Z.” The Noba catalog covers the traditional scope of introductory psychology and then some. With 103 modules (and counting) we’re confident you’ll find what you’re looking for. Noba is a free online platform that provides high-quality, flexibly structured textbooks and educational materials. These textbooks and materials are licensed under the Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 International License. Users may reuse, redistribute, and remix the content to suit their needs.
• Open BC Campus (list page is CC-BY) Fourteen textbooks with links to supplementary materials (where available). On the homepage of BC Campus they say “… we’re using open technologies to facilitate, evaluate, and create open educational resources to share across the province and around the world; saving millions of student-dollars through hundreds of open textbooks adopted in thousands of classrooms.”
• University of Minnesota Center for Open Education (list page is CC-BY) Another repository of texts ranging from links to some of the books above as well as upper division course texts on learning, industrial psychology, and education.

This page was updated on January 26, 2023.