AP Psychology Concept Taxonomy¶

12 categories aligned with the AP Psychology CED units and cross-cutting themes.

1. Foundation and Research Methods¶

TaxonomyID: FOUND

Core concepts about psychology as a science, research design, statistics, and ethical guidelines. These concepts underpin all other units and are assessed as a cross-cutting science practice on the AP Exam.

Includes: scientific method, experimental design, non-experimental methods, variables, sampling, statistics (mean, standard deviation, percentile rank), statistical significance, APA ethics, informed consent, debriefing, replicability, generalizability.

2. Biological Bases of Behavior¶

TaxonomyID: BIO

Structures and subsystems of the nervous system; heredity and environment; brain anatomy and function. Foundational biological knowledge that underlies all psychological phenomena.

Includes: nature vs. nurture, heredity, twin/family/adoption studies, evolutionary perspective, CNS, PNS, autonomic/somatic nervous systems, spinal cord, reflex arc, neuron structure, glial cells, brain regions (brain stem, cerebellum, limbic system, cerebral cortex and lobes), hemispheric lateralization, split-brain research, brain imaging.

3. Neurochemistry and Psychopharmacology¶

TaxonomyID: CHEM

Electrochemical basis of neural communication; neurotransmitters; hormones; psychoactive drugs and their effects.

Includes: neural transmission, all-or-none principle, resting potential, depolarization, action potential, refractory period, reuptake, synaptic threshold, neurotransmitters (dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine, glutamate, GABA, endorphins, acetylcholine, substance P), hormones (adrenaline, leptin, ghrelin, melatonin, oxytocin), psychoactive drugs (agonists, antagonists, reuptake inhibitors, stimulants, depressants, hallucinogens, opioids), tolerance, addiction, withdrawal.

4. Sensation and Perception¶

TaxonomyID: SEN

How the sense organs detect physical stimuli and how the brain interprets that raw sensory data into meaningful perceptions.

Includes: absolute threshold, difference threshold, Weber's law, signal detection theory, sensory adaptation, vision, audition, olfaction, gustation, somatosensation, gate-control theory of pain, vestibular sense, kinesthesia, bottom-up processing, top-down processing, perceptual sets, schemas (perceptual), Gestalt principles (figure/ground, proximity, similarity, closure), selective attention, cocktail party effect, change blindness, binocular/monocular depth cues, perceptual constancy, apparent movement.

5. Cognition and Thinking¶

TaxonomyID: COG

Higher-order mental processes including reasoning, problem-solving, judgment, decision-making, language, and intelligence.

Includes: concepts and prototypes, assimilation and accommodation, algorithms, heuristics (representativeness, availability), framing effect, mental set, cognitive biases, gambler's fallacy, sunk-cost fallacy, executive functions, creativity and divergent thinking, functional fixedness, intelligence and the g factor, multiple intelligences, IQ and mental age, standardized testing, test validity and reliability, Flynn Effect, stereotype threat, fixed vs. growth mindset, achievement vs. aptitude tests.

6. Memory¶

TaxonomyID: MEM

Models, processes, and failures of human memory — from initial encoding through long-term storage to retrieval and forgetting.

Includes: explicit/implicit memory, episodic/semantic/procedural/prospective memory, long-term potentiation, working memory model, multi-store memory model, sensory/short-term/long-term memory, levels of processing, encoding strategies, mnemonic devices, chunking, spacing effect, serial position effect (primacy/recency), maintenance and elaborative rehearsal, retrieval cues, recall vs. recognition, context/state/mood-dependent memory, forgetting curve, proactive/retroactive interference, tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon, repression, misinformation effect, constructive memory, anterograde/retrograde amnesia.

7. Development Across the Lifespan¶

TaxonomyID: DEV

Human growth and change from prenatal stages through old age, including physical, cognitive, language, and social-emotional development.

Includes: developmental psychology themes, cross-sectional and longitudinal research, prenatal development, teratogens, infant/adolescent/adult physical development, Piaget's cognitive stages (sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete, formal), object permanence, conservation, egocentrism, theory of mind, Vygotsky's ZPD and scaffolding, fluid/crystallized intelligence, language acquisition, critical period, linguistic relativity, babbling, attachment theory (secure/insecure), temperament, parenting styles, Erikson's psychosocial stages, Kohlberg's moral development, Gilligan's ethics of care, social clock, Kübler-Ross grief stages, gender and sexual orientation.

8. Learning and Conditioning¶

TaxonomyID: LEARN

How experience changes behavior through classical conditioning, operant conditioning, observational learning, and neurological mechanisms of learning.

Includes: classical conditioning, UCS/CS/UCR/CR, acquisition, extinction, spontaneous recovery, stimulus generalization and discrimination, conditioned emotional response, taste aversion, operant conditioning, positive/negative reinforcement and punishment, schedules of reinforcement, shaping, learned helplessness, social learning theory, observational learning, Bobo doll study, self-efficacy, cognitive maps, latent learning, neuroplasticity, positive/negative reinforcement contrast.

TaxonomyID: SOC

How the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of individuals are influenced by others; attribution, attitudes, social influence, and group dynamics.

Includes: attribution theory, fundamental attribution error, actor-observer bias, self-serving bias, locus of control, mere exposure effect, self-fulfilling prophecy, social comparison, stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination, implicit attitudes, just-world phenomenon, in-group bias, out-group homogeneity bias, cognitive dissonance, belief perseverance, confirmation bias, social norms, social influence theory, persuasion, elaboration likelihood model, conformity (Asch), obedience (Milgram), foot-in-the-door and door-in-the-face techniques, group polarization, groupthink, diffusion of responsibility, social loafing, deindividuation, social facilitation, bystander effect, altruism, industrial-organizational psychology, ethnocentrism.

10. Personality and Motivation¶

TaxonomyID: PERS

Theories of personality (psychodynamic, humanistic, social-cognitive, trait), theories of motivation, and the psychology of emotion.

Includes: psychodynamic personality theory, ego defense mechanisms (denial, projection, rationalization, repression, displacement, sublimation), projective tests, humanistic personality theory, unconditional positive regard, self-actualization, self-concept, social-cognitive theory, reciprocal determinism, Big Five personality traits (OCEAN), personality inventories, drive-reduction theory, arousal theory, Yerkes-Dodson law, self-determination theory, intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation, incentive theory, motivational conflicts, sensation seeking, hunger and eating behavior, theories of emotion, facial-feedback hypothesis, broaden-and-build theory, universal basic emotions, display rules for emotion.

11. Health Psychology and Well-Being¶

TaxonomyID: HLTH

Factors that promote or impair physical and mental health, including stress, coping, and positive psychology.

Includes: health psychology, stress and behavior, eustress vs. distress, adverse childhood experiences, general adaptation syndrome, fight-flight-freeze response, tend-and-befriend response, problem-focused coping, emotion-focused coping, positive psychology, well-being and resilience, gratitude and subjective well-being, signature strengths, posttraumatic growth.

12. Clinical Psychology: Disorders and Treatment¶

TaxonomyID: CLIN

Classification of psychological disorders, major disorder categories, and evidence-based treatments — both psychological and biological.

Includes: defining psychological disorders, DSM and ICD classification systems, biopsychosocial model, diathesis-stress model, stigma in mental health, behavioral/cognitive/biological/sociocultural perspectives on disorders, ADHD, autism spectrum disorder, schizophrenia (positive/negative symptoms, dopamine hypothesis), major depressive disorder, persistent depressive disorder, bipolar I/II, mania, specific phobia, agoraphobia, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, culture-bound anxiety disorders, OCD, hoarding disorder, dissociative amnesia, dissociative identity disorder, PTSD, anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, personality disorder clusters (A/B/C), antisocial personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, evidence-based psychotherapy, psychodynamic/cognitive/behavioral/CBT/humanistic therapies, group therapy, systematic desensitization, biofeedback, hypnosis, psychotropic medications (antidepressants, antianxiety, antipsychotics, lithium), ECT, TMS.