Obsessions in AP Psychology

In AP Psychology, obsessions are persistent, unwanted, intrusive thoughts, images, or urges that cause anxiety or distress. Together with compulsions, they are the defining feature of obsessive-compulsive and related disorders (CED Topic 5.4).

What are Obsessions?

Obsessions are thoughts, images, or urges that push into your mind even though you don't want them there. They keep coming back, they're hard to shut off, and they cause real anxiety or distress. Think of a fear of germs on every doorknob, a nagging worry that the stove is still on, or a disturbing image of hurting someone that the person would never act on.

The AP Psychology CED defines obsessive-compulsive and related disorders by two features. The first is obsessions (intrusive thoughts). The second is compulsions, which are repetitive behaviors meant to address those obsessions. The obsession is the thought that creates the anxiety. The compulsion is the action the person takes to make that anxiety go away. The two disorders in scope are obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and hoarding disorder. One detail matters a lot here. People with obsessions usually recognize the thoughts as their own and often know they're excessive. They just can't make them stop.

Why Obsessions matter in AP® Psychology

Obsessions live in Unit 5: Mental and Physical Health, under Topic 5.4, Selection of Categories of Psychological Disorders. They tie directly to learning objective AP Psych 5.4.F, which asks you to describe the symptoms and possible causes of obsessive-compulsive and related disorders. You can't describe OCD's symptoms without obsessions, because they're half of the disorder's definition.

The term also connects to the causes listed in 5.4.F. Those causes are learned associations between stimuli, maladaptive thinking or emotional responses, and biological or genetic sources. So obsessions are a symptom you need to recognize in a scenario, and they're also a doorway into explaining why the disorder happens from behavioral, cognitive, and biological perspectives. For the full tour of every disorder category, head to the Topic 5.4 study guide.

How Obsessions connect across the course

Compulsions (Unit 5)

Obsessions and compulsions are a matched pair. The obsession is the alarm going off in your head, and the compulsion is the button you keep pressing to silence it. Checking the lock ten times only makes sense as a response to the obsessive worry that it's unlocked.

Negative Reinforcement and Learned Associations (Unit 3)

The CED lists learned associations as a possible cause of OCD, and this is where your learning unit pays off. Performing a compulsion briefly removes the anxiety an obsession causes. Removing something unpleasant is negative reinforcement, so the ritual gets stronger every time it works.

Delusions in Schizophrenic Spectrum Disorders (Unit 5)

Both involve thoughts that won't go away, but they work differently. A delusion is a false belief the person accepts as true. An obsession is a thought the person usually knows is excessive or irrational yet still can't shake.

Anxiety Disorders (Unit 5)

Obsessions produce intense anxiety, which is why OCD can look like an anxiety disorder. The CED still treats obsessive-compulsive disorders as their own category. What sets them apart is the obsession-compulsion cycle, not the anxiety alone.

Are Obsessions on the AP® Psychology exam?

Most questions about obsessions are scenario-based multiple choice. You'll read about someone like Marcus, who spends hours checking that his door is locked and feels intense anxiety unless he does his ritual exactly right. Then you'll have to name the disorder or pick out which part of the scenario is the obsession and which is the compulsion. Here the worry about the unlocked door is the obsession, and the repeated checking is the compulsion.

Expect a few other formats too. Some questions use data, like a study of OCD patients sorted by obsession type (contamination fears paired with cleaning rituals, symmetry obsessions paired with ordering compulsions, harm-related intrusive thoughts). Others are comparisons, such as telling OCD apart from obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD). No released FRQ has used the term verbatim. Still, it fits naturally into FRQs that ask you to describe a disorder's symptoms or explain a cause using a psychological perspective. The safest move is to define obsessions as intrusive thoughts and connect them to a specific behavior in the prompt.

Obsessions vs Compulsions

An obsession happens in the mind. It's an unwanted, intrusive thought, image, or urge that causes anxiety. A compulsion is a behavior or mental act the person repeats to reduce that anxiety. Here's a quick test. If it's something the person experiences and wants to stop, it's an obsession. If it's something the person does to feel better, it's a compulsion. Fear of germs is an obsession, and washing your hands 40 times is a compulsion.

Key things to remember about Obsessions

• Obsessions are unwanted, intrusive thoughts, images, or urges that keep coming back and cause anxiety or distress.

• Obsessions are thoughts and compulsions are behaviors, and the compulsion is done to reduce the anxiety the obsession creates.

• Obsessions and compulsions together define obsessive-compulsive and related disorders, and the two disorders in scope are OCD and hoarding disorder.

• Learning objective AP Psych 5.4.F lists the possible causes of these disorders as learned associations, maladaptive thinking or emotional responses, and biological or genetic sources.

• Compulsions are maintained by negative reinforcement, because performing the ritual temporarily removes the anxiety the obsession causes.

• Unlike someone with a delusion, a person with obsessions usually recognizes that their thoughts are excessive but still can't control them.

Frequently asked questions about Obsessions

What are obsessions in AP Psychology?

Obsessions are persistent, unwanted, intrusive thoughts, images, or urges that cause anxiety or distress. Together with compulsions, they define obsessive-compulsive and related disorders under learning objective AP Psych 5.4.F.

What is the difference between obsessions and compulsions?

Obsessions are intrusive thoughts, and compulsions are repetitive behaviors meant to deal with those thoughts. Worrying that the door is unlocked is the obsession, and checking it again and again is the compulsion.

Does having obsessions mean someone has OCD?

Not by itself. Plenty of people have an occasional intrusive thought. OCD involves obsessions and/or compulsions that recur, are hard to control, and cause real distress or interfere with daily life.

Are obsessions the same as delusions?

No. A delusion is a false belief the person accepts as true, and it's a positive symptom of schizophrenic spectrum disorders. A person with obsessions usually knows the thoughts are excessive or irrational but can't stop them.

Is OCD an anxiety disorder on the AP Psych exam?

No. The CED places obsessive-compulsive and related disorders in their own category, separate from anxiety disorders like specific phobia, panic disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder. Obsessions do cause anxiety, but the obsession-compulsion cycle is what defines the category.