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This section describes an idea for a taxonomy designed to help solve a variety of issues mentioned elsewhere in this A–Z, namely, the description of interventions, replication and transparency. As noted, lack of replication has been a major issue in psychology. One reason for the failure to replicate is the sheer complexity of different interventions that are available. A vast array of interventions and techniques can be delivered in multitudinous combinations, enabling literally millions of different interventions designed to change behaviour (Marks, 2009).

If interventions are incompletely described, it is not possible to: (1) determine all the necessary attributes of the intervention; (2) classify the intervention into a category or type; (3) compare and contrast interventions across studies; (4) identify which specific intervention component was responsible for efficacy; (5) replicate the intervention in other settings; or (6) advance the science of illness prevention by enabling theory testing in the practice of health care.

One way to put order into the chaos is to use a taxonomic system similar to those used to classify organisms or substances. Taxonomies for living things have been constructed since the time of Aristotle, with the periodic table in chemistry being the best-known example. Some researchers approached this issue by generating ‘shopping lists’ of interventions used in different studies. For example, Abraham and Michie (2008) described 26 behaviour change interventions, which they claimed provided a ‘taxonomy’ of generally applicable behaviour change techniques. Michie et al. (2008: Appendix A) also produced a list of 137 heterogeneous techniques. However, these lists are not useful as taxonomies because they do not demonstrate any systematic structure or organization of classification. A list of techniques is no more useful than a list of chemicals. Only when there is an organization like the periodic table do we gain an understanding of the underlying structure and the relationship between the various elements that lie in the table.

Psychology lacks a system for classifying interventions into a single system consisting of all known techniques and sub-techniques. In an effort to fill this gap, one of the authors has described a taxonomic system which includes six nested levels:

1 Paradigms, e.g., individual, community, public health, critical.

2 Domains, e.g., stress, diabetes, hypertension, smoking, weight, exercise, etc.

3 Programmes, e.g., smoking cessation, obesity management, stress management and assertiveness training.

4 Intervention types, e.g., relaxation induction, imagery, planning, cognitive restructuring, imagery, buddy system monitoring.

5 Techniques, e.g., within imagery there are a large number of techniques, such as mental rehearsal, guided imagery, flooding in imagination and systematic sensitization.

6 Sub-techniques, e.g., within guided imagery there exist a variety of sensory modalities (sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, warmth/coldness), scenarios (e.g., beach, forest, garden, air balloon), delivery methods (e.g., spoken instruction, self-administered by reading, listening to audio tapes), settings (e.g., individual, group) and participant positions (e.g., supine, sitting on floor, sitting on chair).

This taxonomic system is capable of including all health psychology paradigms, domains, programmes, intervention types, techniques and sub-techniques, as defined with universal reference in the form of a tree diagram. Any research design that is sufficiently specific can be placed within this taxonomic system to enable any imaginable intervention to be constructed, delivered, evaluated, labelled, reported and replicated in an unambiguous fashion. This system, or something similar, is needed to remove some basic problems that hold back progress in psychology as a discipline.