Personality Theory for the Twenty-First Century 155how the repertoires on tests are learned and function will lead
to studies that are relevant in different areas of psychology.
There is a vast amount of research to be conducted within this
framework. The results of that research will help organize the
presently chaotic knowledge of the field. That research will
help relate the field of testing to the other fields of psychology.
That research will render theoretically meaningful many
works that exist in this field. And the knowledge produced
should also enable the field to construct better tests.
Abnormal Psychology
The PB position is that a theory of personality should contain
principles and concepts for formulating a theory of abnormal
psychology. Freud’s psychoanalytic theory was composed to
have that potentiality, and this was elaborated in others
works. Radical behaviorism has not produced such a theory,
nor has the traditional behavioral field.
Psychological behaviorism, however, began a new devel-
opment in behaviorism when it analyzed the opposite speech
of the schizophrenic patient (Staats, 1957). Not only was the
abnormal symptom considered as a behavior, but the analysis
also indicated how the symptom was learned and how it
could be extinguished and replaced with normal behavior. In
the early presentation of PB (see Staats, 1963) one chapter
was devoted to further formulation of its theory of abnormal
behavior. This theory was employed in the social learning
theory of abnormal behavior (Bandura, 1968) and in later be-
havioral works of various kinds. However, the PB theory was
developed a good deal further after its theory of personality
was systematically formulated (Staats, 1975) and then further
extended (Staats, 1989, 1996).
The PB theory of abnormal behavior follows the theory of
personality schematized in Figure 6.1. However, each term in
the causal circumstances can be normal or abnormal and result
in abnormal behavior. With respect to biological conditions,
O 1 ,O 2 , and O 3 may be abnormal in some way. For example,
because of organic conditions a child with Down syndrome
does not learn normally and will display deficits in the BBRs
and thus not behave normally in various life situations, such as
school. The same is true of the O^2 and O^3. When they are ab-
normal, they will produce abnormal behavior.
In addition, the behavioral variables in the schematized
theory of personality can be either normal or abnormal. In
this case abnormal can mean either deficits in what should be
or inappropriate conditions that should not occur. The origi-
nal learning, for example, S 1 , may be deficit or inappropriate
and produce deficit or inappropriate BBRs that will result in
deficit or inappropriate behavior in later situations such that
the individual will be diagnosed as abnormal. The deficit or
inappropriate conditions can also occur in S 2 and produce be-
havior that will be judged as abnormal.
The task is to analyze, for the various diagnostic categories,
these various behavioral or organic conditions that produce
abnormal behavior. Each such analysis constitutes a theory of
the disorder involved that can be employed by therapists or
parents. For example, if the deficit or inappropriate conditions
occur at S 1 , the analysis can be used to instruct parents how to
see to it that the child does not develop abnormal BBRs. The
analysis will also provide the practitioner with knowledge
about how to correct the abnormal conditions and treat the be-
havior disorder after it has occurred. For example, PB works
have presented analyses of developmental disorders, develop-
mental reading disorder, autism, and mental retardation
(Staats, 1996). In addition, PB theories of depression, the anx-
iety disorders (phobic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder,
panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and posttrau-
matic stress disorder) have also been presented. Various other
behavior therapists have produced other analyses of behavior
disorders that use elements from PB theory. However, typi-
cally they do not employ the full approach, and there remains
a general need to stipulate the elements of abnormal BBRs fur-
ther, how they are learned, and how they have their effects
in a general theory of abnormal behavior.
The PB theory of abnormal behavior takes the position
that traditional descriptions of categories of abnormal behav-
ior (see DSM-IV; American Psychiatric Association, 1994)
are valuable. PB analyses of behavior disorders yield exten-
sive implications for research that PB suggests for the
twenty-first century. So, in addition to those already made,
many analyses of the various behavior disorders are needed.
Such analyses need to be empirically verified, their implica-
tions for prevention and treatment assessed, and their impli-
cations for test construction exploited. Centrally, research is
needed that gathers observations of the development of ab-
normal behavior through learning that, strangely enough,
have never been made.Application of the Personality TheoryFrom the beginning the PB position has been that basic and
applied work should be closely related in psychology but
presently are not. For example, the field of animal learning has
ceased providing useful information to the various areas of
human study because the field needs input from those areas
concerning important things to study. As an example in the
other direction, a personality theory in the PB view should
have implications for the improvement of psychology’s fields
of practice. To illustrate, my own personal experience has
exposed me to cases of disadvantageous parenting that re-