| These levels of
development of the PB theory open vast possibilities and needs
for research. For one thing, there are presently many personality
theories with a variety of concepts and principles, many of
them overlapping. These need to organized in an overarching
personality theory. PB provides that framework. Centrally
the principles of basic learning theory and human learning
theory and the concepts of the BBRs and the knowledge of how
they develop in childhood need to be applied to the phenomena
of personality, such as individual differences in behavior,
the stability of individual differences, variations in individual
differences. The specific traits of personality—intelligence,
self-confidence, extroversion-introversion, honesty, friendliness,
shyness, and many more—need to be analyzed in terms
of the BBRs of which they are composed and how they are learned.
Psychological Testing
This is a completely disorganized and isolated field. Its
basis consists of methods for constructing psychological tests
along with common sense notions of personality. The field
does not draw from the other fields of psychology or contribute
to them. PB calls for analysis of all tests in terms of the
BBRs they measure. Doing that will unify the field’s
knowledge indicate the relationship of the tests to each other.
Those analyses will also indicate how the BBRs are learned
in a way that calls for the study of that learning, just as
the PB analysis of intelligence produced research showing
what an aspect of intelligence was, how it was learned, and
how it could be taught. There is a huge amount of research
called for to do this generally for intelligence as well as
the many other BBRs of personality
Abnormal Behavior
Some abnormal behaviors can be analyzed simply, in terms
of basic learning principles. For example, temper tantrums
in a young child can be understood in terms of the reinforcement
conditions that produced the tantrums and that maintain them.
But most behavior disorders involve disorders in complex BBRs.
A great deal of research and theory is necessary to analyze
and study the behavior disorders in terms of the BBRs . The
value of doing so has already been demonstrated many times
within PB and other approaches using similar concepts and
principles.
Continue to Looking to the Future: Applications
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