Luciano L’Abate 
Beyond the Systems Paradigm 
Emerging Constructs in Family and Personality Psychology

​This monograph owes its origins to the decades-old proposal by David Bakan (1968) about the duality of human experience. He proposed that community and agency would be two necessary and sufficient constructs to classify and to encompass most human relationships. This dichotomy has been found to be valid by a variety of contributions over the last half a century (L’Abate, 2009; L’Abate, Cusinato, Maino, Colesso, & Scilletta, 2010). Additionally, the purpose of this book is to argue and assert that two important fields of psychology, family and personality psychologies, if not already dead are conceptually, empirically, and practically moribund. They are being superseded respectively by perhaps more appropriate, perhaps more specific, and more likely verifiable concepts and constructs, such as intimacy and identity. The traditional family still conceived as composed by two parents and two children of different gender is esponsible for only one fourth of all domiciles in USA. Singles, same-sex couples, and completely different family organization complete the remaining 100%. Difficulties in defining what is personality require a change in perspective and advance toward a comprehensive theory of human relationships that can and should fulfill requirements necessary to achieve an undoubtedly grandiose and ambitious universal status.​

Table of Content

The Meaning of Constructs.- The Decline and possible Demise of Family Psychology: Families without Personalities.- The Decline and possible Demise of Personality Psychology: Personalities without Families.- The (Slow but Sure) Rise of Attachment Theory, Communication and Relationship Science.- Relational Competence Theory: Toward a Comprehensive Classification of Human Relationship.- Conclusion: Identity as an Overarching Construct in Relational Competence Theory.

About the author

Since his retirement in 1990, Luciano L’Abate, Ph.D. has been Professor Emeritus at Georgia State University where he was previously a Professor of Psychology beginning in 1965. L’Abate has been an editorial board member of many national and foreign professional and scientific journals, as well as a consultant to various publishing houses. He is the author and co-author of over 300 papers, chapters, and book reviews in professional journals in addition to authoring/editing 34 books. His work has been translated into Chinese, Japanese, Finnish, Spanish, French, Polish, and German languages. Dr. L’Abate is the recipient of many awards including ‘Family Psychologist of the Year for 1994’ by Division 43 of the American Psychological Association, ‘Outstanding Contribution’ by the Georgia Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, and ‘Outstanding Citizen’ by the House of Representatives in the State of Georgia. He has also held workshops and lectured extensively in the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Japan, Germany, Spain, and Italy. Dr. L’Abate has spent the last several years involved full-time in writing and research since his retirement from Georgia State University.