The Explanation of Behavior (Paperback)

The Explanation of Behavior: A Control Theory of Everything is a broad theoretical framework aimed at explaining all behavior at all times. Dr. Guerreiro utilizes the scientific method (best illustrated in physics and chemistry) as a reference and platform on which to assemble and integrate nearly one hundred fifty years of psychological theory, observation, and research to finally explain behavior in a simple, parsimonious, and easy to comprehend model that defines, under one scope, personality theory, motivation, and relationships amongst organisms and nonliving objects.

Dr. Guerreiro’s model is based on a set of seven principles (or truisms, as he calls them) that define the Universe which we are all part of. These seven universal principles establish the parameters for us to understand behavior in general from our own human perspective. According to Dr. Guerreiro’s systems control theory of behavior, all behavior is connected through an eternal flow of energy that does not have a beginning or an ending. Therefore, in order to exist, any behavior requires an environment, an object/subject, and an observer.

This book is written in a conversational yet authoritative tone that reflects the author’s pondering, evolution, and maturation of his thoughts over a period of three decades. Throughout the text, Dr. Guerreiro uses humor, satire, and anecdotes extracted from his own clinical experience and news events to illustrate and draw parallels between his ideas and the many unresolved socio-political problems of our day. In spite of being a serious landmark contribution to the field of psychology, this book was written not just for psychologists, but for anyone who can read and is curious to know about human nature and what makes us tick. Dr. Guerreiro is not shy about expressing his opinion and letting the reader know where he stands on the relevant issues faced by Humanity going forward.

The last two chapters of the book present a view of the future that challenges the status quo of Western Civilization and proposes the genuine pursuit of Happiness assumed on the hopefully consensual understanding that Human Society is a unified organism that needs to transition from greed and violence (Phase One of the development of Humanity) to sharing and cooperation (Phase Two of the development of Humanity). While recognizing the current reality of disrespect for life and the planet, Dr. Guerreiro promotes a message of optimism and a robust belief in a unified and cooperative Human Society.

Dr. Luis A. Guerreiro is a licensed psychologist practicing clinical, school, and consulting psychology. He was a fellow at the New York University Medical Center in New York City in the late 1980s and earned his doctoral degree from the prestigious Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology (GSAPP), Rutgers University at New Brunswick, New Jersey, in 1989. He has made professional contributions to Children’s Specialized Hospital and to several public and private school systems and agencies in New Jersey, where he has been in private practice since 1992.

He has published professional articles in refereed journals on both sides of the Atlantic, namely in Contemporary Education and Jornal de Psicologia. For several years, Dr. Guerreiro was on the editorial board of Special Services in the Schools, a quarterly journal published as a platform and resource for psychologists working in educational environments.

Dr. Guerreiro speaks and practices in English, Portuguese, and Spanish, which has given him the opportunity to work with a diversity of multiethnic and multicultural populations. To a great extent, this diversity in professional experience has helped him deepen his views and understanding of how individuals, groups, families, and organizations function and evolve.

Little known to many who know him professionally, Dr. Guerreiro has also been, in the course of his multifaceted life and career, a journalist, poet, radio personality, and writer of political commentary and fictional stories.

Dr. Guerreiro has five adult children and a growing number of grandchildren. He lives with his wife in the Delaware River Valley.