To advance towards a science of human behavior there must be well-defined constructs. This aspect of theory building tends to be neglected in the research conducted and services provided with respect to Afro-American and other people of color. Consequently, there has been so little relevant social science. In recent times large numbers of Afro-Americans have engaged in self-directed shifts in personal social behavior. These changes in role behavior have been indicative of the search for an authentic identity. This direction begins with the political choice which supports the psychological freedom of self-determination to define what has been, is and will be for Afro-Americans as a people. Until this approach is embedded in the attitudes and assumptions of scholars no other scientific evidence will exist to show this denunciation of traditional behavioral sets as a major personality change. Personality differentiation is important along specific anthropomorphic lines that accommodate patterns of growth which develop out of coping and defending. The anthropological boundary of personality development has significance in its stimulation and support of certain self-reliant life styles. Modal activity or role behavior becomes important as self-expressions of social adaptation which transforms perceptions into goal directed behavior. Personality studies on ethnics of color become more than impulse release and affection or the constant reach for refinements in deficity modeling. Instead, assumptions about behavior can be put more neatly in terms of variations structured by the para-culture and by the entire society. (Author/JM)