Five Stages of Problem Behaviour

Kishimi and Koga carry the first book's question, goals rather than causes, into the classroom. A teacher with a disruptive pupil asks how to stop the behaviour; the book asks what it achieves. Its answer is a special place in the group when an ordinary place seems out of reach. At the first stage the person tries to be perfect in order to be praised. If praise does not come, they seek attention as the clown or the nuisance. If that fails, they enter a power struggle, defying for the sake of it, then move to revenge, hurting those who would not give them a place. At the last stage they prove themselves hopeless so that nothing more will be expected. The practical consequence is that the usual responses feed the goal: a scolding supplies the attention, an argument accepts the fight. What helps is to decline the bait calmly and offer an ordinary place through real responsibility and recognition of contribution. The scheme belongs to an Adlerian tradition best known from the educator Rudolf Dreikurs and his 'mistaken goals'; its support comes from practice more than from controlled studies, so it is a lens, not a diagnosis.