lOMoARcPSD|7156772
Structure of Personality
According to Allport, the basic units of
personality are personal dispositions and the
proprium.
Personal Dispositions
Allport distinguished between common
traits, which permit inter-individual
comparisons, and personal dispositions,
ALLPORT: PSYCHOLOGY OF THE which are peculiar to the individual. He
INDIVIDUAL recognized three overlapping levels of
personal dispositions, the most general
Overview of Allport's Psychology of the of which are cardinal dispositions that
Individual are so obvious and dominating that
Gordon Allport, whose major emphasis was on they cannot be hidden from other
the uniqueness of each individual, built a people. Not everyone has a cardinal
theory of personality as a reaction against disposition, but all people have 5 to 10
what he regarded as the non-humanistic central dispositions, or characteristics
positions of both psychoanalysis and animal- around which their lives revolve. In
based learning theory. However, Allport was addition, everyone has a great number
eclectic in his approach and accepted many of of secondary dispositions, which are
the ideas of other theorists. less reliable and less conspicuous than
central traits. Allport further divided
Biography of Gordon Allport personal dispositions into (1)
Gordon W. Allport was born in Indiana in 1897. motivational dispositions, which are
He received an undergraduate degree in strong enough to initiate action and (2)
philosophy and economics from Harvard, and stylistic dispositions, which refer to the
taught in Europe for a year. While in Europe, he manner in which an individual behaves
had a fortuitous meeting with Sigmund Freud and which guide rather than initiate
in Vienna, which helped him decide to action.
complete a Ph.D. in psychology. After receiving
his Ph.D. from Harvard, Allport spent two years Proprium
studying under some of the great German The proprium refers to all those
psychologists, but he returned to teach at behaviors and characteristics that
Harvard. Two years later he took a position at people regard as warm and central in
Dartmouth, but after four years at Dartmouth, their lives. Allport preferred the term
he again returned to Harvard, where he proprium over self or ego because the
remained until his death in 1967. latter terms could imply an object or
thing within a person that controls
Allport's Approach to Personality behavior, whereas proprium suggests
Allport believed that psychologically healthy the core of one's personhood.
humans are motivated by present mostly
conscious drives and they not only seek to Motivation
reduce tensions but to establish new ones. He Allport insisted that an adequate theory of
also believed that people are capable of motivation must consider the notion that
proactive behavior, which suggests that they motives change as people mature and also
can consciously behave in new and creative that people are motivated by present drives
ways that foster their own change and growth. and wants.
He called his study of the individual
morphogenic science and contrasted it with Reactive and Proactive Theories of
traditional nomothetic methods. Motivation
To Allport, people not only react to their
Personality Defined environment, but they also shape their
Allport defined personality as "the dynamic environment and cause it to react to
organization within the individual of those them. His proactive approach
psychophysical systems that determine his emphasized the idea that people often
characteristic behavior and thought." seek additional tension and that they
Downloaded by Moon Cas (eiyrelle23@gmail.com)
lOMoARcPSD|7156772
purposefully act on their environment in general laws from a study of groups of
a way that fosters growth toward people, but Allport used idiographic or
psychological health. morphogenic procedures that study the
single case. Unlike many psychologists,
Functional Autonomy Allport was willing to accept self-reports
Allport's most distinctive and at face value.
controversial concept is his theory of
functional autonomy, which holds that The Diaries of Marion Taylor
some (but not all) human motives are In the late 1930's, Allport and his wife
functionally independent from the became acquainted with diaries
original motive responsible for a written by woman they called Marion
particular behavior. Allport recognized Taylor. These diaries-along with
two levels of functional autonomy: (1) descriptions of Marion Taylor by her
perseverative functional autonomy, mother, younger sister, favorite
which is the tendency of certain basic teacher, friends, and a neighbor-
behaviors (such as addictive behaviors) provided the Allports with a large
to continue in the absence of quantity of material that could be
reinforcement, and (2) propriate studied using morphogenic methods.
functional autonomy, which refers to However, the Allports never
self-sustaining motives (such as published this material.
interests) that are related to the
proprium. Letters from Jenny
Even though Allport never published
Conscious and Unconscious data from Marion Taylor's dairies, he did
Motivation publish a second case study-that of
Although Allport emphasized conscious Jenny Gove Masterson. Jenny had
motivation more than any other written a series of 301 letters to Gordon
personality theorist, he did not and Ada Allport, whose son had been a
completely overlook the possible roommate of Jenny's son. Two of Gordon
influence of unconscious motives on Allport's students, Alfred Baldwin and
pathological behaviors. Most people, Jeffrey Paige used a personal structure
however, are aware of what they are analysis and factor analysis
doing and why they are doing it. respectively, while Allport used a
commonsense approach to discern
The Psychologically Healthy Personality Jenny's personality structure as
Allport believed that people are motivated by revealed by her letters. All three
both the need to adjust to their environment approaches yielded similar results
and to grow toward psychological health; that which suggest that morphogenic
is, people are both reactive and proactive. studies can be reliable.
Nevertheless, psychologically healthy persons
are more likely to engage in proactive Related Research
behaviors. Allport listed six criteria for Allport believed that a deep religious
psychological health: commitment was a mark of a mature person,
(1) an extension of the sense of self, but he also saw that many regular churchgoers
(2) warm relationships with others, did not have a mature religious orientation and
(3) emotional security or self-acceptance, were capable of deep racial and social
(4) a realistic view of the world, prejudice. In other words, he saw a curvilinear
(5) insight and humor, and relationship between church attendance and
(6) a unifying philosophy of life. prejudice.
The Study of the Individual The Religious Orientation Scale
Allport strongly felt that psychology should This insight led Allport to develop and
develop and use research methods that study use the Religious Orientation Scale to
the individual rather than groups. assess both an intrinsic orientation and
an extrinsic orientation toward religion.
Morphogenic Science Allport and Ross found that people with
Traditional psychology relies on an extrinsic orientation toward religion
nomothetic science, which seeks tend to be quite prejudiced, whereas
Downloaded by Moon Cas (eiyrelle23@gmail.com)
