Trait Approach and Gordon Allport

Flashcards on the trait approach to personality by Gordon Allport.

Trait Approach

The current dominant paradigm in personality psychology; more up to date with how personality psychologists think about the topic today.

Trait Approach Focus

Understanding adult behavior as it is today, focusing on conscious motivations rather than unconscious influences or early childhood experiences.

Gordon Allport

Widely considered the founder of modern personality psychology, particularly in America, and responsible for the shift towards studying traits.

Allport Quote on Normality

Psychologists cannot tell us what normality, health, or maturity of personality mean, yet every practical minded person, including psychologists and psychotherapists, would like to know.

Allport's Critique of Prior Theories

Personality psychology should be based on observations and study of average people, not just those struggling with mental illness

Allport's Research on Religion

Distinguishes between intrinsic (personally fulfilling) versus extrinsic (motivated by fear or social pressure) kinds of religiosity.

Contact Hypothesis

The way to reduce animosity is to expose them to each other more, especially in situations with a common goal and productive collaboration.

Allport's Rejection of Freudian Ideas

He rejected the idea that adult behavior arises solely from childhood conflicts or unconscious motives and instead focused on adult personality.

Allport's Definition of Personality

Personality is the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine their unique adjustment to the environment.

Dynamic (in Allport's definition)

Involves movement, energy, interaction between different parts, and suggests that personality is a source of motivation for behavior.

Within the Individual (in Allport's definition)

Personality is inside of us and not just about our behavior isn't just about the situations that we're in.

Unique (in Allport's definition)

There's something about our personality that is unique to us that isn't shared by all other people.

Adjustment (in Allport's definition)

Adapting to the surroundings in a way that allows us to be successful, thrive, and experience happiness.

Psychophysical (in Allport's definition)

Personality is about both the body and the mind which involves the dynamic interaction between the systems involved in the body and the mind.

Proprium

Allport's way of referring to the self, the sense of who you are, your sense of identity, what distinguishes you from other people when you are just thinking about yourself in your head.

Development of Self Stages 1 and 2

Infants are born into a merger with the mother where they're not distinguishing between the self and other. Then, they develop a sense of not me versus, me versus not me, me versus other in a physical and psychological sense.

Development of Self Stage 3

Learns to develop some self esteem, which is really just to develop a positive orientation towards yourself, to develop some positive self views to like yourself.

Development of Self Stage 4

Develop, a genuine interest in friends, family members, other human beings.

Development of Self Stage 5

Realize that there's information in that world outside of us, particularly in other people and the way other people are viewing us, and we come to realize that those views are super important. We start to care about how other people perceive us.

Development of Self Stage 6

Starting to develop a sense of independence and a sense of competence.

Development of Self Stage 7

Lifelong stage about coming to have desires for yourself, having something that you want to get out of life.

Functional Autonomy of Acquired Motives

The reason you engage in any given behavior today is often different from the reason you started doing that behavior in the first place.

Implication of Functional Autonomy

If you want to understand motivation, why a person's doing something, you need to ask them or look at why they're doing it today, not why they started doing it in the first place.

Whatever Drives, Drives Now

Motivation, why people are doing things today should be understood in the now not in terms of childhood experiences that they have.

Capacity for Self Extension

Suggests that motivation isn’t just about basic needs or drive reduction, but more about developing broader interests.

Techniques for Warm Relating to Others

Able to have interpersonal relationships and genuinely love others and shows a tolerance for dissimilarity among others.

Emotional Security and Self Acceptance

Able to have appropriate emotional reactions to events and has an objective awareness of their strengths and weaknesses.