Gordon Allport: Psychology of the Individual

Gordon Allport

A pioneer in personality psychology who emphasized the uniqueness of the individual and the conscious motivations behind behavior.

Personality (Allport 1937)

“The dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his unique adjustments to his environment.”

Personality (Allport 1961)

“The dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his characteristic behavior and thought.”

Dynamic Organization

__ implies an integration or interrelatedness of the various aspects of personality.

Psychophysical

emphasizes the importance of both the psychological and the physical aspects of personality.

character

It originally meant a marking or engraving, terms that give flavor to what Allport meant by “characteristic.”

Characteristic (in Allport’s Definition)

Denotes the unique or individualized pattern of behavior and thought that sets one person apart from another

Behavior and Thought

Encompasses both internal processes (like thinking and feeling) and external actions (like speaking and moving).

personality

Allport’s comprehensive definition of __ suggests that human beings are both product process

Role of Conscious Motivation (Allport)

Allport emphasized the importance of conscious motivation. Healthy adults are generally aware of what they are doing and their reasons for doing it.

self-reports at face value

Allport was inclined to accept __ and believed psychologists should recognize manifest motives before

Allport’s View on Unconscious Processes

Allport (1961) acknowledged the existence and importance of unconscious processes, recognizing that some motivation is driven by hidden impulses and sublimated drives.

Gordon Allport

He believed most compulsive behaviors are automatic repetitions, usually self-defeating, motivated by unconscious tendencies, often originating in childhood and retaining a childish flavor into adulthood.

Allport’s Focus on Healthy Personality

Allport studied the mature personality from 1922, emphasizing psychologically healthy individuals within humanistic psychology.

Mature people

__ people consciously influence and innovate within their environment, rather than only reacting or reducing tensions.

Mature individuals

__ individuals act based on conscious, allowing flexibility and autonomy

Unhealthy individuals

__ individuals are unconscious childhood impulses

trauma-free

Healthy people generally , though adulthood may include conflict and suffering.

more mature

Maturity is not dependent on age, but healthy individuals tend to become __ over time.

Criterion 1: Extension of the Sense of Self

Mature individuals engage beyond themselves in social, work, family, and spiritual activities; self-extension marks maturity

• not self-centered but are able to become involved in problems not centered on themselves.

Criterion 1 for Mature Personality: Extension of the Sense of Self

Social interest (Gemeinschaftsgefühl), family, and spiritual life are important to them.

Criterion 1 for Mature Personality: Extension of the Sense of Self

Allport (1961) summed up this this criterion by saying: “Everyone has self-love, but only self-extension is the earmark of maturity”

Criterion 2 for Mature Personality: Warm Relating of Self to Others

Mature people love compassionately, respect others, have healthy sexual attitudes, and avoid exploiting others.

Criterion 3 for Mature Personality: Emotional Security/Self-acceptance

Mature individuals accept themselves and possess what Allport (1961) called emotional poise.

Criterion 4 for Mature Personality: Realistic Perception

Healthy people are problem-focused, realistic, and in touch with the world as most others see it.

Criterion 4 for Mature Personality: Insight and Humor

Mature individuals have self-awareness, do not blame others for faults, and possess a nonhostile sense of humor.

Criterion 4 for Mature Personality: Unifying Philosophy of Life

Mature people have a clear life purpose, often with a mature religious outlook, fostering conscience, reducing prejudice, and encouraging service to others.

Structure of Personality

basic units or building blocks of personality.

personal dispositions

Gordon Allport emphasized individual characteristics called __

Personal Dispositions

Generalized neuropsychic structures, peculiar to the individual, with the capacity to render many stimuli functionally equivalent, and to initiate and guide consistent forms of adaptive and stylistic behavior.

Personal Dispositions

They are unique to the individual, unlike common traits which are shared.

Common Traits

General characteristics shared by many people within a culture.

Personal Dispositions

__ are unique to an individual (to the person),

Cardinal Dispositions

Eminent characteristics or ruling passions so dominant they define nearly every action of a person’s life.

Cardinal Dispositions

Rare and so prominent that they cannot be hidden; individuals are often known by this single trait (e.g., quixotic, narcissistic).

Central Dispositions

The 5 to 10 most outstanding traits that characterize an individual.

Central Dispositions

These are readily recognized by close acquaintances and would be included in an accurate letter of recommendation.

Secondary Dispositions

Traits that are less conspicuous and less central to personality, yet still occur with some regularity.

Secondary Dispositions

They influence specific behaviors but are not critical to defining an individual.

Continuum of Personal Dispositions

Cardinal, central, and secondary dispositions lie on a continuous scale of appropriateness and dominance in personality.

Interpersonal comparisons are inappropriate, as they transform personal dispositions into common traits.

Motivational Dispositions

Strongly felt personal dispositions that receive their motivation from basic needs and drives.

Motivational Dispositions

They initiate action and are similar to Maslow’s coping behavior.

Stylistic Dispositions

Less intensely experienced personal dispositions that guide action rather than initiate it.

Stylistic Dispositions

They influence the manner or style in which a person acts and are similar to Maslow’s expressive behavior

Motivational Dispositions

These dispositions are driven by strong internal needs and (e.g., hunger),

Stylistic Dispositions

These dispostions influence behaviors are performed (e.g., eating with politeness).

Proprium

behaviors and characteristics that individuals perceive as central, warm, and important to their sense of self—those they would describe as “That is me” or “This is mine”

Characteristics Belonging to the Proprium

Traits and behaviors close to the core of personality that an individual regards as integral to their self-identity and self-enhancement.

Includes:

• Values

• Personal component of one’s conscience.

Characteristics Outside the Proprium

Peripheral aspects of personality not experienced as central to the self. These include:

• Basic drives and needs easily satisfied,

• Tribal customs (e.g., wearing clothes, greeting others),

• Habitual behaviors (e.g., smoking, tooth brushing) that are automatic and not linked to self-identity.

warm center of personality

The proprium is considered the ____—encompassing personal values and the part of the conscience aligned with one’s adult beliefs, as

present drives

Allport believed most people are motivated more by __ than by past events and are typically awaref their actions and reasons for doing them.

Peripheral Motives

Motives aimed at reducing a need or tension, associated with reactive behavior.

Propriate Strivings

Motives that seek to maintain tension and disequilibrium, linked to proactive, growth-oriented behavior.

Proactive Behavior

This behavior involves taking initiative and anticipating problems before they occur

Reactive Behavior

This behavior is as they arise.

Homeostatic Theories

Theories such as psychoanalysis and learning theory that emphasize motivation as the reduction of tension to maintain equilibrium (reactive in nature).

Functional Autonomy

The concept that some human motives become independent of the original motive; current behavior is explained by present motives, not past causes.

Example of Functional Autonomy

A person may originally hoard money due to childhood insecurity, but over time, they do it simply because they like money—regardless of the original reason.

Allport’s View on Traditional Theories

Allport rejected Freud’s and stimulus-response theories for being focused on unchanging, reactive motives rooted in the past; he emphasized contemporary, self-sustaining motives.

Adequate Theory of Motivation Criterion 1 – Contemporaneity of Motives

Motivation must be explained by what moves a person now—not by distant past experiences.

Adequate Theory of Motivation Criterion 2 – Pluralism of Motives

A theory must recognize the variety of motives (conscious/unconscious, transient/recurring, etc.), rather than reducing all motivation to one master drive.

Adequate Theory of Motivation Criterion 3 – Cognitive Planning and Intention

An adequate theory gives motivational power to plans, intentions, and future-oriented goals; people act with purpose, not merely reactively

Adequate Theory of Motivation Criterion 4 – Concrete Uniqueness of Motives

Motivation should be explained in terms of real, specific personal goals (e.g., “Derrick wants to improve his bowling game”), not abstract generalizations.

Functional Autonomy (Allport)

Any acquired system of motivation in which the tensions involved are not of the same kind as the antecedent tensions from which the acquired system developed.”

Perseverative Functional Autonomy

A type of functional autonomy where a behavior continues even after the original motivation has disappeared; often based on simple habits or neurological patterns.

Origin of Perseverative

Derived from “perseveration,” meaning a lingering influence of a past impression on current behavior or experience.

Example of Perseverative Functional Autonomy

A student solves a puzzle for money, but after the reward cap is reached, she continues to finish the puzzle; the new drive is now different from the original one.

Key Feature of Perseverative Functional Autonomy

It is mechanical and habitual, requiring no deep personal meaning; the behavior persists due to repetition or momentum

Propriate Functional Autonomy

A self-sustaining system of motivation related to the proprium (core self)

Propriate Functional Autonomy

Behavior that continues because it has become part of one’s identity and personal interests.

Example of Propriate Functional Autonomy

A woman who took a job for money eventually becomes passionate about her work, even engaging in it during her free time—her motivation shifts from financial need to genuine interest and identity.

peculiarly mine

Propriate functional autonomy involves motives that are seen as “__,” meaning they are central to the self and consistent with one’s values and .

Peripheral Motives

these motives (like puzzles or addictions) are based on habit or satisfaction of drives,

propriate motives

These motives are personal values and growth.

Criterion for Functional Autonomy

A motive is functionally autonomous when it seeks new goals and evolves beyond its original purpose; behavior continues despite changes in the initial drive.

Biological Drives

Behaviors such as eating, breathing, and sleeping that are directly tied to survival needs and not functionally autonomous.

Motives for Drive Reduction

Actions that aim to reduce basic drives (like hunger or thirst) are not functionally autonomous because they are reactive and linked to immediate needs.

Constitutional Equipment

Inborn traits like physique, intelligence, and temperament are not motivational systems and therefore not functionally autonomous.

Habits in Formation

Behaviors that are still becoming habits and rely on reinforcement are not yet functionally autonomous.

Primary Reinforcement Patterns

Behavior patterns that continue only due to ongoing primary rewards are not functionally autonomous.

Childhood Sublimations

Sublimations rooted in childhood sexual desires (as Freud proposed) are not functionally autonomous if they are still tied to those early drives

therapy

A behavior is not functionally autonomous if it can be changed through __; if it resists therapy and serves current motives, .

individual

Allport advocated studying the _ rather than focusing solely on general laws or group characteristics.

Nomothetic Approach

Seeks general laws that apply to many people; emphasizes group norms and averages.

Idiographic Approach

Focuses on the uniqueness of the individual case; later replaced by “morphogenic” due to confusion with “ideographic.”

Morphogenic Approach

Allport’s preferred term for Idiographic Approach; refers to studying patterned, structured traits within a single individual and allows for intraperson comparisons.

Example of Morphogenic Analysis

Tyrone is intelligent, introverted, and achievement-motivated—morphogenic study examines how these traits interact uniquely within Tyrone’s personality

Marion Taylor

A pseudonym used by the Allports to refer to a woman whose diaries and personal documents provided rich data for psychological study.

Letters from Jenny

A series of 301 letters written by Jenny to “Glenn and Isabel” (Gordon and Ada Allport) between 1926 and 1937, used by Allport to illustrate the morphogenic approach to personality.

Jenny’s Personality

Characterized by love-hate feelings toward her son Ross, intense suspicion, cynicism, obsession with money and death, and hostility toward others, especially women in Ross’s life.

Optimal Contact

Intergroup contact under Allport's 4 specified conditions, shown through research to reduce prejudice, especially liking more than stereotyping.

Contact Hypothesis (Allport)

Prejudice can be reduced through intergroup contact under optimal conditions:

1. Equal status between groups

2. Common goals

3. Intergroup cooperation

4. Support from authorities/laws/customs

Cross-group Friendship

Friendship between members of different groups is especially powerful in reducing prejudice, building trust and forgiveness, even in areas affected by violence (e.g., Northern Ireland study).

Ingroup Favoritism

Prejudice and discrimination can occur not from hostility, but from favoring one’s own group, as Allport predicted and Greenwald & Pettigrew (2014) confirmed.

Conformity to Ingroup Norms

Unprejudiced individuals may conform to discriminatory practices if those are the norms of their group (e.g., racially segregated cafeterias), a phenomenon Allport and sociologists have long studied.

Intrinsic Religious Orientation

• Religion is central to the person’s life.

• Beliefs guide one’s whole approach to life.

• Religion is internalized and pursued as an end in itself.

• Example item: “I try hard to carry my religion over into all my other dealings in life.”

Extrinsic Religious Orientation

• Religion is used for comfort, security, status, or social benefits.

• Viewed as a means to an end.

• Beliefs are lightly held and flexible when convenient.

• Example item: “One reason for being a church member is that such membership helps to establish a person in the community.”

Allport’s View on Mature Religion

• True, mature religious commitment is found in intrinsic orientation.

• Extrinsic religiosity can be associated with prejudice, as both can provide comfort and self-righteousness.

Relationship to Prejudice

• People with extrinsic orientation tend to show higher levels of prejudice.

• People with intrinsic orientation are generally less prejudiced, aligning more closely with the ethical teachings of their religion.

Motivation for Religion

• Extrinsic: Utilitarian, focused on benefits (e.g., comfort, community, protection).

• Intrinsic: Meaningful, deeply integrated into personal identity and values.