Gordon Allport: Psychology of an Individual 12

Morphogenic Method

Gather data on a single individual

Nomothetic Method

Gather data on groups of people

Extension of oneself

People who are matured are not self-centered but they're able to become involved in problems and activities that are not centered on themselves (e.g., an unselfish interest in word play and recreation, social interest, family, and spiritual life).

Warm relating of self to others

Having the capacity to love others in an intimate and compassionate manner

Emotional security or self-acceptance

Matured individuals accept themselves for what they are and they possess emotional poise

Realistic perception of their environment

They don’t live in a fantasy world or bend reality to fit their own wishes. They are problem-oriented rather than self-centered and they are in touch with the world as most others see it.

Insight and humor

Matured people know themselves and therefore have no need to attribute their own mistakes and weakness to others

Unifying philosophy in life

Healthy people have a clear view of their purpose in life

Personality

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

Common Traits

General characteristics held in common by many people. Thus, this is the perspective of Eysenck and the authors of the Five Factor Theory. These are revealed by various personal inventories and common traits are used to provide means by which people within a given culture can be compared to one another

Personal Dispositions

are generalized neuropsychic structure that is peculiar to the individual with the capacity to render many stimuli, functionally equivalent, and to initiate and guide consistent equivalent forms of adaptive and stylistic behavior

Cardinal Dispositions

obvious and dominating that they cannot be hidden from other people

Central Dispositions

5-10 characteristics around which their lives revolve

Secondary Dispositions

less reliable and less conspicuous than central traits

Motivational Dispositions

intensely experienced dispositions that initiate action

Stylistic Dispositions

less intensely experienced dispositions that guide action

Proprium

Characteristics that are experienced by the person as an important aspect of himself

A Theory of Motivation

To Allport, people not only react to their environment, but they also shape their environment and cause it to react to them. His proactive approach emphasized the idea that people often seek additional tension and that they purposefully act on their environment in a way that fosters growth toward psychological health

Functional Autonomy

holds that some (but not all) human motives are functionally independent from the original motive responsible for a particular behavior

Perseverative functional autonomy

the tendency of certain basic behaviors (such as addictive behaviors) to continue in the absence of reinforcement

Propriate functional autonomy

self-sustaining motives (such as interests) that are related to the proprium