Chapter 12- Allport: Individual Psychology and Motivation

Outline

  • Overview of the psychology of the individual

  • Biography of Gordon Allport

  • Allport’s approach to personality theory

  • Structure of personality

  • Motivation & Functional Autonomy

  • Related Research Tips for Finishing Your Case Studies


Overview of the Psychology of the Individual

  • Emphasized uniqueness of the individual

  • Traits do not capture individuality, so objected to such oversimplifications from focusing only on traits and factors

  • Studied the individual (morphogenic science) in contrast to nomothetic methods (that gather data on groups of people)

  • Believed that broad, comprehensive theory is preferable to narrow theory



Biography of Allport

  • Born in Montezuma, Indiana in 1879

  • Youngest son of a country doctor and a former school teacher

  • Earned undergraduate degrees in philosophy and economics from Harvard in 1919

  • After fortuitous meeting with Freud (remember story about boy and dirt phobia?), decided to complete a PhD in psychology at Harvard in 1922

  • President of American Psychological Association in 1939

  • Taught at Harvard for most of his career (with four early years spent at Dartmouth)

  • Died in 1967

  • of lung cancer


Allport’s Approach to Personality Theory

  • Sought to answer three questions:

    1. What is personality?

      • “The dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his characteristic behavior and thought” (Allport, 1937 & 1961)

      • Personality id both physical and psychological

      • Includes both overt and covert thoughts and behaviors

      • Not only is something but does something

      • Is unique and individual

      • Exhibits bot substance and change

      • Humans are both product and process—has structure but also capacity for growth

    2. What is the role of conscious motivation?

      • Healthy adults are aware of what they are doing and why

      • Accepted self-report at face value

      • Some motivation is driven by hidden impulses

      • Most compulsive behaviors originate in childhood

    3. What are the characteristics of a healthy person?

      • General characteristics:

      • Proactive behavior: action instead of only reaction

      • Consciously motivated 9aware of motives)

      • Usually experienced relatively trauma-free childhoods

      • Six criteria for maturity:

      • Extension of the sense of self- participate in outside events, display unselfish interests

      • Warm relating of self to others- treat others with respect, and recognize their needs, desires, and hopes

      • Emotional security or self-acceptance

      • Realistic perception of their environment

      • Insight and humor- have no need to blame their mistakes and weaknesses on others, have nonhostile sense of humor

      • Unifying philosophy of life- have clear view of purpose in life; often have a well-developed conscience and a strong desire to serve others


Structure of Personality

  • Refers to Basic Units

  • Personal Dispositions

    • Levels of Personal Dispositions- those displayed frequently and across a range of situations are likely to be at least central

      • Cardinal dispositions - some people have a single characteristic that dominates their lives

      • Central dispositions- most people have 5-10 of these important characteristics

      • Secondary dispositions- we have many of these that occur regularly, but are not so central

  • Proprium

    • Behaviors that are regarded as warm, central, and important to their lives

    • Includes a person’s values and his/her personal conscience (based on his/her adult beliefs)

    • Those aspects that are important to one’s self-identity and self-enhancement

  • Traits, States, and Activities (Allport & Odbert, 1936)- were distinguished by consistency and variability with traits being most consistent and stable

  • Hypothesized that traits are based in the nervous system, but that traits interacted with situations to influence behavior

  • Identified three properties of traits: frequency, intensity, range of situations

  • Primarily used an idiographic approach (instructed exploration of an individual’s personality: within-person research rather than between-persons) to explore personality



Motivation & Functional Autonomy

  • A Theory of Motivation

    • Must include both reactive and proactive behaviors

    • Peripheral motives are those that reduce a need

    • Propriate strivings seek to maintain tension and equilibrium

  • Functional Autonomy

  • Functional Autonomy- motives may have started as tension reduction in childhood, but adults achieve independence from these motives and find pleasure and intrinsic motivation in the behaviors- they are incorporated into self-image

  • Consider:

  • Cleaning your room

  • Yard work

  • Washing dishes

  • Morning/evening washing/tooth-brushing routine

  • Playing piano

  • Prayer, introspection

  • Academic learning

  • Attending cultural events

  • Travel

  • You may have begun these to avoid negative consequences or to please others, but now you may enjoy some of these activities


Related Research