Gordon Allport

1
Gordon Allport

• 1897-1967

2
Biography

• Born in Montezuma, Indiana in 1897
• Youngest of four boys.
• Mother was a teacher
• Father was a salesman turned doctor

3
Biography

• Mother was very religious and her beliefs and
  practices dominated the household
• Described himself as skillful with words but not
  as an athlete or at sports or games
• Somewhat isolated as a result
• Attempted to be center of attention of the few
  friends he had

4
Biography

• General feelings of inferiority
• Attempted to emulate accomplishments of his
  brother Floyd
• Went to Harvard and eventually got his PhD in
  psychology there

5
Biography

• Worked in Turkey for a year.
• Stopped in Vienna on way home and met Freud
• Completed PhD in 1922
• Conducted first research on personality traits in
  the US
• Taught and did research at Harvard for almost 40
  years.
• Died of lung cancer in 1967.

6
Theory

• Personality
• the dynamic organization within the individual
  of those psychophysical systems that determine
  his unique adjustments to the environment (later
  changed to that determine his characteristic
  behavior and thougt

7
Theory

• the dynamic organization within the individual
  of those psychophysical systems that determine
  his unique adjustments to the environment
• Dynamic organization
• Personality is always an organized whole that is
  constantly changing and growing (dynamic)
• Healthy people are integrated
• Unhealthy people fail to integrate
• Personality is never something that is, but is
  something that it is becoming

8
Theory

• the dynamic organization within the individual
  of those psychophysical systems that determine
  his unique adjustments to the environment
• Within the individual
• Personality is something real, not an abstract
• It is something that resides within the skin.

9
Theory

• the dynamic organization within the individual
  of those psychophysical systems that determine
  his unique adjustments to the environment
• Psychophysical system
• Composed of mind and body functioning together as
  a unit
• Personality is neither exclusively mental or
  neural (biological)
• It is influenced by both heredity and the
  environment

10
Theory

• the dynamic organization within the individual
  of those psychophysical systems that determine
  his unique adjustments to the environment
• Determine
• All facets of personality activate or direct
  specific behaviors and thoughts

11
Theory

• the dynamic organization within the individual
  of those psychophysical systems that determine
  his unique adjustments to the environment
• Unique adjustments to his environment
• Each person is unique
• Personality traits are highly individualized
• Personality is adaptable

12
Theory

• Methods of inferring traits (morphogenic
  procedures)
• Language
• Dictionary study
• Behavior
• Expressive traits
• Documents
• Diaries of Marion Taylor
• Letters from Jenny
• Personality measurement

13
Theory

• Traits
• Primary units of study of personality
• Predispositions to respond in the same or similar
  manner to different stimuli.

14
Theory

• Two main types of traits
• 1. Common traits
• Possessed by many people (including cultures) to
  a varying extent
• How we compare to others (nomethetic research)
• Explains unique variations among people

15
Theory

• 2. Personal dispositions (individual traits)
• Unique to or possessed by only one person
• peculiar to the individual
• Unique variations within an individual
  (ideographic research)
• 3 kinds
• Cardinal traits
• The most significant and dominant feature of an
  individuals personality
• So pervasive it touches most aspects of a
  persons life
• Not many people have these

16
Theory

• Central Traits
• Typify our normal functions
• Usually involves 5 to 10 adjectives
• - type of words we might use to describe
  someone
• Secondary traits
• Somewhat consistent but less influence as central
  traits

17
Personality Development

• Proprium
• His term for the self
• The core of our personality
• Those characteristics which we consider to be
  peculiarly mine
• the totality of the person as process, an entity
  that is becoming
• Contains the vital physical, psychological, and
  social aspects help define our sense of self
• Propriate Striving

18
Proprium Development

• 1. Bodily sense (birth to age 1)
• What is me and what is not
• The sense of ones body, its separateness from
  other bodies, and its basic parts
• 2. Self Identity (age 1 to 2)
• Names self
• The sense of inner sameness, of continuity to the
  self, and having a distinct name
• Depends on capacity for language

19
Proprium Development

• 3. Self Esteem (age 2 to 3)
• Pride through achievement
• The sense of competence and to feel some self
  control over ones environment
• Test the limits of our environment and often
  refuse to take orders from others
• 4. Self Extension (age 3-4)
• Identifies ego extensions
• The sense of possessing external objects and/or
  people
• Eventually helps produce loyalties

20
Proprium Development

• 5. Self Image (age 4 to 6)
• Good and bad me
• Begin to evaluate present abilities and future
  possibilities
• Compare what we do with others expectations of us
• Awareness of satisfying or not satisfying parents
  expectations
• Saw this as foundation of adult conscience
• 6. Self as Rational Coper (age 6 to 12)
• Learn problem solving skills, how to think
  rationally, and deal with reality

21
Proprium Development

• 7. Propriate Striving (Age 12 to 20s)
• Motivational period of who a person wants to be
  and wants to become (greater influence than past)
• Involves long range goal planning, etc.
• Functional autonomy begins
• 8. Self as knower (adulthood)
• Awareness of self
• Merging of all the other stages

22
Theory

• A motive of behavior may begin as a result of
  something that has happened in a childs life or
  other need
• It will eventually start to function
  independently of its origin
• Functional autonomy

23
Theory

• Two types of functional autonomy
• Perseverative functional autonomy
• Repetitive and habitual, daily tasks / behavior
• Would include psychological addictions here
• Continue w/o any external reward
• No longer serves original purpose but continues

24
Theory

• Propriate functional autonomy
• Continues even though the motivation has changed
• More important than perseverative functional
  autonomy
• Unique to the individual
• More self directive
• Values and personal motives that enhances a
  persons self esteem and image (proprium)

25
The Healthy Adult

• Capacity for Self Extension
• Broad interests
• Acceptance of self and others, ability for warm
  human interaction
• Intimacy w/o possession or jealousy
• Emotional Security, Self Acceptance, and
  Realistic perceptions
• Positive self image
• Tolerance to accept conflicts and frustrations of
  life
• See events as they are (and ourselves), not as we
  hope them to be
• Unrealistic optimism and pessimism avoided

26
The Healthy Adult

• Ability to plan and delay gratification
• Discipline and self control
• Self Objectification and Insight
• Seeing oneself objectively with insight and humor
• Demonstrate a Uniform Philosophy of Life
• Movement toward some unifying orientation in life