Allport: Psychology of the Individual

Psychology of Personality

Lecture, Chapter 13

Overview of Allport’s Theory

•Emphasis on the uniqueness of the individual.

•Allport called the study of the individual a morphogenic science, and he was interested in an in depth understanding of a single individual.

•Broad, comprehensive approach is necessary to understanding personality

•De-emphasis on single aspects of a personality.

Allport’s Life

•Gordon Allport was born in Indiana as the younger of two boys.

•His father a physician, Allport’s home environment was characterized by morality and cleanliness of action and of thought.

•Allport experienced an early interest in philosophical and religious questions, and he described himself as a “social isolate.”

•Allport received a Ph.D. in psychology from Harvard and taught the first personality course taught in an American College.

•Allport received numerous awards and honors for his contributions to personality psychology.

Definition of Personality

•Personality is the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his/her characteristic behavior and thought.

•“Dynamic organization” =

•“Psychophysical” =

•“Determine” =

•“Behavior and thought” =

Approach to Personality Theory

•Personality is both physical and psychological, includes both overt behaviors and covert thoughts, not only is something but does something, is both substance and change, both product and process, both structure and growth.

•Some motivation is driven by hidden impulses and sublimated drives, but healthy adults are generally aware of what they’re doing and why they’re doing it.

Characteristics of a Healthy Person

•Extension of sense of self

•Warm relating of self to others

•Emotional security or self-acceptance

•Realistic perception of environment

•Insight and humor

•Unifying philosophy of life

Structure of Personality

•Common traits

•Personal dispositions

–Cardinal

–Central

–Secondary

•Motivational dispositions

•Stylistic dispositions

•Proprium

•Nonpropriate behaviors

Motivation

•Present drives

•Both peripheral motives (reduce a need; reactive) and propriate strivings (maintain tension; proactive).

•Functional autonomy

–Perseverative functional autonomy

–Propriate functional autonomy

•A present motive is functionally autonomous to the extent that it seeks new goals.

The Study of the Individual

•Abandonment of generalization in research

•Patterned properties of the whole organism

•Morphogenic methods:

Religious Orientation Scale

•Divided churchgoers into extrinsic vs. intrinsic orientations.

–Extrinsic = utilitarian view of religion

–Intrinsic = find master motives in their religious faith

–Indiscriminately proreligious = endorsed both types of statements

–Indiscriminately antireligious = disagreed with both types of statements

•Did Allport use science in his theory development? Was his theory able to generate research, be falsified, organize data, guide action, be internally consistent, and be parsimonious?

•Where does Psychology of the Individual fall on the basic issues concerning the nature of humanity?

    –Determinism vs. free choice

    –Pessimism vs. optimism

    –Causality vs. teleology

    –Conscious vs. unconscious

    –Social vs. biological influences

    –Uniqueness vs. similarities