Chapter 13Allport: Psychology of the Individual

Learning Objectives

After reading Chapter 13, you should be able to:

1. Discuss how Allport's meeting with Freud affected his choice of

a career.

2. Discuss Allport's definition of personality.

3. List and discuss Allport's characteristics of the psychologically

healthy personality.

4. Discuss Allport's concept of personal dispositions, including

how they differ from traits.

5. Explain the distinction between motivational and stylistic

dispositions.

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6. Define proprium and give reasons why Allport chose this term

rather than "self."

7. List and illustrate the three levels of personal dispositions.

8. Differentiate between reactive and proactive theories of

motivation.

9. Explain and give examples of Allport's concept of functional

autonomy.

10. Explain the rationale and results of the analysis of Letters from

Jenny.

11. Summarize research on the Religious Orientation Scale.

12. Discuss how religion and prayer may be related to health.

I. Overview of Allport's Psychology of the Individual

As a 22-year-old student, Gordon Allport had a short but

pertinent visit with Freud in Vienna, a meeting that changed 2

Allport's life and altered the course of personality psychology in

the United States. In Allport's mature theory, his major

emphasis was on the uniqueness of each individual. Allport

built a theory of personality as a reaction against what he

regarded as the non-humanistic positions of both

psychoanalysis and animal-based learning theory. However,

Allport was eclectic in his approach and accepted many of the

ideas of other theorists.

II. Biography of Gordon Allport

Gordon W. Allport was born in Indiana in 1897. He received

an undergraduate degree in philosophy and economics from

Harvard. After receiving a PhD from Harvard, Allport spent 2

years studying under some of the great German psychologists,

but he returned to teach at Harvard. Two years later he took a

position at Dartmouth, but after 4 years at Dartmouth, he

returned to Harvard, where he remained until his death in 1967.

III. Allport's Approach to Personality Theory

Answers to three questions reveal Allport's view of personality

theory. (1) What is personality? What is the role of conscious

motivation? (3) What are the characteristics of the

psychologically healthy person?

A. What Is Personality?

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Allport defined personality as "the dynamic organization within

the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine

[the person's] behavior and thought.” This definition includes

both physical and psychological properties and both stability

and flexibility. Also, personality not only is something but it

does something; that is, it includes both behavior and thinking.

B. What is the Role of Conscious Motivation?

More than any other personality theorist, Allport recognized the

importance of conscious motivation. His emphasis of

conscious motivation probably began with his short-lived

discussion with Freud, when Allport had not yet selected a

career in psychology. Rather than viewing Freud's comments

as an expression of an unconscious motive, Allport believed

that Freud missed the point of Allport's story. Whereas Freud

would attribute an unconscious desire in the story of the young

boy on the tram car, Allport saw the story as an expression of a

conscious motive.

C. What Are the Characteristics of a Healthy Person?

Several years before Maslow conceptualized the self-

actualizing personality, Allport listed six criteria for

psychological health. These include (1) an extension of the

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sense of self, (2) warm relationships with others, (3) emotional

security or self-acceptance, (4) a realistic view of the world.

IV. Structure of Personality

To Allport, the most important structures of personality are

those that permit description of the individual in terms of

individual characteristics, and he called these individual

structures personal dispositions.

A. Personal Dispositions

Allport distinguished between common traits, which permit

inter-individual comparisons, and personal dispositions, which

are peculiar to the individual. He recognized three overlapping

levels of personal dispositions, the most general of which are

cardinal dispositions that are so obvious and dominating that

they can not be hidden from other people. Not everyone has a

cardinal disposition, but all people have 5 to 10 central

dispositions, or characteristics around which their lives revolve.

In addition, everyone has a great number of secondary

dispositions, which are less reliable and less conspicuous than

central traits.

B. Motivational and Stylistic Dispositions

Allport further divided personal dispositions into (1)

motivational dispositions, which are strong enough to initiate

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action and (2) stylistic dispositions, which refer to the manner

in which an individual behaves and which guide rather than

initiate action.

C. Proprium

The proprium refers to all those behaviors and characteristics

that people regard as warm and central in their lives. Allport

preferred the term proprium over self or ego, because the latter

terms could imply an object or thing within a person that

controls behavior, whereas proprium suggests the core of one's

personhood.

V. Motivation

Allport insisted that an adequate theory of motivation must

consider the notion that motives change as people mature and

also that people are motivated by present drives and wants.

A. 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.

B. Functional Autonomy

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Allport's most distinctive and controversial concept is his theory

of functional autonomy, which holds that some (but not all)

human motives are functionally independent from the original

motive responsible for a particular behavior. Allport recognized

two levels of functional autonomy: (1) perseverative functional

autonomy, which is the tendency of certain basic behaviors

(such as addictive behaviors) to perseverate or continue in the

absence of reinforcement: and (2) propriate functional

autonomy, which refers to self-sustaining motives (such as

interests) that are related to the proprium. According to Allport,

a behavior is functionally autonomous to the extent that it seeks

new goals, as when a need (eating) turns into an interest

(cooking). Not all behaviors are functionally autonomous, and

Allport listed eight such processes: (1) biological drives, such as

eating, breathing, and sleeping; (2) motives directly linked to

the reduction of basic drives; (3) reflex actions such as an eye

blink; (4) constitutional equipment such as physique,

intelligence, and temperament; (5) habits in the process of being

formed; (6) patterns of behavior that require primary

reinforcement; (7) sublimations that can be tied to childhood

sexual desires, and (8) some neurotic or pathological symptoms.

VI. The Study of the Individual

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Allport strongly felt that psychologists should develop and use

research methods that study the individual rather than groups.

A. Morphogenic Science

Allport favored morphogenic procedures over nomothetic ones.

Morphogenic investigations study only one person at a time

person and are opposed to nomothetic methods that study large

numbers of people. Presently, nearly all psychology studies

investigate groups of people. Allport's two most famous

morphogenic reports were the diaries of Marion Taylor and the

letters from Jenny.

B. The Diaries of Marion Taylor

In the late 1930's, Allport and his wife became acquainted with

diaries written by a woman they called Marion Taylor. These

diaries, along with descriptions on Marion Taylor by her

mother, younger sister, favorite teacher, friends, and a neighbor

provided the Allports with a large quantity of material that

could be studied using morphogenic methods. However, the

Allports never published this material.

C. Letters From Jenny

Even though Allport never published data from Marion Taylor's

dairies, he did publish a second case study—that of Jenny Gove

Masterson, whose son had been Gordon Allport's college

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roommate. During the last 11 1/2 years of her life, Jenny wrote

a series of 301 letters to Gordon and Ada Allport (although

Allport tried to hide the identity of the young couple who had

received these letters). Two of Gordon Allport's students,

Alfred Baldwin and Jeffrey Paige, used a personal structure

analysis and factor analysis respectively, while Allport used a

common-sense approach to discern Jenny's personality structure

as revealed by her letters. All three approaches yielded similar

results, suggesting that morphogenic studies can be reliable.

VII. Related Research

Allport believed that a deep religious commitment was a mark

of a mature person, but he also saw that many regular church-

goers did not have a mature religious orientation and were

capable of deep racial and social prejudice. In other words, he

saw a curvilinear relationship between church attendance and

prejudice. That is, people who score high on the Intrinsic scale

of the Religious Orientation Scale (ROS) tend to have overall

better personal functioning than those who score high on the

Extrinsic scale. Early studies found that some highly religious

people had high levels of psychological health, whereas others

suffered from a variety of psychological disorders. The

principal difference between the two church-going groups is

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one of intrinsic versus extrinsic religious orientation; that is,

people with an intrinsic orientation tend to be psychologically

healthy, but those with an extrinsic orientation suffer from poor

psychological health.

A. The Religious Orientation Scale

This insight led Allport to develop and use the Religious

Orientation Scale to assess both an intrinsic orientation and an

extrinsic orientation toward religion. Allport and Michael Ross

(1967) found that people with an extrinsic orientation toward

religion tend to be quite prejudiced, whereas those with an

intrinsic orientation tend to be low on racial and social

prejudice.

B. Religion, Prayer, and Health

Recent research has fond a consistent relationship between

religious involvement and health. Attending church

regularly tends to be associated with feeling better

and living longer (Powell, Shahabi, & Thoresen,

2003). Kevin Masters and his colleagues (2005)

studied religious orientation and cardiovascular

health. They found that, as they predicted, those

with an intrinsic religious orientation did not have

the same increases of blood pressure in reaction to

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moderate stress as those with an extrinsic

orientation did. These results demonstrated that

an intrinsic religious orientation serves as a buffer

against the stressors of everyday life. Timothy

Smith and colleagues (2003) reviewed all the

research on religion and depression to see whether

religion could also serve as a buffer against

depression. Their findings generally supported

Allport’s view that there are good and bad ways to

be religious: The more intrinsically oriented toward

religion a person is, the less likely the person is to

experience depression; the more extrinsically

oriented, the more likely a person is to be

depressed. The conclusion is that while religion

can be good for one’s health, it is important to be

religious for the right reasons in order to derive health

benefits.

C. Prejudice Reduction: Optimal Contact

Allport conducted some research himself on the topic of

reducing prejudice, and he proposed the contact hypothesis,

stating that more contact under optimal conditions was one of

the most important components to reducing prejudice (Allport,

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1954). Thomas Pettigrew, one of Allport’s students, has

continued the work on prejudice that Allport began (Pettigrew &

Tropp, 2006; Tropp & Pettigrew, 2005). Pettigrew and Linda

Tropp reviewed more than 500 studies testing Allport’s contact

hypothesis. They found that the four specific criteria originally

outlined by Allport are indeed essential to reduction of

prejudice. They also found that while the concept of optimal

contact was originally a way to reduce racial prejudice, it also

works to reduce prejudice toward the elderly and the mentally ill

(Pettigrew & Tropp, 2006). While Allport’s ideas continue to

enrich research in personality psychology, his methods for

prejudice reduction additionally have enriched the lives of

people who have benefited, perhaps without knowing it, from

his deep commitment to reducing prejudice in our society.

VIII. Critique of Allport

Allport wrote eloquently about personality, but his views are

based more on philosophical speculation and common sense

than on scientific studies. As a consequence, his theory rates

low on its ability to organize psychological data and to be

falsified. It rates high on parsimony and internal consistency

and about average on its ability to generate research and to help

the practitioner.

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IX. Concept of Humanity

Allport saw people as thinking, proactive, purposeful beings

who are generally aware of what they are doing and why. On

the six dimensions for a concept of humanity, Allport rates

higher than any other theorist on conscious influences and on

the uniqueness of the individual. He rates high on free choice,

optimism, and teleology and about average on social influences.

Test Items

Fill-in-the-Blanks

1. After teaching a year in Turkey, Allport had a memorable visit

with ____________________ .

2. Allport's major interest was in the _____________________ of

personality, rather than the commonalties.

3. Allport emphasized _____________________ behavior rather

than reactive behavior.

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4. Allport was ______________________ in his approach to

personality study, meaning that he was willing to use ideas from

psychoanalysis, behaviorism, and other theoretical models.

5. Allport defined personality as "the ________________

organization within the individual of those psychophysical

systems that determine his characteristic behavior and thought."

6. More than any other personality theorists, Allport emphasized

____________________ motivation.

7. To Allport, psychologically mature people are ______________

of their behavior and the reasons for their behavior.

8. Allport's healthy individual would possess a _______________

philosophy of life.

9. Allport believed that the average person has about 5 to 10

___________________ traits.

10. Traits shared by many people are called ______________ traits.

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11. Allport would say that the Marquis de Sade had a ____________

disposition, because his entire adult life revolved around a single

motive.

12. Allport would agree with Adler and Maslow that psychologically

healthy people would have high levels of __________________.

13. The manner in which people behave refers to their ______ traits.

14. Motivational traits ___________ action, whereas stylistic traits

guide action.

15. The ___________includes all those behaviors and characteristics

that we regard as peculiarly our own.

16. Allport recognized two levels of functional autonomy: ________

and perseverative.

17. A motive is functionally autonomous to the extent that it seeks

new _________________.

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18. Nonothetic approaches to science seek general laws, whereas

_______________________ procedures refer to the single case.

19. Allport recognized a ____________ relationship between church

attendance and prejudice.

20. People with an _________________ orientation toward religion

see religion as a means to some end, for example, a good way of

meeting new people.

True-False

______1. Allport's principal concern was with the uniqueness of the

individual.

______2. As a young man, Allport had a memorable meeting with

Carl Jung.

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______3. Allport questioned the reliability and validity of self-reports

such as diaries and letters.

______4. Allport believed that psychoanalysis and animal-based

learning theories were basically reactive theories.

______5. Allport made no apologies for his eclecticism.

______6. Allport's personality theory was unique in its emphasis on

conscious motivation.

______7. Allport regarded himself as a trait psychologist.

______8. Common traits are shared by several people.

______9. Common traits are also called personal dispositions.

_____10. Each person has about four or five cardinal dispositions.

_____11. Motivational dispositions initiate action.

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_____12. In the United States, driving on the right side of the road

would be a peripheral aspect of personality.

_____13. Allport's most famous study of a single individual was of

Marion Taylor, which he published in 1953.

_____14. Allport's most distinctive and controversial concept is that

of functional autonomy.

_____15. Allport's theory of motivation emphasizes the drive-

reduction hypothesis.

_____16. Functional autonomous behaviors do not need constant

reinforcement in order to maintain themselves.

_____17. Allport's theory of personality is based mostly on his

clinical experiences as a therapist.

_____18. Allport and Ross found a positive and direct correlation

between church attendance and prejudice.

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_____19. People who endorse both intrinsic and extrinsic items on the

Religious Orientation Scale are called indiscriminately

proreligious.

_____20. Allport's concept of personality is basically optimistic and

hopeful.

Multiple Choice

______1. Allport's personality theory is marked chiefly by its

emphasis on

a. unconscious motivation.

b. personality types.

c. early childhood experiences.

d. uniqueness of the individual.

______2. This term best describes Allport's approach to the study of

personality.

a. eclectic

b. theoretical

c. trait and factor

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d. behavioristic

______3. In his study of personality, Allport emphasized

a. cultural influences.

b. the normal healthy person.

c. group characteristics.

d. factor analytic techniques.

______4. According to Allport, people are motivated by

a. a variety of drives.

b. the need for self-actualization.

c. the need to reduce tension and seek pleasure.

d. the need for relatedness with others.

______5. Allport insisted that the basic units of personality are

a. common traits.

b. cardinal traits.

c. types.

d. personal dispositions.

_____6. According to Allport, the psychologically mature person

would

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a. have a unifying philosophy of life.

b. lack a sense of humor.

c. be motivated mostly by unconscious needs.

d. none of these.

e. all of these.

______7. Allport recognized these two kinds of traits:

a. primary and secondary

b. source and surface

c. common and individual

d. proactive and reactive

_____8. Personal dispositions

a. are also referred to as common traits.

b. make various stimuli functionally equal.

c. initiate and guide the behavior of individuals.

d. all of these.

e. none of these.

_____9. Cardinal dispositions

a. are found in everyone.

b. cannot be hidden.

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c. are also called central personal dispositions.

d. are common traits.

e. have been extensively studied in the psychology literature.

____10. Secondary dispositions

a. cannot be hidden.

b. are not central to the person yet occur with some regularity.

c. are those 5 to 10 personal dispositions that characterize

most people.

d. are common traits.

e. are too weak to initiate action.

_____11. This term is LEAST descriptive of Allport's approach to

personality.

a. personal disposition

b. morphogenic

c. types

d. functional autonomy

_____12. Stylistic traits

a. are intensely felt.

b. guide action.

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c. are usually cardinal traits.

d. are common traits.

_____13. The proprium is Allport's term for

a. those behaviors and characteristics that people regard as

central to their lives.

b. the conscious portion of the ego.

c. the unconscious portion of the ego.

d. those behaviors and characteristics that people regard as

belonging to the periphery of their lives.

_____14. According to Allport, people are motivated mostly by

a. unconscious forces originating in childhood.

b. the need for competence and superiority.

c. both the need to adjust and the need to grow.

d. both sex and aggression.

_____15. When motives change to self-sustaining interests, Allport

would say that they have become

a. extinct.

b. needs.

c. habituated.

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d. functionally autonomous.

e. secondary drives.

_____16. Which of these did Allport NOT recognize as a criterion for

an adequate theory of motivation?

a. the contemporaneity of motives

b. the pluralistic nature of motives

c. a single master motive that unifies all behavior

d. the cognitive processes of planning and attention

_____17. Propriate functional autonomy is Allport's

a. master system of motivation.

b. concept of unconscious motivation.

c. explanation for pathological behaviors.

d. term for self-actualization.

e. concept of factor analysis.

_____18. Allport assumed that people who attend church regularly

may have

a. an extrinsic religious orientation.

b. an intrinsic religious orientation.

c. both of these.

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d. neither of these.

_____19. Research has suggested that people who score high on the

Extrinsic scale of the Religious Orientation Scale

a. are more prejudiced than those who score high on the

Intrinsic scale.

b. have less anxiety and better personal functioning than

people who score high on the Intrinsic scale.

c. do not attend church regularly.

d. attend church more regularly than people who score high on

the Intrinsic scale.

_____20. Allport's theory of personality is basically

a. optimistic.

b. reactive.

c. causal.

d. trait-oriented.

Short Answers

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1 Explain the difference between a trait and a personal disposition.

2. Discuss Allport's concept of a psychologically healthy person.

3. Explain the difference between motivational and stylistic personal

dispositions.

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4. Discuss Allport's idea of a proprium and explain why he used that

term instead of "self."

5. From Allport's point of view, explain the difference between a

functionally autonomous motive and a habit in the process of

becoming extinct.

6. Explain Allport and Ross's Religious Orientation Scale (ROS).

What does it measure? What personal characteristics are associated?

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