Allport: Psychology of the Individual

Gordon Allport emphasized the uniqueness of the individual. He believed that attempts to
describe people in terms of general traits rob them of their unique individuality

What Are the Characteristics of a Healthy Person?

 First, psychologically mature people are characterized by proactive behavior; mature

personalities are more likely than disturbed ones to be motivated by conscious
processes, which allow them to be more flexible autonomous than unhealthy people,
who remain dominated by unconscious motives that spring from childhood experiences.
Healthy people ordinarily have experienced a relatively trauma-free childhood, even
though their later years may be tempered by conflict and suffering

 What, then, are the more specific requirements for psychological health?

identified six criteria for the mature personality

 The first is an extension of the sense of self. Mature people continually seek to identify
with and participate in events outside themselves.
 Second, mature personalities are characterized by a “warm relating of self to others” .
They have the capacity to love others in an intimate and compassionate manner. Warm
relating, of course, is dependent on people’s ability to extend their sense of self.
 A third criterion is emotional security or self-acceptance. Mature individuals accept
themselves for what they are, and they possess what Allport (1961) called
emotional poise.
 Fourth, psychologically healthy people also possess a realistic perception of
 their environment. They do not live in a fantasy world or bend reality to fit their own
wishes
the world as most others see it.
 A fifth criterion is insight and humor. Mature people know themselves and,
therefore, have no need to attribute their own mistakes and weaknesses to others. They
also have a nonhostile sense of humor, which gives them the capacity to laugh at
themselves rather than relying on sexual or aggressive themes to elicit laughter from
others.
 The final criterion of maturity is a unifying philosophy of life. Healthy people have a clear
view of the purpose of life

Structure of Personality
 The structure of personality refers to its basic units or building blocks.
  To Allport, the most important structures are those that permit the description of the
person in terms of individual characteristics, and he called these individual characteristics
personal dispositions.

Personal Dispositions
 Common traits and individual traits.

Common traits are general characteristics held in common

by many people. They can be inferred from factor analytic studies such as those
conducted by Eysenck and the authors of the Five-Factor Theory
common traits are shared by several people

Personal disposition as “a generalized neuropsychic structure (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” (
Personal dispositions
are individual

Levels of Personal Dispositions

Cardinal Dispositions
- characteristic or ruling passion so outstanding that it dominates their lives They are so
obvious that they cannot be hidden; nearly every action in a person’s life

Central Dispositions
- Few people have cardinal dispositions, but everyone has several central dispositions,
which include the 5 to 10 most outstanding characteristics around which a person’s life
focuses.

Secondary Dispositions
- Less conspicuous but far greater in number than central dispositions are the secondary
dispositions. Everyone has many secondary dispositions that are not central to the
personality yet occur with some regularity and are responsible for much of one’s specific
behavior