Gordon Allport:

Psychology of the
Individuals
Presented by Amiel Naba B. Capacio
Biography of Gordon Allport
Allport’s Approach to Personality Theory
Structure of Personality
Motivation

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 Biography

Allport was born on

Entered Harvard University.
November 11 , 1897
Received a bachelor’s degree
at Montezuma,
in Philisophy and Economics.
Indiana.
Childhood 1919-1920

1897 1915 - 1919

• Developed an early interest
in philosophy and religious
questions
• He had more facility for
words than games
While teaching in Robert College in
Turkey he received an invitation
from his brother Fayette, to stay
with him in Veinna, where Allport
had the chance to meet Sigmund
Freud.
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 Biography

Return to Harvard to
Received the Gold Medal
teach a new course
Award and Distinguished
in psychology of
Scientific Contribution Award
personnality.
of APA
1930 1967

1924 1963 - 1964

Elected as President of Died of lung cancer.
the American
Psychological Association
(APA).

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Meeting with Freud

Allport told Freud about the young child he saw in the

tram car, who complained to his mother about the filthy
conditions of the car and announced that he did not want
to sit near the passenger who he deemed to be dirty.

Freud ‘”fixed his kindly therapeutic eyes upon me and said

‘And was that little boy you?’” (Allport)

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What is
Personality?
The dynamic organization within the individual of
those psychophysical systems that determine his
unique adjustment to his environment.

REVISED in 1961: The dynamic organization within

the individual of those psychophysical systems that
determine his characteristic behavior and thought.

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“The dynamic organization within the individual of those
psychophysical systems that determine his
characteristic behavior and thought.”

• Dynamic Organization – an integration or

interrelatedness of the various aspects of
personality.
• Psychophysical – importance of both the
psychological and the physical aspects of
personality.
• Determine – personality is something and does
something
• Characteristic – “individual” or “unique” that all persons stamp their
unique mark or engraving on their personality, and their
characteristic behavior and thought set them apart from all other
people.
• Behavior and Thought – refer to anything the person
does.
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What is the Role of
Conscious Motivation?
• Allport emphasized the importance
of conscious motivation.
• Healthy adults generally aware of
what they are doing and their reason
for doing it.
• Allport was inclined to accept self-
reports at face value.

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What are Traits?
A trait is a consistent, long-lasting tendency in
behavior.

E.g., shyness, hostility

• Common Traits–General characteristics held in common by

many people and provide the means by which people within a
given culture can be compared to one another.

• Personal Disposition – Is a person’s true character, attitude and

outlook. It is person’s tendency or habit to act a certain ways.

E.g., trustworthy, loving, open minded

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Levels of Personal Dispositions
Cardinal Disposition – most dominant, but also the
rarest. Such traits are so intrinsically tied to an
individual's personality that the person becomes
almost synonymous with those qualities.

• Mother Teresa is strongly associated with goodness and charity.

Today, her name is virtually synonymous with those traits.

• Adolph Hitler is associated with evil, and his name evokes the
embodiment of ruthlessness and depravity.

• Einstein is known for his genius, and today his name is often used
as a synonym for brilliance.

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Levels of Personal Dispositions
Central Dispositions –Include the 5 to 10 most outstanding
characteristics around which a person’s life focuses. If you think
of the major terms you might use to describe your overall
character; then those are probably your central traits.
• You might describe yourself as smart, kind, and outgoing.

Secondary Dispositions –Are not central to the personality yet

occur with some regularity and are responsible for much of
one’s specific behaviors. Traits that are often reveal
themselves only in certain situations.
• You might normally be a pretty easy-going person, but
you might become short-tempered when you find yourself
under a lot of pressure.
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Motivational and Stylistic Dispositions

Motivational Disposition are more strongly felt and

derive from basic needs and drives. They initiate action.

• Dressing up. People are motivated to dress because of a basic

need to stay warm

Stylistic dispositions which refer to the manner in which an

individual behaves, guide action.

• The manner in which they attire themselves is determined by

their stylistic personal dispositions.

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Proprium
The proprium refers to all those behaviors and
characteristics that people regard as warm and
central in their lives.

He suggested that the self is composed of the aspects of

your experiencing that you see as most essential (as
opposed to incidental or accidental), warm (or “precious,”
as opposed to emotionally cool), and central (as
opposed to peripheral).

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The self has seven functions, which tend to
arise at certain times of one’s life:

• body sense (1-2 years old), knows one’s body and its limit

• self-identity (1-2 years old), awareness of inner sameness and continuity

• self-esteem (2-4 years old), pride on the ability to do things

• self-extension (4-6 years old), sense of possession and valuing others

• self-image (4-6 years old), sense of measuring up to expectations of

others

• rational thinking (6-12 years old), sense of self as active problem-solving

agent

• propriate striving, development of long-term purposes and goals

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Motivation
To Allport, 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. Reactive and Proactive Theories of Motivation

Allport insisted that a useful theory of personality rests on the
assumption that people not only react to their environment but also shape their
environment and cause it to react to them.

He criticized psychoanalysis and animal-based learning theories as

being reactive.

His proactive approach emphasized that people consciously and

purposefully act on their environment in a way that fosters growth toward
psychological health.

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B. Functional Autonomy
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. Motives that are not functionally
autonomous include those that are responsible for reflex actions,
basic drives, and pathological behaviors.

Perseverative functional autonomy, Propriate functional autonomy,

is the tendency of certain basic which refers to self -sustaining
behaviors to continue in the absence motives that are related to the
of reinforcement. proprium.

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C. Conscious and Unconscious Motivation

Although Allport emphasized conscious

motivation more than any other personality theorist,
he did not completely overlook the possible influence
of unconscious motives. Pathological behaviors are
often motivated by
unconscious drives, but healthy individuals are
ordinarily consciously in
control of their behavior.
Criteria for the
Mature Personality
1. Extension of the sense of self – Mature people continually seek to identify with
and participate in events outside themselves.
“Everyone has self-love, but only self-extension is the earmark of maturity.”
2. Warm relating of self to others – They have the capacity to love others in an
intimate and compassionate manner.
3. Emotional security and self-acceptance – They accept themselves for what
they are, and they possess emotional poise.

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Criteria for the
Mature Personality
3. Realistic perception – They do not live in a fantasy world or bend reality
to fit their own wishes.
4. Insights and humor – Mature people know themselves, and therefore,
have now need to attribute their own mistakes and weaknesses to
others.
5. Unifying philosophy of life – Healthy people have a clear view of the
purpose of life.

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THANK YOU!

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