Gordon Allport
Life highlights
- Youngest of four children
• Became isolated; not old enough to play with his siblings
- Religious mother; father – doctor
- Harvard enrolment
• Had new perspectives since he came from a traditional family
- Meeting with Freud
• Traumatic experience; their perspectives are not aligned
- Harvard career
• Continued for the rest of his life
- Married Ada Gould and had one child
- Became APA president
APPROACH TO PERSONALITY THEORY
Personality
- “The dynamic organization within the individual of those psychosocial systems that determine his
characteristic behavior and thought”
o Dynamic organization
• Integration of interrelatedness of the various aspects of personality
• Organized and patterned but is always subject to change
o Psychophysical
• Emphasis on both psychological and physical aspects
o Determine
• Personality is something and does something
o Characteristic
• Uniqueness of individual
o Behavior and thought
• Anything that a person does
- Both physical and psychological
- Include overt behaviors and covert thoughts
- Is and does something
- Both substance and change
- Both product and process
- Both structure and growth
Role of heredity and environment (nature and nurture)
, - Heredity provides raw materials that may be shaped, expanded, or limited by the conditions of
the environment
- Allport believed that people have distinct personalities in childhood and adulthood
Role of conscious motivation
- Healthy adults are generally aware of what they are doing and their reasons for doing it
- Allport believed that compulsive behaviors are automatic repetitions that originate from
childhood
Characteristics of a healthy person
1. Proactive behaviors are manifested
• They don’t nearly react but consciously act
2. They are motivated by conscious processes
3. They experience a relatively trauma-free childhood
4. They become more mature as they grow older
6 criteria for mature personality
1. Extension of the sense of self
• Can be seen in the social interest
• Being involved
2. Warm relating of the self to others
• Capacity to love others in an intimate and compassionate manner
3. Emotional security or self-acceptance
• Possession of emotional poise
• Recognition of frustrations and inconveniences as part of living
4. Has a realistic perception of the environment
• Problem-oriented rather than self-centered
• We seer reality as it is
5. Has insight and nonhostile humor
• Seeing the self objectively
6. Has a unifying philosophy of life
• Clear view of life’s purpose
• Strong desire to serve others
Structure of personality
• Common traits
o Traits are structures within a person that influence behavior
o Are consistent and enduring
o Characteristics:
• Personality traits are real and exist within each of us
• Traits determine or cause behavior
Life highlights
- Youngest of four children
• Became isolated; not old enough to play with his siblings
- Religious mother; father – doctor
- Harvard enrolment
• Had new perspectives since he came from a traditional family
- Meeting with Freud
• Traumatic experience; their perspectives are not aligned
- Harvard career
• Continued for the rest of his life
- Married Ada Gould and had one child
- Became APA president
APPROACH TO PERSONALITY THEORY
Personality
- “The dynamic organization within the individual of those psychosocial systems that determine his
characteristic behavior and thought”
o Dynamic organization
• Integration of interrelatedness of the various aspects of personality
• Organized and patterned but is always subject to change
o Psychophysical
• Emphasis on both psychological and physical aspects
o Determine
• Personality is something and does something
o Characteristic
• Uniqueness of individual
o Behavior and thought
• Anything that a person does
- Both physical and psychological
- Include overt behaviors and covert thoughts
- Is and does something
- Both substance and change
- Both product and process
- Both structure and growth
Role of heredity and environment (nature and nurture)
, - Heredity provides raw materials that may be shaped, expanded, or limited by the conditions of
the environment
- Allport believed that people have distinct personalities in childhood and adulthood
Role of conscious motivation
- Healthy adults are generally aware of what they are doing and their reasons for doing it
- Allport believed that compulsive behaviors are automatic repetitions that originate from
childhood
Characteristics of a healthy person
1. Proactive behaviors are manifested
• They don’t nearly react but consciously act
2. They are motivated by conscious processes
3. They experience a relatively trauma-free childhood
4. They become more mature as they grow older
6 criteria for mature personality
1. Extension of the sense of self
• Can be seen in the social interest
• Being involved
2. Warm relating of the self to others
• Capacity to love others in an intimate and compassionate manner
3. Emotional security or self-acceptance
• Possession of emotional poise
• Recognition of frustrations and inconveniences as part of living
4. Has a realistic perception of the environment
• Problem-oriented rather than self-centered
• We seer reality as it is
5. Has insight and nonhostile humor
• Seeing the self objectively
6. Has a unifying philosophy of life
• Clear view of life’s purpose
• Strong desire to serve others
Structure of personality
• Common traits
o Traits are structures within a person that influence behavior
o Are consistent and enduring
o Characteristics:
• Personality traits are real and exist within each of us
• Traits determine or cause behavior
