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Allport: Psychology of the Individual
More than any other personality theorist, 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. For this reason, Allport objected to trait and factor theories that tend to reduce individual behaviors to common traits.
Consistent with Allport’s emphasis on each person’s uniqueness was his willingness to study in depth a single individual. He called the study of the individual morphogenic science and contrasted it with the nomothetic methods used by most other psychologists. Morphogenic methods are those that gather data on a single in- dividual, whereas nomothetic methods gather data on groups of people. Allport also advocated an eclectic approach to theory building.
Gordon Willard Allport was born on November 11, 1897, in Montezuma, Indiana, the fourth and youngest son of John E. Allport and Nellie Wise Allport.
Approach to Personality Theory
Answers to three interrelated questions reveal Allport’s approach to personality theory: (1) What is personality? (2) What is the role of conscious motivation in person- ality theory? (3) What are the characteristics of the psychologically healthy person?
What Is Personality?
He then offered a 50th definition, which in 1937 was “the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that de- termine his unique adjustments to his environment” (Allport, 1937, p. 48). In 1961, he had changed the last phrase to read “that determine his characteristic behavior and thought” (Allport, 1961, p. 28). The change was significant and reflected Allport’s penchant for accuracy. By 1961, he realized that the phrase “adjustments to his environment” could imply that people merely adapt to their environment. In his later definition, Allport conveyed the idea that behavior is expressive as well as adaptive. People not only adjust to their environment, but also reflect on it and interact with it in such a way as to cause their environment to adjust to them.
The term dynamic organization implies an integration or interrelatedness of the various aspects of personality. Personality is organized and patterned. However, the organization is always subject to change: hence, the qualifier “dynamic.” Personality is not a static organization; it is constantly growing or changing. The term psychophysical emphasizes the importance of both the psychological and the physical aspects of personality.
Another word in the definition that implies action is determine, which suggests that “personality is something and does something” (Allport, 1961, p. 29). In other words, personality is not merely the mask we wear, nor is it simply behavior. It refers to the individual behind the facade, the person behind the action.
By characteristic, Allport wished to imply “individual” or “unique.” The word “character” originally meant a marking or engraving, terms that give flavor to what Allport meant by “characteristic.” The words behavior and thought simply refer to anything the person does. They are omnibus terms meant to include internal behaviors (thoughts) as well as external behaviors such as words and actions.
Allport’s comprehensive definition of personality suggests that human beings are both product and process; people have some organized structure while, at the same time, they possess the capability of change. Pattern coexists with growth, order with diversification.
In summary, personality is both physical and psychological; it includes both overt behaviors and covert thoughts; it not only is something, but it does something. Personality is both substance and change, both product and process, both structure and growth.
What Is the Role of Conscious Motivation?
Allport (1967) was forced to “find [his] own way in the humanistic pastures of psychology” (p. 8). Such pastures led to a study of the psychologically mature personality.
A few general assumptions are required to understand Allport’s conception of the mature personality.
First, psychologically mature people are characterized by proactive behavior; that is, they not only react to external stimuli, but they are capable of consciously acting on their environment in new and innovative ways and causing their environment to react to them. Proactive behavior is not merely directed at reducing tensions but also at establishing new ones.
What, then, are the more specific requirements for psychological health? All- port (1961) 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. They are not self-centered but are able to become involved in problems and activities that are not centered on themselves. They develop an unselfish interest in work, play, and recreation. Social interest (Gemeinschaftsgefühl), family, and spiritual life are important to them. Eventually, these outside activities become part of one’s being. Allport (1961) summed up this first criterion by saying: “Everyone has self-love, but only self- extension is the earmark of maturity” (p. 285).
Second, mature personalities are characterized by a “warm relating of self to others” (Allport, 1961, p. 285). They have the capacity to love others in an intimate and compassionate manner. sychologically healthy individuals treat other people with respect, and they realize that the needs, desires, and hopes of others are not completely foreign to their own. In addition, they have a healthy sexual attitude and do not exploit others for personal gratification.
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. These psychologically healthy people are not overly upset when things do not go as planned or when they are simply “having a bad day.” They do not dwell on minor irritations, and they recognize that frustrations and inconveniences are a part of living.
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. They are problem oriented rather than self-centered, and they are in touch with 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. The unifying philosophy of life may or may not be religious, but Allport (1954, 1963), on a personal level, seemed to have felt that a mature religious orientation is a crucial ingredient in the lives of most mature individuals.
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.
1. Personal Dispositions - Allport (1961) defined a 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” (p. 373). The most important distinction between a personal disposition and a common trait is indicated by the parenthetical phrase “peculiar to the individual.” Personal dispositions are individual; common traits are shared by several people.
Levels of Personal Dispositions
1. Cardinal Dispositions - Some people possess an eminent characteristic or ruling passion so outstanding that it dominates their lives. Allport (1961) called these personal dispositions cardinal dispositions. They are so obvious that they cannot be hidden; nearly every action in a person’s life revolves around this one cardinal dis- position. Most people do not have a cardinal disposition, but those few people who do are often known by that single characteristic.
2. 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. Allport (1961) described central dispositions as those that would be listed in an accurate letter of recommendation written by some- one who knew the person quite well.
3. 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 behaviors.
4. Motivational and Stylistic Dispositions - All personal dispositions are dynamic in the sense that they have motivational power. Nevertheless, some are much more strongly felt than others, and Allport called these intensely experienced dispositions motivational dispositions. These strongly felt dis-positions receive their motivation from basic needs and drives. Allport (1961) referred to personal dispositions that are less intensely experienced as stylistic dispositions, even though these dispositions possess some motivational power. Stylistic dispositions guide action, whereas motivational dispositions initiate action. An example of a stylistic disposition might be neat and impeccable personal appearance. People are motivated to dress because of a basic need to stay warm, but the manner in which they attire themselves is determined by their stylistic personal dispositions. Motivational dispositions are somewhat similar to Maslow’s concept of coping behavior, whereas stylistic dispositions are similar to Maslow’s idea of expressive behavior
2. Proprium - Allport used the term proprium to refer to those behaviors and characteristics that people regard as warm, central, and important in their lives. The proprium is not the whole personality, because many characteristics and behaviors of a person are not warm and central; rather, they exist on the periphery of personality. These non- propriate behaviors include (1) basic drives and needs that are ordinarily met and satisfied without much difficulty; (2) tribal customs such as wearing clothes, saying “hello” to people, and driving on the right side of the road; and (3) habitual behaviors, such as smoking or brushing one’s teeth, that are performed automatically and that are not crucial to the person’s sense of self.
As the warm center of personality, the proprium includes those aspects of life that a person regards as important to a sense of self-identity and self-enhancement (Allport, 1955). The proprium includes a person’s values as well as that part of the conscience that is personal and consistent with one’s adult beliefs.
Motivation
An adequate theory of personality, Allport contended, must allow for proactive behavior. It must view people as consciously acting on their environment in a manner that permits growth toward psycho- logical health. A comprehensive theory must not only include an explanation of reactive theories, but must also include those proactive theories that stress change and growth. In other words, Allport argued for a psychology that, on one hand, studies behavioral patterns and general laws (the subject matter of traditional psychology) and, on the other, growth and individuality.
A. Functional Autonomy
The concept of functional autonomy represents Allport’s most distinctive and, at the same time, most controversial postulate. It is Allport’s (1961) explanation for the myriad human motives that seemingly are not accounted for by hedonistic or drive- reduction principles. Functional autonomy represents a theory of changing rather than unchanging motives and is the capstone of Allport’s ideas on motivation.
In general, the concept of functional autonomy holds that some, but not all, human motives are functionally independent from the original motive responsible for the behavior. If a motive is functionally autonomous, it is the explanation for behavior, and one need not look beyond it for hidden or primary causes.
Functional autonomy, of course, meets each criterion.
1. An adequate theory of motivation “will acknowledge the contemporaneity of motives.” In other words, “Whatever moves us must move now” (Allport, 1961, p. 220). The past per se is unimportant. The history of an individual is significant only when it has a present effect on motivation.
2. “It will be a pluralistic theory—allowing for motives of many types” Allport was emphatically opposed to reducing all human motivation to one master drive. He contended that adults’ motives are basically different from those of children and that the motivations of neurotic individuals are not the same as those of normal people. In addition, some motivations are conscious, others unconscious; some are transient, others recurring; some are peripheral, others propriate; and some are tension reducing, others tension maintaining. Motives that appear to be different really are different, not only in form but also in substance
3. “It will ascribe dynamic force to cognitive processes—e.g., to planning and intention” (Allport, 1961, p. 222). Allport argued that most people are busy living their lives into the future, but that many psychological theories are “busy tracing these lives backward into the past. And while it seems to each of us that we are spontaneously active, many psychologists are telling us that we are only reactive” (p. 206). Although intention is involved in all motivation, this third requirement refers more generally to long-range intention. A young woman declines an offer to see a movie because she prefers to study anatomy. This preference is consistent with her purpose of making good grades at college and relates to her plans of being admitted to medical school, which is necessary in order for her to fulfill her intention of being a doctor. The lives of healthy adults are future oriented, involving preferences, purposes, plans, and intentions. These processes, of course, are not always completely rational, as when people allow their anger to dominate their plans and intentions.
4. An adequate theory of motivation is one that “will allow for the concrete uniqueness of motives” (Allport, 1961, p. 225). A concrete unique motive is different from an abstract generalized one, the latter being based on a preexistent theory rather than the actual motivation of a real person. An example of a concrete unique motive is Derrick, who is interested in improving his bowling game. His motive is concrete, and his manner of seeking improvement is unique to him. Some theories of motivation may ascribe Derrick’s behavior to an aggressive need, others to an inhibited sexual drive, and still others to a secondary drive learned on the basis of a primary drive. Allport would simply say that Derrick wants to improve his bowling game because he wants to improve his bowling game. This is Derrick’s unique, concrete, and functionally autonomous motive.
In summary, a functionally autonomous motive is contemporary and self- sustaining; it grows out of an earlier motive but is functionally independent of it. All- port (1961) defined functional autonomy as “any acquired system of motivation in which the tensions involved are not of the same kind as the antecedent tensions from which the acquired system developed” (p. 229). In other words, what begins as one motive may grow into a new one that is historically continuous with the original but functionally autonomous from it.
1. Perseverative Functional Autonomy - The more elementary of the two levels of functional autonomy is perseverative functional autonomy. Allport borrowed this term from the word “perseveration,” which is the tendency of an impression to leave an influence on subsequent experience. Allport borrowed this term from the word “perseveration,” which is the tendency of an impression to leave an influence on subsequent experience. Allport (1961) listed other examples of perseverative functional autonomy that involve human rather than animal motivation. The first is an addiction to alcohol, tobacco, or other drugs when there is no physiological hunger for them. Alcoholics continue to drink although their current motivation is functionally independent from their original motive.
2. Propriate Functional Autonomy - The master system of motivation that confers unity on personality is propriate functional autonomy, which refers to those self-sustaining motives that are related to the proprium.
3. Criterion for Functional Autonomy
In general, a present motive is functionally autonomous to the extent that it seeks new goals, meaning that the behavior will continue even as the motivation for it changes.
4. Processes That Are Not Functionally Autonomous
Functional autonomy is not an explanation for all human motivation. Allport (1961) listed eight processes that are not functionally autonomous: (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, namely 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.
The Study of the Individual
Morphogenic Science
"morphogenic” refers to patterned properties of the whole organism and allows for intraperson comparisons. The pattern or structure of one’s personal dispositions is important.
What are the methods of morphogenic psychology? Allport (1962) listed many: some, completely morphogenic; some, partly so. Examples of wholly morphogenic, first-person methods are verbatim recordings, interviews, dreams, confessions; diaries, letters; some questionnaires, expressive documents, projective documents, literary works, art forms, automatic writings, doodles, handshakes, voice patterns, body gestures, handwriting, gait, and autobiographies.
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Feist, Jess & Feist, Gregory J. 2008. Theories of Personality, 7th Edition. The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Publish in the United States of America.
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