Gordon Allport Theory Summary
Allport was one of the first psychologists to focus on the study of the personality and is often referred to as one of the founding figures of personality psychology.
Gordon allport theory summary. He contributed to the formation of values scales and rejected both a psychoanalytic approach to personality which he thought often was too deeply interpretive and a behavioral approach which he thought did not provide deep enough interpretations from their data. Gordon allport was born in montezuma indiana on november 11 1897. He was the youngest of four brothers.
His important introductory work on the theory of personality was personality. His approach favoured emphasis on the problems of the adult personality rather than on those of infantile emotions and experiences. Allport argued that instincts and impulses arent the only things that motivate human beings.
Under the gordon allport personality trait theory it is proposed that an individual will possess certain personality traits and that these traits form a partial foundation for their behavior. It is an identifiable characteristic or habit. Gordon allport 1897 1967 was a well respected and influential american scholar in the psychology field.
1 gordon allports trait theory in 1936 psychologist gordon allport found that one english language dictionary alone contained more than 4000 words describing different personality traits. Allport came from a working family that valued health and education. Gordon willard allport was an american psychologist.
Allport pioneered research on human personality. Odbert in 1936 allport worked through two of the most comprehensive english. Trait theory is focused on identifying and measuring these individual personality characteristics.
His theory is considered one of the first humanist theories because it conceives man as an autonomous being with free will. While it may have been defined in many ways gordon allport defined traits as a generalized. Personality trait theory research on predjudice and discrimination gordon willard allport spent nearly his entire academic career at harvard completing both his bachelors degree and his phd at the university and serving as a faculty member from 1930 1967.
Gordon allport was a psychologist who laid the foundations of personality psychology. Understanding gordon allports trait theory of personality describing traits. Some people for example are introverts.
Allport called this concept functional autonomy. Gordon allports impact on psychology of the personality early life. This resulted in allport developing a great interest in understanding human motivation impulses and personality resulting in his trait theory of personality.
Introduction gordon allport was truly a phenomenal personality theorist who explained what a personality is and he bent most of the rules that were set out by other theorists including the father of personality himself sigmund freud and in addition to that he considered freuds theory of personality as the worst theory of all time. In an essay entitled pattern and growth in personality allport recounted his experience of. Allport is best known for the concept that although adult motives develop from infantile drives they become independent of them.
A psychological interpretation 1937.