Gordon W. Allport Who the heck is he?

Gordon W. Allport

• Who the heck is he?

What his Wikipedia says about him

• Born in 1897, in Montezuma, Indiana

• He was one of the first psychologists to study personality

• He is often referred to as one of the founding figures of personality psychology.

• His perspective is Humanistic. Humanistic psychology is a branch of larger philosophical theory known as humanism.

His Theories…

• His theory of personality rejected Freudian psychology and behaviorism. It emphasized uniqueness of an individual and the need to treat problems

• His is known as a “trait” psychologist.

• The three trait levels of his theory are-

• 1.Cardinal Trait- This trait dominates and shapes a person's behavior. These are ruling passions/obsessions, such as a need for money, fame etc.

• 2.Central Trait-This is a general characteristic found in some degree in every person. It is the general building blocks that shape most of our behavior. An example being honesty.

• 3.Secondary Trait- These are characteristics seen only in certain circumstances (such as certain likes and dislikes that only a close friend would know) they must be included to provide a complete picture of human complexity.

• He also hypothesized the idea that people have internal and external forces called Genotypes and Phenotypes.

• Genotypes- are internal forces that relate to how a person retains information and uses it to interact with the external world, like your genetics.

• Phenotypes- external forces that relate to the way and individual accepts their surroundings and how others influence their behavior.

Other interesting things…

• He was the president of American Psychological Association in 1939.

• He was also the president of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues in 1944

• He wrote the books such as, The Nature of Prejudice and Letter from Jenny.