The Psychology Book (97 page)

308 GORDON ALLPORT

IN CONTEXT

APPROACH

G
ordon Allport is sometimes

referred to as one of the

founding fathers of

personality psychology, as he was

Trait theory

the first psychologist of modern

BEFORE

times to embark on a dedicated

People… are busy

study of personality. Since the early

2nd century BCE
Galen

leading their lives into

work on the four temperaments by

classifies human temperament

the future, whereas

Hippocrates (c.400 BCE) and Galen

according to the four humors.

psychology, for the most

(c.150 CE), there seems to have been

1890
In
Principles of

part, is busy tracing

no attempt to classify personality in

Psychology
, William James

them into the past.

any detail. In the 19th century,

makes an early attempt to

personality was barely mentioned

Gordon Allport

define the self as having both

in psychology, though there was

an “I” (the knowing self) and a

much discussion of the self, or “ego.”

“me” (the experiencing self).

In the early 20th century,

the two predominant schools of

AFTER

psychology—psychoanalysis and

1946
Raymond Cattell

behaviorism—were polar opposites

develops his 16PF (Personality

in approach. Both were highly

The American psychologist Gordon

Factors) questionnaire, based

developed and influential schools

Allport had fundamental problems

on Allport and Odbert’s

that remain powerful (as well as

with both of these approaches. He

lexical hypothesis.

enduringly controversial) to this

thought that behaviorism was

day. Behaviorism, being interested

wrong to discount the “person”

1970s
Hans J. Eysenck creates

only in how we acquire (or learn) our

doing the learning, because each

the PEN (Psychoticism,

behavior, had nothing to say about

person is unique and their perception

Extraversion, Neurotisicm)

personality; while psychoanalysis

is part of the process. He also

personality questionnaire.

offered an in-depth approach, arguing

considered psychoanalysis to be

1993
American psychologist

for the existence of an unknowable

inadequate for explaining personality

Dan P. McAdam demonstrates

unconscious that controls personality

and behavior because it placed too

the idiographic method in his

but reveals itself only fractionally

much importance on a person’s

book
The Stories We Live By
.

and accidentally by slips of the

past, ignoring their current context

tongue and in dream symbols.

and motivations. His view was

Personality is formed from…

…
cardinal traits
or

…
common traits
,

…
secondary traits
,

“ruling passions”, such

such as honesty or

such as being nervous when

as altruism. Not everyone

aggression. In the

meeting strangers or laughing

has a cardinal trait,

absence of cardinal

at inappropriate moments.

traits, personality is

These traits are evoked by

and those that do

shaped by these traits.

specific situations.

are often famous for it.

PSYCHOLOGY OF DIFFERENCE 309

See also:
Galen 18–19 ■ William James 38–45 ■ Sigmund Freud 92–99 ■ Carl Rogers 130–37 ■ Abraham Maslow 138–39 ■

Martin Seligman 200–01 ■ Paul Salkovskis 212–13 ■ Raymond Cattell 314–15 ■ Hans J. Eysenck 316–21 ■ William Stern 334

affirmed when, as a young college

Dilthey, but had first been put into

work in general is not known for

graduate, he paid a visit to Sigmund

practice by Allport’s university

its focus on empirical research;

Freud in Vienna. On first meeting,

tutor, William Stern. The first

he was more of a theorist, almost

to make small talk, Allport told

method, the nomothetic, aims to

a philosopher. Yet his very first

Freud of a small boy he had met

be as objective and scientific as

paper,
Personality Traits: Their

on the train on the way, who was

possible, and it is exemplified in

Classification and Measurement
,

afraid of getting dirty and refused

the study of human intelligence.

cowritten with his brother Floyd,

to sit near anyone dirty, despite

This involves obtaining test results

was an excellent example of the

his mother’s encouragement.

from large populations of people,

nomothetic method. One of his

Perhaps, Allport suggested, the

on personality traits such as

last major pieces of work, the

child had learned this dirt phobia

extraversion and introversion.

analysis of Jenny Masterson,

from his mother, a neat and rather

Results can be submitted to a

was an extraordinarily detailed

domineering woman. Freud then

sophisticated analysis, resulting

example of the idiographic method.

asked, “And was that little boy

in a number of general conclusions,

you?” Freud’s reduction of this

such as the percentages of people

The lexical hypothesis

small observation of Allport’s

who are extravert or introvert, or

In his first study, Allport and his

to some unconscious episode

variations linked to age, gender, or

brother reported their research

from his own childhood seemed,

geography. However, this method

on personality traits. They asked

to Allport, dismissive of all his

does not aim to comment in any

the participants to complete a

current motivations and intentions.

way on traits at the individual level;

personality questionnaire, and

Throughout his work, Allport

it focuses on comparative comments

to ask three people who knew

emphasizes the present over the

and conclusions about a certain trait,

them well to complete it too;

past, though later in his life he paid

rather than any particular person.

this reflected the Allport brothers’

more attention to psychoanalysis

This was the method that the

view that personality is forged

as a supplement to other methods.

behaviorist B.F. Skinner used for

in relationship to others. They

Allport argued for an approach

his observations of rat behavior.

concluded from their results that

to the study of human learning

The second method, the

there is a case for identifying traits,

and personality that was reasoned,

idiographic, stands in direct

and for attempting to measure

eclectic, and conceptually open-

opposition to the nomothetic

them. They also believed they

minded. He took some of what he

method; it studies one individual

had proven the possibility of

believed from prevailing approaches,

in breadth and depth, taking into

developing a complete and

but his central belief is that the

account their biography, their

sensitive instrument for the

uniqueness of each individual and

personality traits, and their

measurement of personality. ❯❯

his or her personality is largely—

relationships, as well as how

but not exclusively—forged in

they are seen and experienced

human relationships.

by others. This method is much

closer to the psychoanalytic

Theory of personality

method with its focus on one

Allport’s idea of personality is a

person, one life.

complex amalgam of traits, human

Allport said that while the

Types exist not in people

relationships, current context,

nomothetic method was a way

or in nature, but rather in

and motivation. He identified two

of describing traits, it had little

the eye of the observer.

distinctly different approaches

explanatory power; whereas the

Gordon Allport

to the study of personality—the

idiographic method, though unable

nomothetic and idiographic

to draw any general conclusions,

methods—both of which had been

could explain one person in

devised by the German philosophers

illuminating detail. He was to

Wilhelm Windelband and Wilhelm

use both methods, though his

310 GORDON ALLPORT

someone that it guides and unifies

their life in both conscious and

paranoid

unconscious ways; virtually every

awkward stubborn mischievous eager bossy

act is traceable to its influence.

judgmental loyal envious acute tender vain devout patient

sarcastic

In his later years, Allport

forgiving honest bashful acquisitive

cold shy

considered a person’s cardinal

cheerful curious acerbic aggressive proudwitty polite

traits as contributing to the

inventive arrogant artistic self-centred

bold

daring ambitious timid sociable sentimental

proprium
: the essential drives, core

kind moody

touchy fretful reserved confident

needs, and desires of a person. This

shallow

talkative

organized inconsiderate

concept goes beyond the idea of

efficient trustful helpful

temperament, and is more akin to a

imaginative

guiding purpose that will always

press for expression. As an example

of the
proprium
, Allport gave the

Norwegian polar explorer Roald

Amundsen, who had one dominant

passion from the age of 15: he

Allport and Odbert’s lexical hypothesis

wanted to be a polar explorer. The

rested on the idea that the most important

obstacles to his ambition seemed

and relevant personality differences are

insurmountable, and the temptation

reflected by language; they identified 18,000

to relinquish his dreams was great,