1. Atong Majok, Psychology 1010-030, Tuesday 5:30 – 8:15PM

2. Biography  Born November 11, 1897 in Montezuma, Indiana. Died October 9, 1967 in Cambridge Massachusetts.  Born with only 8 toes!  Youngest of four sons.  Early education was in a public school in Cleveland, Ohio.  Father was a country doctor, and mother was a former schoolteacher.  Attended Harvard University and graduated in 1919 with a A.B in Philosophy and Economics.  Traveled to Robert College in Istanbul Turkey, where he taught economics and Philosophy before going back to Harvard to get his PhD.

3. Visit with Sigmund Freud  When he was a college graduate, he decided to go and visit Sigmund Freud. Upon meeting Freud, Allport stated that he met a boy who had a phobia of everything dirty. Freud, after observing him for awhile, asked Allport: “Was that little boy YOU?”

4. Trait Theory  Allport was deemed a “Trait” psychologist. He searched in the dictionary and found 4500 trait like words to describe people. He organized the traits into three main levels.  Cardinal trait – The trait that dominates and shapes a person’s behavior. These are very rare, and not many people possess one Cardinal trait.  Central Trait – General characteristic found in some degree in a person.  Secondary Trait – The characteristic that is only seen in special circumstances.

5. Genotypes & Phenotypes  Allport thought of the idea that there are internal and external forces that influence the behavior in a person. The two forces are: Genotypes & Phenotypes.  Genotypes – Are how a person retains information and how they relate it to the real world.  Phenotypes – Are external forces, and how a person accepts their surroundings and how others influence their behaviors.

6. Quotes by Allport  “So many tangles in life are ultimately hopeless that we have no appropriate sword other than laughter.”  The dog [in Pavlov's experiments] does not continue to salivate whenever it hears a bell unless sometimes at least an edible offering accompanies the bell. But there are innumerable instances in human life where a single association, never reinforced, results in the establishment of a life-long dynamic system. An experience associated only once with a bereavement, an accident, or a battle, may become the center of a permanent phobia or complex, not in the least dependent on a recurrence of the original shock.