Gordon Allport By Evan Bush

Biography Allport was born in Montezuma, India in 1897. His father was a doctor and his mother was a school teacher. They taught him the importance of hard work. Upon graduation from high school, Allport attended Harvard College on a scholarship where he would earn a degree in Philosophy and Economics and eventually a Ph. D. in Psychology.

Professional Career

Allport and Freud In 1922, Allport traveled to Vienna to meet Sigmund Freud. During their meeting, Allport told Freud about an experience he had on the train there. He witnessed a boy who was afraid to sit in a seat where a dirty looking man had sat previously for fear of getting diry. Allport believed the kid acting this way because of his mother, who appeared domineering. Frued responded, "And was that little boy you?"

The Outcome of the Meeting Allport viewed his meeting as Freud turning a mere observation into an analysis of a subconscious memory of Allport’s own life. This served as a reminder to Allport of how behaviorism doesn’t dig deep enough into ones mind and psychoanalysis digs too deep. This lead to him to created his own theory on personality.

Contributions to Psychology Allport is best known for his Trait Theory of Personality.

Personality Trait Theory Allport discovered that the English Dictionary contains over 4,500 words describing different personality traits. He categorized these traits into three levels

1) Cardinal Traits Traits that dominate a persons life so much, that they become known specifically for these traits. Allport claimed that these traits are very rare and devolope later in life. Often, when one possesses cardinal traits, their name becomes synonymous with these qualities. Ex: Freudian, Christ-like, herculean, narcissism

2) Central Traits These are general characteristics that form the foundations of personality. They aren’t as dominating as cardinal traits but are major characteristics used to describe a persons personality. Ex: intelligent, honest, shy and anxious

3) Secondary Traits These traits are only present under certain circumstances. Ex: Getting nervous before a test or performing well under stress.

Trait Theory Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftRcWvHDhg0&feature=player_detailpage

The End

Works Cited http://psychology.about.com/od/profilesal/p/gordon-allport.htm http://www.corbisimages.com/stock-photo/rights-managed/U1406856/psychologist-gordon-allport http://www.apa.org/pubs/books/431684A.aspx http://www.signalpatterns.com/psych_central