Gordon Allport

The beginnings of Allport’s theory

• Personality is consistent
• Personality varies within a small range in normal settings
• It changes from situation to situation
• Each situation creates different behaviors in different people
• Society influences personality
• Allport studied rumors and prejudice and recognized the social aspects of personality
• Allport’s definition of personality came from an analysis of many different ideas of the time:
• Personality is the dynamic organization1 within the individual of those psychophysical systems2 that determine3 his unique4 adjustments to the environment5
• This definition contains five points to ponder – remember he was very interested in words!

The beginnings of Allport’s theory

• Five points to ponder
• Personality is the dynamic organization1 within the individual of those psychophysical systems2 that determine3 his unique4 adjustments to the environment5
• 1. Dynamic Organization
• Dynamic refers to the ability to change
• This use of “Organization” refers to getting it all together
• A failure to integrate is a hallmark of psychopathology
• 2. Psychophysical systems
• The personality is both biological and psychological
• The three raw materials of personality are:
• Intelligence, physique, and temperament
• Each of which is influenced by the environment
• Personality = function (Heredity) x (Environment)

The beginnings of Allport’s theory

• Five points to ponder
• Personality is the dynamic organization1 within the individual of those psychophysical systems2 that determine3 his unique4 adjustments to the environment5
• 3. Deterministic
• Determinism means that Personality is a cause of behavior
• Arguments against this say that personality is irrelevant when studying behavior and is only useful as a descriptive (an “As If”).
• Another argument says that this theory uses circular logic. The trait defines the man which then causes the trait. It is like looking up Car in the dictionary and it says “See Automobile” and then under automobile it says “See Car”.