Self-understanding

5. 자기-객관화=self-objectification. Mature persons know themselves. They are blessed with self-objectification––insight into their own abilities and limitations. Correlated with their insight is a sense of humor. Mature individuals have the ability to see the absurdity in life and not be overwhelmed by it. They can be amused by their own mistakes and not deceived by their own pretentiousness.
6. 통합된 삶의 철학=unifying philosophy of life. Finally, mature individuals have developed “a clear comprehension of life’s purpose in terms of an intelligible theory” (Allport, 1961, p. 294). They have a sense of directedness and a set of life goals. Although adolescents have ideals, they are typically vague. When young people seek to implement their ideals and fall short, they experience disappointment. In their late 20s, people begin to learn that they must compromise with reality. They find that their jobs are not as challenging or rewarding as they had hoped, that their marriages or living arrangements fall short of their desires, and that they have not been able to overcome some of their personal limitations

The major concepts in Allport’s trait theory revolve around the different kinds of traits that are contained in the proprium고유자아(structure that make unity of inside), or self, and how they are shaped as the self continues to develop as the person proceeds through the lifespan.

In Allport’s theory, it is difficult to understand the links between the concept of traits and the concept of the self. It is clear, however, that the self is the broader term. Within the self we find, not only the person’s traits, but his or her habits, needs, interests, skills, and so forth. For Allport, it is traits that are central in helping us understand the uniqueness of the person’s style, expressiveness, and behavior. Thus, traits are the key structures within the self.
For Allport, a trait is “a generalized and focalized neuropsychic system (peculiar to the individual) with the capacity to render many stimuli functionally equivalent and to initiate and guide consistent (equivalent) forms ofadaptive and expressive behavior.” Thus, a trait is something that actually exists but is invisible. It is located in certain parts of the nervous system.
Characteristics that are pervasive and dominant in a person’s life he called cardinal traits(기본특성). These are master motives, ruling passions, eminent traits. For example, a person may have an overwhelming need to be powerful, a need for power that can be inferred from virtually all his behavior.

Characteristics that control less of a person’s behavior but are nevertheless important are called central traits(중심특성). Such traits are the ones people mention when asked to describe another person or to write a letter of recommendation. For example, we may say that someone is intelligent, sincere, kind, possessive, competitive, ambitious, funny, and honest. These are major characteristics that control the person’s behavior in a variety of situations, but they do not possess the generality of a cardinal trait.

Characteristics that are peripheral to the person––preferences, for example––are called secondary traits(이차특성). A person might love banana cream pie or prefer to vacation in Maine or Nova Scotia. Such traits are generally less important, less conspicuous, less generalized, and less often called into play than central traits.