Gordon Allport

Psychology of the Individual

• Gordon Allport emphasized the uniqueness of the
individual.
• He used the nomothetic method which involves
making comparisons on groups of individuals on
certain common traits and morphogenic method
which is characterized by the detailed study on a
single individual.
• Humanistic psychology – recognizes that each person
is unique, has dignity, is active, creative and grows
positively with maturity.
Personality
Personality is the dynamic organization within
the individual of those psychophysical systems
that determine his characteristic behavior and
thought.
Personality
 dynamic organization – implies integration or
interrelatedness of the various aspects of
personality.
 psychophysical – emphasizes the importance of
both the mental and the biological aspects
of personality.
 characteristic behavior and thought – anything
that people may do or think as they reflect on,
adjust to, or strive to master their environment in a
manner that is unique.
Structure
Traits and Dispositions
Proprium

Tayao, Christelle Anne

Personal Dispositions
Common Traits vs. Personal Dispositions

• Common traits – general characteristics held in

common by many people.

• Personal dispositions – traits that are unique to

the individual that create a personalized style
of behavior.
Three Levels of Traits

1. Cardinal Traits
2. Central Traits
3. Secondary Traits
 Three Levels of Traits
1. Cardinal Traits – an eminent characteristic or ruling
passion so outstanding that dominates our lives.
e.g.
need for money
need for fame
need for power
 Three Levels of Traits
2. Central Dispositions – less pervasive and dominant than
cardinal traits; they represent those tendencies in the
person’s behavior that others can readily discern. Known
as a general characteristic found in some degree in every
person.
e.g.
Honesty
Three Levels of Traits

3. Secondary Traits – less generalized, less consistent

but far greater in number than central dispositions
and often seen only in certain circumstances.
e.g.
Likes and dislikes
 Proprium
•Term used to describe “the self.”
•Characteristics that are “peculiarly mine.”
•Aspects of life that a person regards as
important to a sense of self-identity and self-
enhancement.
•Experiences that you see as most essential,
warm and central.
Tan, Jonas Clarence
Developmental Stages
of the Proprium
 Sense of bodily self

• It is the sense of one's own body, including bodily

sensations, a test to one's existence and therefore
remains a lifelong anchor for self-awareness (infancy).
 Sense of self-identity
• This is most evident when the child, through
acquiring language, recognizes himself as a distinct
individual (childhood).
 Sense of self-esteem
• It is the individual's evaluation of himself and the
urge to want to do everything for oneself and take
all of the credit.
• Self-esteem depends on the child’s success in
mastering tasks in the world (childhood).
 Sense of self-extension

• Occurs during the third year of life, which states that

even though some things are not inside my physical
body they are still very much a part of one's life
(childhood).
 Sense of self-image

• It is the time when the child begins to know what

other people expect him or her to be.
• It is in this period that the child begins to distinguish
the “good me” and the “bad me”.
 Sense of self as rational coper

• Occurs between the ages of six and twelve in

which the child begins to realize fully that he has the
rational capacity to find solutions to life's problems,
so that they can cope effectively with reality
demands.
 Propriate striving
• It is the time for the selection of the occupation or
other life goal, the adolescent knows that their
future must follow a plan and in this sense makes
them loose their childhood.
Peripheral motives – directed towards immediate
gratification
Propriate motives – towards long term goals
 Self as a knower
• The Knower “rides” on top of them. The thinker is
different from his or her thoughts. The last stage that
is characterized by the realization that man is
capable of knowing and thinking and thoughts are
different from the man.
• “Any acquired system of motivation in which
tensions involved are not of the same kind as the
antecedent tensions from which the acquired
system developed.”

• Adult motives are not related to past motives.

• Drives becomes independent of its original motive.

• Allport never practiced Psychotherapy.
• He refused to believe that mature and immature
people really had much in common.
• He felt that most other personologists of this day
could not even identify a healthy personality.
• Allport began a long search to establish an
adequate description of the healthy personality, or
what he termed “mature personality”
• Allport saw a qualitative difference between
mature and immature persons.

• The behavior of mature persons is functionally

autonomous and is motivated by conscious
processes.

• The behavior of immature persons is dominated by

unconscious motives stemming from childhood
experiences.
• The mature person has a widely extended sense of
self.

• The mature person demonstrates realistic

perception, skills, and assignments.

• The mature person demonstrates self-insight and

humor.
• The mature person demonstrates emotional security
and self acceptance.

• The mature person has a unifying philosophy of life.

• The mature person has a capacity for warm social

interactions.