Chapter 7 Flashcards
Gordon Allport: Born, Lived, Family
1897-1967
Born in Indiana
Mother: Strict, religious
Father: Salesman turned medical doctor
Isolated from brothers & other children
Inferiority feelings
Gordon Allport: Life (part 2)
Traumatic meeting with Freud
Competition with older brother
Ph.D at Harvard after brother
Dissertation on traits
Taught first formal course in personality
- -helped bring personality into the mainstream
- -formulated a theory of personality development in which traits play a prominent role
Gordon Allport–Nature of Personality: Heredity
Provides raw materials
Shaped by environment
Emphasis on uniqueness
Gordon Allport–Nature of Personality: Two Personalities
Childhood & adulthood
Discrete, discontinuous nature of personality
Not constrained by early experiences
Gordon Allport–Personality Traits
Distinguishing characteristic that guides behavior
Characteristics:
- Real & existent within each person
- Determine & cause behavior
- Can be demonstrated empirically
- Interrelated with other traits
- Vary with situation
Gordon Allport–Individual Personality Traits
Unique to the individual
Defines one’s character
Gordon Allport–Common Personality Traits
Shared by many people
e.g. within a culture
Likely to change over time
Gordon Allport–Personal Dispositions
Traits particular to an individual
Gordon Allport–Motivation
Functional Autonomy of Motives:
Motives in normal, mature adult are independent of childhood
Two Levels
- Perseverative Functional Autonomy
- Propriate Functional Autonomy
Gordon Allport–Preservative Functional Autonomy
Level of functional autonomy that relates to low-level & routine behaviors
e.g. addictions, everyday tasks
Gordon Allport–Propriate Functional Autonomy
Level of functional autonomy that relates to values, self-image, & lifestyle
e.g. motivation to learn a skill
Proprium
Ego or the self
Gordon Allport–Personality Development in Childhood
Development of the unique self
7 stages of growth from infancy through adolescence
Gordon Allport–Personality Development stages 1
Stage One: Bodily Self
Development: Awareness of Existence
Age: 1-3 years
Gordon Allport–Personality Development stages 4
Stage 4: Extension of self
dev: objects & people part of own world
Age: 4-6 years
Gordon Allport–Healthy Adult Personality 1-3
- Extends sense of self to people and activities outside of self
- relates warmly to others
- self-acceptance helps emotional security
Gordon Allport–Healthy Adult Personality 4-6
- Holds realistic perception
- has sense of humor with insight of self
- subscribes to unifying philosophy
Gordon Allport–Questions about Human Nature
- Free will and determinism
- Nurture and nurture influence
- present focus
- uniqueness emphasized
- growth process
- optimistic
Gordon Allport–Assessment (1-5)
- constitutional and physiological diagnosis
- cultural setting, membership, role
- personal docs and case studies
- self-appraisal
- conduct analysis
Gordon Allport–Assessment 6-11
- ratings
- tests and scales
- projective techniques
- depth analysis
- expressive behaviour
- synoptic procedures
Gordon Allport–Research
Focus–open and eclectic approach
- expressive behaviour
- coping behaviour
- cultural differences in facial expressions
- computer recognition of facial expressions
Gordon Allport–contributions
Contributions:
- well-recieved
- influenced humanistic theories with hopeful philosophy
- commonsense alternative to psychoanalytic thought
Gordon Allport–Criticisms
- little research
- terms difficult to study
- questions about mechanisms (functional autonomy)
- Focus on individual; difficult to generalize
Gordon Allport vs. Freud
- -Allport challenged Freud’s psychoanalysis on several points
1. Allport did not accept the notion that unconscious forces dominate personality of normal mature adults - -suggested that emotionally healthy people function rationally and consciously, aware and in control of many of the forces that motivate them.
- **unconscious is important only in the behavior of neurotic or disturbed persons
- Historical determinism–the importance of the past in determining the present–Allport said that we are not prisoners of childhood conflicts and past experiences, as Freud believed. Instead, we are guided more by the present and by our view of the future. Allport–“we are busy leading their lives into the future, whereas psychology is busy leading them into the past.”
- collecting data from abnormal personalities–Freud saw continuum between normal and abnormal, Allport saw clear distinction. Allport–the ab. personality functioned at an infantile level
Cardinal Traits
-Most pervasive and powerful traits
Central Traits
-Outstanding traits that describe one’s behavior
Secondary Traits
- Least important traits
- Displayed inconspicuously & inconsistently
Personality development stage 2
Stage Two: Self Identity
Dev: Identity remains intact
Age: 1-3 years
Personality development stage 3
Stage Three: Self-Esteem
Dev: Pride in accomplishments
Age: 1-3 years
personality development stage 5
Stage 5: Self-Image
Dev: Actual & Ideal images of self
Age: 6-12 years
personality development stage 6
Stage 6: Self as a Rational Coper
Dev: Apply reason & logic
Age: Adolescence
personality development stage 7
Stage 7: Propriate Striving
Dev: Formulate long-range goals
Age: Adolescence
