Gordon Allport An American Psychologist Psychology Essay

Gordon Allport An American Psychologist Psychology Essay Psychology  of  the lack  of interest  and  limited  methods, in general,  fails  to  disclose  or study  of the  integrity  and consistency of  the characters  that  actually  exist.  The greatest drawback  of a psychologist  at the present  time   is  his  inability to  prove the truth  of  what he  knows. Gordon Allport is an outstanding figure in the world of psychology, and now there is hardly a book on psychology of personality without a special chapter on his theory, or at least references to it.  Having experienced the impact of different schools, Allport did not actually belong to any of them, and created his own.  He believed that the comprehensive theory of personality can be created by combining the achievements of different scientific fields, and thus, of course, has earned numerous accusations of eclecticism.  Today, such accusations can be viewed more as praise, for the future of scientific psychology more clearly seen in a balanced position rather than in an opposition of antagonists.  In approving such a position Allport played a very important role, and now has a decent place of honor in the gallery of masters of psychology.  His influence  on  the psychology of  the world  can not be overestimated.   Allport  refers to a rare  type of  systematizers, he  was  perhaps  the smartest  person  of those  who  engaged in the psychology of  personality,  a man  with imagination,  but the  most striking  feature of Allport  was  logical thinking.  Allport introduced  into  the psychology a lot  of new ideas, he smoothed out  the extremes  and  overcome the contradictions of  the science,  that is why he  can rightly be  called one  of the  dialectically-minded  psychologists. He was often  called   eclectic,  and he agreed  with  it,  specifying  that eclecticism  in this  sense  was  not a vice,  but a very  productive  method  of research. (Evans, 1971, p.19) Perhaps  few people  can be  compared  with him  on the number of  ideas  that are included  in textbooks  on  theories  of personality,  and  in  the main  body  of knowledge  of personality psychology.  Allport  was behind the  theory of  traits,  humanistic   psychology,  wrote the first textbook  on  the synthesis  of personality psychology,  has legalized  the introduction  to the academic  science  of qualitative  methods,  research problems  such as  personal  maturity, vision, self-actualization, religiosity.   He  did not make  discoveries or breakthroughs,  has not created a  school or any new paradigm,  but  in many respects  he  is credited with  creating  the psychology of personality  as a  particular subject  area  Ã‚  it  is no exaggeration to  call him the  architect of  personality psychology. During his lifetime Allport managed to get all kinds of honors: he was elected as the president of the American Psychological Association (1939), president of Society of the Study of Social Problems, received the award for outstanding contribution to science (1964), etc. But in his autobiography he admitted that among the  numerous scientific distinctions the most valuable to him was the prize given to him in 1963, a two-volume collection of works of 55 of his former graduate students with the inscription from the students with gratitude for the respect for their individuality. The list of Allports publications includes his reviews and prefaces to other peoples books, as he was engaged in the educational activity: he enriched the American science with ideas of personology of W. Stern, Psychology of the spirit of E. Spranger and Gestalt K. Koffka, W. Kohler and M. Wertheimer.  He was able to assess the significance for psychology of the ideas of existentialism, and supported the establishment of the Association of Humanistic Psychology.     Another distinctive feature of scientific style of Allport is to be always on the cutting edge of social issues of the time, because he wanted to study what was more important for people.  In many specific areas he has created articles and books: the Psychology of expressive movements, psychology radio, rumors psychology, psychology of war, the psychology of religion, and his 600-page work devoted to the nature of prejudice for almost 50 years remains the main source of the problem, and its relevance only increases. Gordon Allport Biography Gordon Willard Allport was born on November 11, 1897 in Montezuma, Indiana.  He was the youngest of four sons of John and Nellie Allport.  His father was a modest and not very successful doctor, his private clinic was situated within the walls of his own house.  Allports mother was a schoolteacher, and, most importantly, a devout and pious woman, and she thought the children of reasonable, orderly and virtuous life skills.  And the character of Gordon was formed largely under the influence of a strict, but humane maternal morality.   Gordon in 1915 went to Harvard, and from then began a half-century of his collaboration with Harvard University.  At Harvard, the intellectual abilities of Gordon turned in full force and gained focus.  In parallel with the psychology he dealt with social ethics from an early age his interest was divided between psychology and the broader social context, and not by accident in the 30 years he created at Harvard the Department of Social Relations, an interdisciplinary by its very nature, with synthetic approaches of psychology, sociology and anthropology.   A distinctive feature of the scientific outlook of Allport was a pretty big influence on him of European psychology, especially of William Stern, Eduard Spranger, and Gestalt psychology (in many respects this was caused by staying of young scientist in Europe in the early 1920s).  Influenced by these ideas, Allport, having been engaged in a 1920 in study of the issues of personality psychology, especially of personality traits and expressive movements, he quickly realized the need to consider the whole personality, rather than its parts. After returning  to  Harvard,  Allport  at the age of 24  wrote his doctorate  in psychology, but the key  ideas of  his work  were  presented  to them  a year earlier  in  the article  Personality  traits:  their classification and  measurement,  written jointly  with  his brother  Floyd, and  published  in the  Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology. In the next two years Allport went to the internship in Europe first in Germany, where he worked with M. Wertheimer, V. Kohler, W. Stern, C. Stumpf, and then for a short time in England, at Cambridge.  Drawing on personal experience with work with masters of German psychology, he later at home has long been a leading expert in this area and the interpreter of their ideas. In 1924 he returned to Harvard, where he began to read a completely new course of personality psychology.  It is important to note that until then, many psychologists considered problems in the theory of personality not as psychological.  The final breakthrough in this area has occurred in 1937, after publication of the Allports major monograph Personality: a psychological study.  In it the author (by the way, long before the groundbreaking theory of Maslow) was first to study a healthy personality and described its essential features. Allports collection of works Personality in Psychology presents a wide range of his interests: health issues, religion and superstition, social prejudices, as well as the main methodological problems of psychology.  In his work, which was reflected in 12 books and more than two hundred articles, he tried to capture the complexity of human existence in the contemporary social context and resolutely refused to follow the fashionable tenets of his profession, demonstrating commitment to the imaginative and systematic eclecticism. During his career, Allport was awarded with almost all the regalia of a psychologist: he was elected president of the American Psychological Association (1939), President of the psychological study of social problems, in 1963 he was awarded the Gold Medal of the American Psychological Foundation, in 1964, APA received an award for outstanding contribution  in science.   Allports approach to personality Allport was the first in the world of psychology to build a holistic theoretical knowledge of the scientific psychology of personality.  His book Personality: a psychological interpretation, which was published in 1937, marked the beginning of the academic personality psychology.  Personality, by Allport, is a dynamic organization of psycho-physical systems of the individual, which defines a unique adaptation of the individual to his environment. (Allport, 1937) G. Allport theory of personality is a combination of humanistic and individual approaches to the study of human behavior.  Humanistic approach lies in an attempt to identify all aspects of human beings, and individual approach is reflected in an effort of G. Allport to understand and predict the development of the real, specific person.  One of the main postulates of the theory of G. Allport is that personality is open and self-developing.  People first and foremost are a social beings and therefore can not develop without contacts with other people and society.  Here comes the Allport rejection of psychoanalysis on the antagonistic, hostile relations between the individual and society.  In this case, G. Allport argued that the communication of personality and society is not striving for balance with the medium, but for networking and interaction.  Thus, he strongly objected to the generally accepted postulate that development is an adaptation, an adaptation of man to the outside world, arguing that human nature just need to blow up the balance and reach more and more new peaks.   Explaining human behavior, G. Allport introduced the concept of traits.  He defined the trait as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦the neuropsychological structure capable of converting a set of functionally equivalent stimuli, and to encourage and guide equivalent forms of adaptive and expressive behavior.  Simply it is propensity to behave in a similar manner in a wide range of situations.  G. Allport theory states that human behavior is relatively stable over time and in diverse situations.  In the G. Allport system personality is characterized by traits, or defining characteristics. He proposed eight basic criteria for determining personality traits:   personality traits are real: they exist in humans, and are not theoretical abstractions;   personality trait is a more generalized notion than a habit; personality traits is the driving, or at least, a defining element of behavior, it motivates the individual;   the existence of personality traits can be established empirically;   personality traits is only relatively independent, as people tend to react to events and phenomena according to a generalized manner;   personality traits can not be associated with this individual moral or social assessment; the fact that actions and habits are inconsistent with the personality traits is not evidence of lack of that traits.   Allports Theory of Individual Trait and Common Trait Each person is an idiom unto himself, an apparent violation of the syntax of the species.   ( Allport G. Becoming: Basic Considerations for a Psychology of Personality,1955, p.19).   G. Allport pointed general and individual traits.  The first include any characteristics peculiar to some number of people within a particular culture.  Individual traits represent characteristics of the individual, which does not allow comparison with other people, that are those neuropsychiatric elements that direct, manage and motivate a certain type of behavior.  This category of traits more fully reflects the personality structure of each individual.   Later G. Allport called individual personality traits as dispositions, and identified three types of them: Radical disposition.  Almost all human actions can be explained by the influence of inborn traits.   Central dispositions.  They do not dominate, but are the foundation of human individuality.   Secondary dispositions.  These traits are less visible, less generalized, less stable and therefore less suitable for the characteristics of personality.  For example, eating habits and clothing, etc.   G. Allport believed that personality is determined by the unity and integration of individual traits that give him originality.   The Proprium In 1950 Allport, however, introduced a new concept to replace the traditional I concept the notion of proprium.  A  Proprium by Allport is similar to what William James once explained as an area of I.  The main thing that has developed Allport in connection with the concept of the proprium and proprium structures of personality is periodization of personal development, based on seven aspects of proprium.   G. Allport identified seven stages of development of proprium from childhood to adulthood:    During the first three years child demonstrate three aspects: the sense of a body, a sense of continuous self-identity and self-esteem or pride. At the age of four to six years, there are two other aspects: self-identification and self-image. Between six and twelve years a child develops self-awareness, so that he can cope with problems on the basis of rational thought. In adolescence, there are intentions, plans and long-term goals, they called their own aspirations. So,  in  an adult  individual we can see  a person  whose  determinants  of behavior  is  a system  of organized  and  congruent  traits, these  traits  resulted from many different motivations of a  newborn.  Normal  individuals  usually know  what  they are  doing and why.  This  behavior is consistent with  congruent  pattern,  and  at the core  of this pattern  lie traits that  G.  Allport  called  proprium.  Complete  understanding of  the adult  is not possible without  considering his  goals  and  aspirations. Motive and Functional Autonomy According to Allport, the core of the personality are the motives of activity.  In order to explain the nature of motivation, he introduced the concept of functional autonomy, which means that the motivation of the adult is not functionally connected with his childhood experiences.  Motives of human activity do not depend on the initial circumstances of their occurrence.   Thus, adults are responsible for their deeds and actions, and do not depend on the vicissitudes of childhood. Motives  of adults  can not, according to  Allport,  result  from their  childrens  intentions and perceptions,  and  these goals  are determined by  the current  situation  and  current intentions.   Thus, functional  autonomy,  in the view of  Allport,  are motives of adults  which do not depend  on  their  childrens   experiences. Criticism of Allport Despite his  influence in  psychology,  theory of  Allport  has not received  sufficient experimental  confirmation.  What is the empirical validity of the theoretical concept of personality in Allport?  Analysis of relevant literature shows that the Allports theory does not rise any study to confirm its validity.  With his views and concepts agreed only few well-known authors in the field Personology (Maddi, 1972).   Allports position,  emphasizing the  uniqueness of the human  personality, as well as  the importance  of understanding   personal  goals  and expectations,  had a  significant  impact on  the views of  Abraham  Maslow,  Carl  Rogers  and  other members of  humanistic psychology.  Allport  work  on  personality theory  have played  a significant  role  in the renewed interest  of researchers in  this  subject.  His  idea of  produce  a very  strong impressionà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ã‚  and  gives  impetus to  a number  of new theoretical and  applied  research  in contemporary  personality psychology. (Evans, 1971) Conclusion During the years of his long and highly productive career at Harvard University, Gordon Allport has done much to make research on the psychology of the individual of an academic importance.  Before his book Personality: psychological interpretation, the theory of personality problems in general was not considered as the subject of psychology.  G. Allport was one of the few psychologists who made a bridge between academic psychology with its traditions on the one hand, and rapidly evolving field of clinical psychology and personality psychology on the other.  This connection not only enriches sub-discipline discoveries, but also allows to set the intellectual continuity that is important for the future development of psychology.   Finally, the novelty of the position of G. Allport lies in the fact that he focused on the future and present, and rarely on the past.   Gordon Allport was a unique, proactive, integrated, forward-looking person, who left great theoretical material on the psychology of individual, and  influenced  many  scientists, their  views and  approaches,  as well as all   the science of psychology.