Gordon Allport is thought to be one of the founding fathers of personality psychology. Allport had many noticeable achievements throughout his life and most have affected the field of psychology as a whole. He had many famous publications, methodological contributions, and even developed his own theories. Allport has trained many students over the years and spent a great deal of time teaching and mentoring others. He has been the head of departments and presidents to specific organizations of many kinds. Publications he has written, such as “The Nature of Prejudice”, have been utilized by famous and important people such as Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for example. Allport developed some theories such as the Functional Autonomy
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When he went to Harvard he obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1919 in Philosophy and Economics, he soon began to teach these subjects. When he taught at Harvard he served on the faculty committee that established Harvard’s sociology department. He was also the president of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1922, Allport traveled to Vienna, Austria to meet Sigmund Freud. Once he arrived in Freud’s office, Allport told him a story about a little boy he had seen on a train who was afraid of getting dirty and refused to sit in a spot after a dirty man had been sitting there. Allport explained to Freud that he believed the child was like that because of his domineering mother. Freud then said, “And was that little boy you?” Allport saw this question as Freud trying to analyze his unconscious childhood memories. This experience later helped Allport come to the conclusion that psychoanalysis tried to dig too deeply into a person’s mind, when not all of a person’s personality is rooted in the subconscious mind. He also rejected behaviorism because it did not dig deeply enough. He wrote four very noticeable books in his time. The four books were “Personality Traits: Their Classification and Measurement”, “The Individual and His Religion”, “The Nature of Prejudice”, and finally “Becoming: Basic Considerations for Psychology of Personality”. Gordon …show more content…
Allport had many theories that many people still use today. Allport created his own theory and even stapled his name to the idea. It was known as Allport’s Trait Theory and involved three traits, the Cardinal trait, Central trait, and Secondary trait. Allport started his trait theory by going through the dictionary and picking out all the words that would describe a person’s personality, he ended up with more than 4,000 words. Cardinal traits are traits that are so dominant in a person’s life that people know the person for those specific traits, although these traits are rare. Central traits are the more major traits that make up a person’s personality, these traits are the words we would use to describe another person. Secondary traits are traits that only really appear in certain situations. He also had a hand in the creation of the idea of Genotypes and Phenotypes, the internal and external forms of human behavior. He was one of the first to research the area of Functional Autonomy of Motives as well. Gordo received a number of specific awards before he passed and some of these are his most notable. He was honored with the American Psychological Foundation’s Gold Medal and he also received the American Psychological Association’s Distinguished Scientific Contribution
When he went to Harvard he obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1919 in Philosophy and Economics, he soon began to teach these subjects. When he taught at Harvard he served on the faculty committee that established Harvard’s sociology department. He was also the president of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1922, Allport traveled to Vienna, Austria to meet Sigmund Freud. Once he arrived in Freud’s office, Allport told him a story about a little boy he had seen on a train who was afraid of getting dirty and refused to sit in a spot after a dirty man had been sitting there. Allport explained to Freud that he believed the child was like that because of his domineering mother. Freud then said, “And was that little boy you?” Allport saw this question as Freud trying to analyze his unconscious childhood memories. This experience later helped Allport come to the conclusion that psychoanalysis tried to dig too deeply into a person’s mind, when not all of a person’s personality is rooted in the subconscious mind. He also rejected behaviorism because it did not dig deeply enough. He wrote four very noticeable books in his time. The four books were “Personality Traits: Their Classification and Measurement”, “The Individual and His Religion”, “The Nature of Prejudice”, and finally “Becoming: Basic Considerations for Psychology of Personality”. Gordon …show more content…
Allport had many theories that many people still use today. Allport created his own theory and even stapled his name to the idea. It was known as Allport’s Trait Theory and involved three traits, the Cardinal trait, Central trait, and Secondary trait. Allport started his trait theory by going through the dictionary and picking out all the words that would describe a person’s personality, he ended up with more than 4,000 words. Cardinal traits are traits that are so dominant in a person’s life that people know the person for those specific traits, although these traits are rare. Central traits are the more major traits that make up a person’s personality, these traits are the words we would use to describe another person. Secondary traits are traits that only really appear in certain situations. He also had a hand in the creation of the idea of Genotypes and Phenotypes, the internal and external forms of human behavior. He was one of the first to research the area of Functional Autonomy of Motives as well. Gordo received a number of specific awards before he passed and some of these are his most notable. He was honored with the American Psychological Foundation’s Gold Medal and he also received the American Psychological Association’s Distinguished Scientific Contribution