Gordon Willard Allport, American psychologist, is one of the most important names in the field of psychology, and is considered by many to be the father of psychology.
His work focused on the application of methods belonging to the social sciences to his psychological research, leaving aside the behavioral and psychoanalytic currents, which allowed the creation of the .
His work, Personality: a psychological interpretationpublished in 1937, remains today a guide for mental health specialists.
Personal life
Gordon Willar Allport was born in Montezuma, Indiana (United States), on October 9, 1897. Son of Nellie Edith Allport and John Edwards, he was the youngest of 4 brothers.
During his first years of life and for various reasons, he had to move many times until he reached Ohio, where he settled. There he attended primary school while his father worked as a rural doctor. Seeing the terrible conditions of the hospitals in the area, his father turned his house into a kind of makeshift hospital.
If you value articles like this, consider supporting us by becoming a Pro subscriber. Subscribers enjoy access to members-only articles, materials, and webinars.
This meant that Gordon Allport’s daily life was spent among medical personnel and instruments, and he even provided his services since he was a child, collaborating in some activities.
All of this sparked his early interest in patient care. For years, Gordon Allport’s father was questioned by investigators who claimed that he practiced medicine incorrectly. Even Samuel Hopkins Adams managed to discover that the doctor diagnosed and medicated patients through letters, without a real review.
On the other hand, his mother taught at a school where she focused on offering teaching in values. These same values were the ones she taught her children at home. They all grew up in a Protestant environment, following an ethic of hard work.
Despite having a lonely childhood, he was quite successful running a business when he was just a teenager. There he dedicated himself to making prints, at the same time he continued with his studies and worked as editor of the school newspaper.
In 1915 he managed to graduate, and due to his good academic level, he won a scholarship to study at Harvard University. It should be noted that he was not the first in his family to attend the renowned institute. His brother, Floyd Henry Allport, did too. Allport died on October 9, 1967 in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Harvard, a new stage
Entering Harvard University marked a before and after in the life of Gordon Allport. The new environment presented him with a different reality than the one he had in his home. The climate and values that prevailed there were very different from what he was used to.
A curious fact about his time at Harvard is that Allport’s first choice of study was not psychology, as it was for his older brother. In 1919 he obtained his diploma in Economics and Philosophy. However, his interest in social issues was always present.
This is reflected in his constant participation in activities related to the Family Society. Additionally, he was the manager of a boys’ club in Boston, while also supporting foreign students and volunteer services in policing.
Academic training
Gordon Allport trained as a psychologist at Harvard University, obtaining his diploma in 1919. During his training he served in the Student Army Training Corps (as a soldier) and dedicated much of his time to working with foreign students in social service. .
Within Harvard, he dedicated himself to promoting the interdisciplinary movement that resulted in the creation of the social sciences department. Likewise, he was the editor and director of the Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology.
He also had an important role within the American Psychological Association, working in the area of exchanges and helping foreign students.
“The scientist, by the very nature of his commitment, creates more and more questions, never less. In fact, the measure of our intellectual maturity, one philosopher suggests, is our ability to become less and less satisfied with our answers to better problems,” Gordon Allport.
Teaching and research
After completing his studies at Harvard University, Gordon Allport dedicated himself to teaching in Turkey, at Robert College in Istanbul. There he was the facilitator of classes such as philosophy and economics.
In 1920 he returned to his Alma Mater where he obtained his doctorate, and together with his brother, Floyd Henry Allport (a renowned social psychologist), they wrote and published: Personality Traits: Their Classification and Measurement.
His novel approach to personality differs from that of his predecessors by including childhood emotions and experiences. In addition, it pays special attention to cultural and religious factors to explain personality.
His marked academic career earned him one of the most prestigious scholarships: the Sheldon Traveling Fellowship, also known as: “a second intellectual dawn.” Thanks to this, he trained at the Gestalt School in Germany.
From 1930 until the end of his days, Gordon Allport was a professor at Harvard University.
Personality theory
Gordon Allport presents himself as a strong detractor of the theories put forward by Freud about the . Likewise, he rejects the behaviorist theories of the time, thinking that they did not focus on important and determining aspects.
For Allport (1977) personality is: “the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his adaptation to the environment.” For the author, conscious determinants are very important, as is the coherence of behavior when studying personality.
This means that each individual in particular has a personality that is different from that of the others, although they may coincide in some aspects, which are called ‘traits’.
In the words of Allport, cited by Cloninger (2003), these traits are a “generalized and focused neuropsychic system, capable of offering many functionally equivalent stimuli and of preparing and directing coherent forms of adaptive and expressive behavior.”
In his theory of personality traits, he managed to classify them into:
- Cardinal traits. The predominant ones are innate and accompany the individual throughout their life.
- Central features. The basis of personality.
- Secondary traits. Related to individual preferences or attitudes.
Contributions
Gordon Allport’s professional career has an important impact on the area of psychology even today. Thanks to his work we can understand topics that are extensive and complex such as the influence of religion, prejudices, rumor, among others.
He created the value scale and his research shed light on the complex structures that are part of the personality of individuals. All this with a new approach broader than psychoanalysis and behaviorism, still valid today.
“Love, incomparably the best psychotherapeutic agent, is something that professional psychiatry alone cannot create, concentrate, or release,” Gordon Allport.
References:
- Allport, F.H., & Allport, G.W. (1921). Personality Traits: Their Classification and Measurement. The Journal of Abnormal Psychology and Social Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1037/h0069790.
- Allport, G. W. (1961). Pattern and Growth in personality. New York: Holt.
- Allport, G. W. (1977). Personality psychology. Personality psychology (pp. 576-p).
- Cloninger, S. (2003). Theories of personality (third edition). Mexico: Pearson Education.
- Personality trait. (sf). Psychiatry.com. Retrieved on 12-17-2021 from https://psiquiatria.com/glosario/index.php?wurl=rasgos-de-personalidad
- Traver Ferreres, RM (2015). Attachment processes and personality formation. http://hdl.handle.net/10234/136825