Gordon W. Allport. In the 1950s, Gordon Allport introduced the intergroup-contact hypothesis. Gordon Allport was born in Montezuma, Indiana, on November 11, 1897. Allport came from a working family that valued health and education. Updated November 7, 2019. There are cardinal traits, central traits, and secondary traits that each person has with their personality. Being an early pioneer of the study of traits, he is known as a trait psychologist. Rather than focusing on the psychoanalytic and behavioral approaches that were popular during his time, Allport instead chose to utilize an eclectic approach. The relationship between prejudice and categorical thinking was first systematically explored by Gordon Allport (1954) in his classic book The Nature of Prejudice. By Floyd H. Allport & Gordon W. Allport (1921) First Published in Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 16, 6-40. Research on Predjudice and Discrimination Gordon Willard Allport spent nearly his entire academic career at Harvard, completing both his bachelor’s degree and his PhD at the university, and serving as a faculty member from 1930 – 1967. He organized existing knowledge about societal, Allport's approach to human psychology combined the empirical influence of the behaviorists with the acknowledgment that unconscious influences could also play a role in human behavior. Read our, How Cardinal Traits Are Used to Describe Someone's Personality. Gordon Allport identified personality traits as fitting into three levels within a hierarchy. Thomas F. Pettigrew and Kerstin Hammann selected, as the book's most lasting contribution, its success in redefining the relation between intergroup contact and prejudice. He was the 1st psychologist who gave thorough thought to the concept of traits. He was the youngest of four brothers and was often described as shy, but also hard-working and studious. Being an early pioneer of the study of traits, he is known as a trait psychologist. Gordon Willard Allport “Father of Personality Theories” 3. As one of the founding figures of personality psychology, his lasting influence is still felt today. In: Boring GE, Lindzey G, eds. The Century Psychology Series. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... psychologists Gordon W. Allport and Leo Postman offered the generalization that rumour intensity is high when both the interest in an event and its ambiguity are great. Allport operated his own printing business during his teen years and served as the editor of his high school newspaper. This resulted in Allport developing a great interest in understanding human motivation, impulses, and personality, resulting in his trait theory of personality. November 11 Horoscope. Around the middle of the twentieth century, Gordon Allport’s contact hypothesis proposed that groups could reduce their biases toward each other through contact as long as certain conditions were met. Gordon Allport, in full Gordon Willard Allport, (born November 11, 1897, Montezuma, Indiana, U.S.—died October 9, 1967, Cambridge, Massachusetts), American psychologist and educator who developed an original theory of personality. He was one of the first psychologists to focus on the study of personality. Discover the real story, facts, and details of Gordon Allport. In an essay entitled "Pattern and Growth in Personality," Allport recounted his experience of meeting psychiatrist Sigmund Freud. His mother was a schoolteacher and his father was a doctor who instilled in Allport a strong work ethic. Explore Gordon Allport's biography, personal life, family and cause of death. The self, he contended, is an identifiable organization within each individual and accounts for the unity of personality, higher motives, and continuity of personal memories. The Nature of Prejudice by Gordon W. Allport (1954) Foreword to the 1st Chinese Edition Gordon Allport’s The Nature of Prejudice is without peer. He rejected two of the dominant schools of thought in psychology at the time, psychoanalysis and behaviorism, in favor of his own approach that stressed the importance of individual differences and situational variables. Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Gordon Allport is a pioneering figure in the field of personality psychology. Other articles where Becoming is discussed: Gordon Allport: In Becoming (1955) he stressed the importance of self and the uniqueness of adult personality. He began developing this theory by going through a dictionary and noting every term he found that described a personality trait. Sign up to find out more in our Healthy Mind newsletter. When he was 22, Allport traveled to Vienna, Austria, to meet the famous psychoanalyst. Posted March 2000. Known as the “patron saint” of personality psychologists (Eysenck, 1990, p. 3), Allport was a major figure in American “personality” psychology. He consistently related his approach to the study of personality to his social interests and was one of a growing number of psychologists who sought to introduce the leavening influence of humanism into psychology. Britannica Kids Holiday Bundle! We never fully achieve them.” ― … Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. Carl Jung Had an Affair With One of His Patients. Gordon Allport's landmark book, The nature of prejudice, defined the field of intergroup relations for social psychologists as the study of prejudice and its effects on group interactions. In this view, intergroup contact under positive conditions can reduce social prejudice. Appleton-Century-Crofts;1967:1-25. doi:10.1037/11579-001. Gordon Allport has been recognized for his work in the field of personality psychology, which was instituted as an autonomous psychological discipline since 1920. FUN FACTS Gordon Allport were born on Thursday, birthstone is Topaz, the seaon was Fall in the Chinese year of, Today is the birthday of Gordon Allport. ALLPORT, GORDON WILLARD. Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. A History of Psychology in Autobiography. The less than adequate hospital facilities in Cleveland required that Allport’s father allow doctors, nurses, and patients to reside in the home with the family. After high school followed his older brother Floyd through the same educational path. After compiling a list of 4,504 ​different traits, he organized them into three different trait categories, including: Allport died on October 9, 1967. The boy, Allport explained, was afraid of getting dirty and refused to sit where a dirty-looking man had previously sat. Thank you, {{form.email}}, for signing up. Appointed a social science instructor at Harvard University in 1924, he became professor of psychology six years later and, in the last year of his life, … Harvard University; Department of Psychology. Gordon Allport (1897 – 1967) was a well-respected and influential American scholar in the psychology field. During his first year at Harvard, he taught what was most likely the first personality psychology class offered in the United States. -Gordon Allport-Interesting facts about Type B personality. During his childhood, Allport and his siblings were immersed in the medical profession and often acted as clinical assistants to their father. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Personality: a Psychological Interpretation. Gordon Allport was born in Montezuma, Indiana, on November 11, 1897. I. The Nature and Criteria of Personality. It can be generally stated that traits are merely names for observed regularities in behaviour, but do…. “Philosophically speaking, values are the termini of our intentions. While it may have been defined in many ways, Gordon Allport defined traits as “a generalized neuropsychic system (peculiar to an individual), with the capacity to render many stimuli functionally equivalent, and to initiate and guide consistent (equivalent) forms of adaptive and expressive behavior”.