Validity and application of Allport's psychology of individual differences theory

Allport's Psychology

Gordon Allport main emphasis has been on uniqueness of each individual, and he built a theory of personality in criticizing the non-humanistic positions of psychoanalysis and animal-based learning theory. Nevertheless, he became free in his approach and incorporated various ideas from other theorists.

The proprium

Allport believes that personality should be described as a simple bundle of unrelated traits. It is made up of consistency, unity, and integration of traits. Therefore it is genuine to think that a general principle that unifies, attitudes, traits, motives, experiences, and values exists. On his part, Allport has a view that the problem of identifying and describing the nature of integration needs a fully inclusive construct, for instance the ego, self, or style of life; formerly called soul. Allport later introduced a "proprium" as the new term due to the term losing its taste.

Allport's trait theory is based on the underlying idea that personality is a motivated (dynamic) growing system, (Louise Barkhuus, 1999). He affirms that each theory of personality tend to revolve around its analysis of the nature of motivation. His proposal is that four requirements has to be met by an adequate theory of human motivation: It should recognize the contemporaneity of motives: It has to be a pluralistic theory that allows different types of motives: The theory has to ascribe dynamic force to the cognitive processes of an individual, particularly in terms of long-range intentions and plans of individual: Finally the theory has to give room for the concrete uniqueness of motives.

Contrary to the circular-feedback which are processes that forms perseverative autonomy, propriate functional autonomy describes acquired values, interests, intentions, and attitudes of an individual. Propriate autonomy which is significant in terms of integration of adult personality, contributes greatly to individuals that strive for a congruent self-image as well as an enriching style of life. This is what motivates an individual to respond to challenges faced in life, leading to achievement of a higher level of authentic maturity and growth continually. Moreover, Allport support a view that is a forerunner of contemporary humanistic thinking regarding human nature.

Allport believes that psychologist should embrace the idea of developing and using research methods that study the individual but not groups. He advocates the use of: Morphogenic Science which study only one person at a time; The Diaries of Marion Taylor; and Letters From Jenny. Similar results have been revealed from these approaches indicating that a morphogenic study is reliable.

Application