Gordon Allport: Father of personality theory
Gordon Allport (1897-1967) is often called the father of personality theory: He was very much a trait theorist and believed in the individuality and uniqueness of the person and that people have consistent personalities.
Allport attempted to blend nomothetic and idiographic perspectives: he called this blend the morphogenic approach.
Allport believed that each person had traits of various types:
Individual: traits possessed by one person
Common: traits possessed by many people
Cardinal traits: One trait that dominates the person
Central traits: small number of traits important traits that may affect many behaviours
Secondary traits: many consistent traits which are not often exhibited
Motivational traits: Very strongly felt traits
Stylistic traits: Less strongly felt traits.
Allport believed that through autobiographies, letters and diaries an understanding of an individual’s personality could be gained. He studied 301 letters written by Jenny Gove Masterson and was able to describe Jenny in terms of 8 traits.
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