11/4/2020 Gordon Allport's Personality Theory - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.

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Gordon Allport's Personality Theory

Lesson Transcript

Learn about Gordon Allport and his impact on psychology. Understand what traits and trait theory are.
Explore di erent types of traits with some real life examples.

Personality Traits De ned

Do you know Jane? Jane rarely has a bad word to say about anyone. When visitors come to her
home, a fresh cup of co ee is o ered to them as soon as they walk in the door. In
conversations, Jane loves to play the devil's advocate and really enjoys debating hot topics. She
loves to travel and often does so alone. She's known to nd great airline tickets to places in the
world she has never been, pack a suitcase, and jump on a plane on short notice. However, if you
cross her, she'll give you a look to make you feel su ciently scolded without saying a word.
Despite the fact that you have never personally met Jane, the above description allows you to
get to know Jane's personality based on the characteristics she possesses; it gives you
information about her personality traits.

According to trait theorists, like Gordon Allport, your personality is made up of the traits you
possess. A trait is a personal characteristic we have which stays generally the same overtime
and is resistant to changing. Jane has several identi able traits that relate directly to her
personality. She could be described as kind, welcoming, feisty, independent, and adventurous.
These traits shape her thoughts, feelings, and the way she behaves on any given day.

So how do we develop the traits that characterize our personalities? At one time, it was thought
that personality was either shaped by unconscious (outside of our awareness) motivations, or
solely determined by environment. To see personality as a continually-shaped combination of
traits the way that we do now was somewhat radical. That change in perspective can be credited
to Gordon Allport.

Gordon Allport
Gordon Allport was a highly-regarded and in uential American scholar in the eld of
psychology. Born in 1897, he came from a hard-working family who valued health and
education. This translated into Allport's decision to understand human motivation, drives, and
personality. After earning his undergraduate degree from Harvard, Allport took a trip that would
end up shaping his career and contributions to American psychology; he traveled to Vienna,
Austria, and met Sigmund Freud.

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11/4/2020 Gordon Allport's Personality Theory - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com

After that experience, Allport went back to Harvard to earn his PhD in psychology. Throughout
this career, which spanned the rst half of the 20th century, he made signi cant contributions
to psychology theory, not the least of which was the development of his ideas on personal traits,
which he later called personal dispositions.

According to Allport, these traits are in uenced by our childhood experiences, our current
environment, and the interaction between the two. In Allport's time, the idea that your
personality traits could be shaped by both past and current forces was novel. Allport believed
that your personality was made up of three types of traits: cardinal, central, and secondary.

Cardinal Traits
Cardinal traits are characteristics that dominate your personality and strongly in uence your
thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. They are so pervasive and de ning of your personality that
you might have a reputation based on this trait. Cardinal traits are often so strong that they
impact or even control other people. Allport believed that not everyone has a cardinal trait and
that their existence is relatively rare. Instead, he believed most peoples' personalities are
shaped by multiple important traits versus one powerful and all-encompassing one.

Popular historical examples of cardinal traits can be seen in Hitler and Mother Teresa, each
clearly possessing opposite cardinal traits of ruthlessness and sel essness. As seen with these
examples, cardinal traits clearly and profoundly shape a person's life and their relationships
with others. However, cardinal traits can be found in regular people, too.

For instance, everyone at the o ce knows Mark can't be trusted. Given the opportunity, he will
stab you in the back to get ahead. Several times, he has overheard your ideas at lunch and then
passed them o to the boss as his own. One time, he intentionally sabotaged your presentation
before the CEO just to make you look incompetent and then swooped in with his own
presentation to save the pitch. He also sucks up by picking up his boss' dry cleaning and co ee.
He tells the boss everything he hears other employees say. Mark is so lled with greed that he
will step on anyone to get ahead, even you, and maybe even his own wife and kids. Mark clearly
has a cardinal trait that drives the majority of his actions and drives others far away from him.

Central Traits
Central traits are the characteristics that combine to shape most people's personalities.
They're much less dominating and pervasive than cardinal traits. These general traits are found
in most people but on di erent levels. For example, we are all either more or less shy or more
or less conscientious. Allport believed each person's personality is generally determined by ve
to ten of these central traits. These traits are somewhat in uenced by the environment you are
in but tend to be fairly consistent. Central traits are those characteristics that easily come to
mind when describing a friend that you have.

David is soft-hearted and will give you the shirt o his back. He has worked hard as a bricklayer
his whole life to provide for his family. However, he also has a short temper. If you make him
angry, he'll re some irritated words your way. Although he's quick to anger, he's quick to

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11/4/2020 Gordon Allport's Personality Theory - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com

forgive. One minute he's upset at you and the next, is o ering you a snack cake. David has
several central traits that shape his personality. He is hard-working, soft-hearted, generous,
quick-tempered, and forgiving.

Secondary Traits
Secondary traits have the weakest impact on personality and are often driven by aspects of
whatever environment you are in. They are the most numerous of each type of trait because
each trait might only be apparent in a speci c environment. Secondary traits help us
understand inconsistencies and how someone can behave di erently in di erent environments,
or di erently than how they usually do.

Our nal example: Connor is a social butter y. He will strike up a conversation with just about
anyone he meets. He has several close friends, lots of acquaintances, and is very close to his
family. Connor loves to talk about anything, with anyone, for as long as you will allow him.
However, this all changes for him on the rare occasion he's asked to give a speech at the
company picnic. Once he gets in front of the microphone, he freezes. Connor is a great example.
Although he is generally outgoing, having to give a public speech terri es him. In that speci c
environment, instead of having the gift of gab, he is tongue-tied.

Lesson Summary
Let's review. Gordon Allport was a highly in uential 20th century scholar in the psychology of
personality. He was radical in theorizing that people's personalities weren't just made up solely
of unconscious motivations or their current environment but the combination and interaction of
the two. He believed personality was shaped by traits, or enduring characteristics, which are
consistent over time and di cult to change. He divided these personal dispositions into three
categories: cardinal traits, or characteristics which dominate your personality and strongly
in uence your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors; central traits, characteristics that combine to
shape most people's personalities; and secondary traits, or characteristics often driven by
aspects of an environment or circumstances.

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