Concepts of Trait and Personality

by Gordon W. Allport

Originally published in 1927 this classic article by Gordon W. Allport highlights the ambiguity surrounding attempts to characterize personality traits. Having done this, Allport then outlines how the term "trait" can be rescued from the confusion in which he believes it to be embedded.

Concepts of Trait and Personality (Kindle edition) forms part of an initiative by the website www.all-about-psychology.com to make important, insightful and engaging psychology publications widely available.

16 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1927

About the author

Gordon Willard Allport was an American psychologist. Allport was one of the first psychologists to focus on the study of the personality, and is often referred to as one of the founding figures of personality psychology. He contributed to the formation of Values Scales and rejected both a psychoanalytic approach to personality, which he thought often went too deep, and a behavioral approach, which he thought often did not go deep enough. He emphasized the uniqueness of each individual, and the importance of the present context, as opposed to past history, for understanding the personality.

Allport had a profound and lasting influence on the field of psychology, even though his work is cited much less often than other well known figures. Part of his influence stemmed from his knack for attacking and broadly conceptualizing important and interesting topics (e.g. rumor, prejudice, religion, traits). Part of his influence was a result of the deep and lasting impression he made on his students during his long teaching career, many of whom went on to have important psychological careers. Among his many students were Jerome S. Bruner, Anthony Greenwald, Stanley Milgram, Leo Postman, Thomas Pettigrew, and M. Brewster Smith.