fei75766_ch12_377-407.indd 379  02/06/20 12:56 PM
Chapter 12    Allport: Psychology of the Individual379
Inthefallof1920, a22-year-old American philosophy andeconomics student was
visiting withanolder brother inVienna. During hisvisit,theyoung manpenned 
anotetoSigmund Freud requesting anappointment. Freud, thentheworld’s most 
famous psychiatrist, agreed toseetheyoung manandsuggested aspecific timefora
meeting. 
Theyoung American arrived atNo.19Berggasse inplenty oftimeforhis
appointment withDr.Freud. Atthedesignated time, Freud opened thedoortohis
consulting room andquietly ushered theyoung maninside. TheAmerican visitor 
suddenly realized thathehadnothing tosay.Searching hismind forsome incident 
thatmight interest Freud, heremembered seeing asmall boyonthetramcarthatday
while traveling toFreud’s home. Thelittleboy,about 4years old,displayed anobvi-
ousdirtphobia, constantly complaining tohiswell-starched mother about thefilthy 
conditions onthecar.Freud listened silently tothestory andthen—with atypical 
Freudian technique—asked hisyoung visitor ifhewasinreality talking about himself. 
Feeling guilty, theyoung manmanaged tochange thesubject andtoescape without 
toomuch further embarrassment.
TheAmerican visitor toFreud’s consulting room wasGordon Allport, andthis
encounter wasthespark thatignited hisinterest inpersonality theory. Back inthe
United States, Allport began towonder ifthere might beroom forathirdapproach 
topersonality, onethatborrowed from traditional psychoanalysis andanimal-driven 
learning theories, butalsoonethatadopted amore humanistic stance. Allport quickly 
completed work foraPhDinpsychology andembarked onalonganddistinguished 
career asastaunch advocate forthestudy oftheindividual.
Overview of Allport’s Psychology  
of the Individual
More thananyother personality theorist, Gordon Allport emphasized theunique -
ness of the individual. Hebelieved thatattempts todescribe people interms ofgen-
eraltraits robthem oftheir unique individuality. Forthisreason, Allport objected 
totraitandfactor theories thattendtoreduce individual behaviors tocommon 
traits. Heinsisted, forexample, thatoneperson’s stubbornness isdifferent from 
anyother person’s stubbornness andthemanner inwhich oneperson’s stubborn -
nessinteracts withhisorherextraversion andcreativity isduplicated bynoother 
individual.
Consistent withAllport’s emphasis oneach person’s uniqueness washis
willingness tostudy indepth asingle individual. Hecalled thestudy oftheindi-
vidual morphogenic science andcontrasted itwiththenomothetic methods used
bymost other psychologists. Morphogenic methods arethose thatgather dataon
asingle individual, whereas nomothetic methods gather dataongroups ofpeople. 
Allport alsoadvocated aneclectic approach totheory building. Heaccepted some 
ofthecontributions ofFreud, Maslow, Rogers, Eysenck, Skinner, andothers; but
hebelieved thatnooneofthese theorists isabletoadequately explain thetotal
growing andunique personality. ToAllport, abroad, comprehensive theory ispref-
erable toanarrow, specific theory evenifitdoesnotgenerate asmany testable 
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