fei75766_ch12_377-407.indd 386  02/06/20 12:56 PM
Part IV    Dispositional Theories386
central toaperson, theneachperson probably has10orfewer. However, ifallten-
dencies areincluded, theneachperson mayhavehundreds ofpersonal dispositions.
Levels of Personal Dispositions
Allport placed personal dispositions onacontinuum from those thataremost central 
tothose thatareofonlyperipheral importance toaperson.
Cardinal Dispositions  Some people possess aneminent characteristic orruling 
passion sooutstanding thatitdominates theirlives. Allport (1961) called these 
personal dispositions cardinal dispositions. They aresoobvious thattheycannot be
hidden; nearly every action inaperson’s liferevolves around thisonecardinal 
disposition. Most people donothaveacardinal disposition, butthose fewpeople 
whodoareoften known bythatsingle characteristic.
Allport identified several historical people andfictional characters whopos-
sessed adisposition sooutstanding thattheyhavegiven ourlanguage anewword. 
Some examples ofthese cardinal dispositions include quixotic, chauvinistic, narcis -
sistic, sadistic, aDonJuan, andsoforth. Because cardinal dispositions areindividual 
andarenotshared withanyother person, onlyDonQuixote wastrulyquixotic; only
Narcissus wascompletely narcissistic; onlytheMarquis deSade possessed thecardi -
naldisposition ofsadism. When these names areusedtodescribe characteristics in
others, theybecome common traits.
Central Dispositions  Fewpeople havecardinal dispositions, buteveryone hassev-
eralcentral dispositions, which include the5–10 most outstanding characteristics 
around which aperson’s lifefocuses. Allport (1961) described central dispositions 
asthose thatwould belisted inanaccurate letter ofrecommendation written by
someone whoknew theperson quite well.Inthesection titled TheStudy ofthe
Individual, wewilllookataseries ofletters written toGordon andAdaAllport by
awoman theycalled Jenny. Thecontents ofthese letters constitute arichsource 
ofinformation about thewriter. Wewillalsoseethatthree separate analyses of
these letters revealed thatJenny could bedescribed byabout eightcentral dispositions: 
thatis,characteristics sufficiently strong tobedetected byeachofthese three sepa-
rateprocedures. Similarly, most people, Allport believed, have5–10 central disposi -
tions thattheirfriends andclose acquaintances would agree aredescriptive ofthat
person. 
Secondary Dispositions  Less conspicuous butfargreater innumber thancentral 
dispositions arethesecondary dispositions. Everyone hasmany secondary disposi -
tions thatarenotcentral tothepersonality yetoccur withsome regularity andare
responsible formuch ofone’s specific behaviors.
Thethree levels ofpersonal dispositions are,ofcourse, arbitrary points ona
continuous scale from most appropriate toleastappropriate. Cardinal dispositions, 
which areexceedingly prominent inaperson, shade intocentral dispositions, which 
arelessdominating butnevertheless mark theperson asunique. Central dispositions, 
which guide much ofaperson’s adaptive andstylistic behavior, blend intosecondary 
dispositions, which arelessdescriptive ofthatindividual. Wecannot say,however, 
thatoneperson’s secondary dispositions arelessintense thananother person’s central Final PDF to printer