fei75766_ch12_377-407.indd 391  02/06/20 12:56 PM
Chapter 12    Allport: Psychology of the Individual391
Allport (1961) listed other examples ofperseverative functional autonomy that
involve human rather thananimal motivation. Thefirstisanaddiction toalcohol, 
tobacco, orother drugs when there isnophysiological hunger forthem. Alcoholics 
continue todrink although theircurrent motivation isfunctionally independent from 
theiroriginal motive.
Another example concerns uncompleted tasks. Aproblem once started butthen
interrupted willperseverate, creating anewtension tofinish thetask.Thisnewten-
sionisdifferent from theinitial motivation. Forexample, acollege student isoffered 
10cents forevery piece ofa500-piece jigsaw puzzle shesuccessfully putstogether. 
Assume thatshedoesnothaveapreexisting interest insolving jigsaw puzzles and
thatheroriginal motivation wassolely forthemoney. Alsoassume thathermonetary 
reward islimited to$45,sothataftershehascompleted 450pieces, shewillhave
maximized herpay.Willthisstudent finish theremaining 50pieces intheabsence of
monetary reward? Ifshedoes, thenanewtension hasbeen created, andhermotive 
tocomplete thetaskisfunctionally autonomous from theoriginal motive ofgetting 
paid.
Propriate Functional Autonomy
Themaster system ofmotivation thatconfers unity onpersonality ispropriate functional 
autonomy, which refers tothose self-sustaining motives thatarerelated totheproprium. 
Jigsaw puzzles andalcohol areseldom regarded as“peculiarly mine.” They arenotpart
oftheproprium butexistonlyontheperiphery ofpersonality. Ontheother hand, occu-
pations, hobbies, andinterests arecloser tothecoreofpersonality, andmany ofour
motivations concerning them become functionally 
autonomous. Forexample, awoman mayoriginally 
takeajobbecause sheneeds money. Atfirst,the
work isuninteresting, perhaps evendistasteful. As
theyears pass, however, shedevelops aconsuming 
passion forthejobitself, spending some vacation 
timeatwork and,perhaps, evendeveloping ahobby 
thatisclosely related toheroccupation.
Criterion for Functional Autonomy
Ingeneral, a present motive is functionally autono -
mous to the extent that it seeks new goals, meaning 
thatthebehavior willcontinue evenasthemotiva -
tionforitchanges. Forexample, achild firstlearning 
towalkismotivated bysome maturational drive, but
laterhemaywalktoincrease mobility ortobuild 
self-confidence. Similarly, ascientist initially dedi-
cated tofinding answers todifficult problems may
eventually gainmore satisfaction fromthesearch 
thanfromthesolution. Atthatpoint, hermotivation 
becomes functionally independent fromheroriginal 
motive offinding answers. Shemaythenlookfor
another areaofinquiry eventhough thenewfieldis
Aperson might begin running tolose
weight butcontinue because running is
enjoyable. Themotive forcontinuing 
torunisthenfunctionally autonomous 
from themotive forbeginning torun.
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