fei75766_ch12_377-407.indd 385  02/06/20 12:56 PM
Chapter 12    Allport: Psychology of the Individual385
Thefinalcriterion ofmaturity isaunifying philosophy of life. Healthy people 
haveaclear viewofthepurpose oflife.Without thisview, theirinsight would be
empty andbarren, andtheirhumor would betrivial andcynical. Theunifying phi-
losophy oflifemayormaynotbereligious, butAllport (1954, 1963), onapersonal 
level, seemed tohavefeltthatamature religious orientation isacrucial ingredient 
inthelivesofmost mature individuals. Although many churchgoing people havean
immature religious philosophy andnarrow racial andethnic prejudices, deeply reli-
gious people arerelatively freeofthese prejudices. Theperson withamature religious 
attitude andaunifying philosophy oflifehasawell-developed conscience and,quite 
likely, astrong desire toserve others.
Structure of Personality
Thestructure ofpersonality refers toitsbasic units orbuilding blocks. ToFreud, the
basic units wereinstincts; toEysenck (seeChapter 14),theywerebiologically deter -
mined factors. ToAllport, themost important structures arethose thatpermit the
description oftheperson interms ofindividual characteristics, andhecalled these 
individual characteristics personal dispositions.
Personal Dispositions
Throughout most ofhiscareer, Allport wascareful todistinguish between common 
traits andindividual traits. Common traits aregeneral characteristics heldincommon 
bymany people. They canbeinferred from factor analytic studies suchasthose con-
ducted byEysenck andtheauthors oftheFive-Factor Trait Theory (seeChapter 13),
ortheycanberevealed byvarious personality inventories. Common traits provide the
means bywhich people within agiven culture canbecompared tooneanother. 
Whereas common traits areimportant forstudies thatmake comparisons 
among people, personal dispositions areofevengreater importance because theyper-
mitresearchers tostudy asingle individual. Allport (1961) defined apersonal dis-
position as“ageneralized neuropsychic structure (peculiar totheindividual), with
thecapacity torender many stimuli functionally equivalent, andtoinitiate andguide 
consistent (equivalent) forms ofadaptive andstylistic behavior” (p.373). Themost 
important distinction between apersonal disposition andacommon traitisindicated 
bytheparenthetical phrase “peculiar totheindividual.” Personal dispositions are
individual; common traits areshared byseveral people.
Returning tohisboy“human dictionary” days, Allport andcolleagues counted 
nearly 18,000 (17,953, tobeexact) personally descriptive words inthe1925 edition 
ofWebster’s New International Dictionary, about afourth ofwhich described personal -
itycharacteristics (Allport &Odbert, 1936). Some ofthese terms, usually referred to
astraits, describe relatively stable characteristics suchas“sociable” or“introverted”; 
others, usually referred toasstates, describe temporary characteristics suchas“happy” 
or“angry”; others described evaluative characteristics suchas“unpleasant” or“won -
derful”; andstillothers referred tophysical characteristics suchas“tall” or“obese.”
How many personal dispositions doesoneindividual have? Thisquestion can-
notbeanswered without reference tothedegree ofdominance thateachpersonal 
disposition hasintheindividual’s life.Ifwecount those personal dispositions thatareFinal PDF to printer