fei75766_ch12_377-407.indd 393  02/06/20 12:56 PM
Chapter 12    Allport: Psychology of the Individual393
peculiar tothesingle case.Because theterm“idiographic” wassooften misused, mis-
understood, andmisspelled (being confused with“ideographic,” ortherepresentation of
ideas bygraphic symbols), Allport (1968) abandoned theterminhislaterwritings and
spoke ofmorphogenic procedures. Both“idiographic” and“morphogenic” pertain tothe
individual, but“idiographic” doesnotsuggest structure orpattern. Incontrast, “morpho -
genic” refers topatterned properties ofthewhole organism andallows forintraperson 
comparisons. Thepattern orstructure ofone’s personal dispositions isimportant. For
example, Tyrone maybeintelligent, introverted, andstrongly motivated byachievement 
needs, buttheunique manner inwhich hisintelligence isrelated tohisintroversion and
eachofhisachievement needs forms astructured pattern. These individual patterns are
thesubject matter ofmorphogenic science.
What arethemethods ofmorphogenic psychology? Allport (1962) listed many: 
some, completely morphogenic; some, partly so.Examples ofwholly morphogenic, first-
person methods areverbatim recordings, interviews, dreams, confessions; diaries, letters; 
some questionnaires, expressive documents, projective documents, literary works, art
forms, automatic writings, doodles, handshakes, voice patterns, body gestures, handwrit -
ing,gait,andautobiographies.
When Allport metHans Eysenck, thefamous British factor analyst andbeliever 
innomothetic science (seeChapter 14),hetoldEysenck thatonedayhe(Eysenck) 
would write hisautobiography. Eventually, Eysenck (1997b) didindeed publish an
autobiography inwhich headmitted thatAllport wasrightandthatmorphogenic meth -
odssuchasone’s description ofone’s ownlifeandwork canhavevalidity.
Semimorphogenic approaches include self-rating scales, suchastheadjective 
checklist; standardized testsinwhich people arecompared tothemselves rather than
anorm group; theAllport–Vernon–Lindzey Study of Values (1960); andtheQsort
technique ofStephenson (1953), which wediscussed inChapter 10.
Consistent withcommon sense, butcontrary tomany psychologists, Allport 
waswilling toaccept atfacevalue theself-disclosure statements ofmost participants 
inastudy. Apsychologist whowishes tolearn thepersonal dynamics ofpeople needs 
simply toaskthem what theythink ofthemselves. Answers todirect questions should 
beaccepted asvalid unless theperson isayoung child, psychotic, orextremely defen -
sive.Allport (1962) saidthat“toooften wefailtoconsult therichest ofallsources of
data, namely, thesubject’s ownself-knowledge” (p.413).
The Diaries of Marion Taylor
During thelate1930s, Allport andhiswife,Ada, became acquainted withanextremely 
richsource ofpersonal dataabout awoman whom theycalled Marion Taylor. The
coreofthisdatawasnearly alifetime ofdiaries, butpersonal information onMarion 
Taylor alsoincluded descriptions ofherbyhermother, heryounger sister, herfavor -
iteteacher, twoofherfriends, andaneighbor aswellasnotes inababybook, school 
records, scores onseveral psychological tests, autobiographical material, andtwoper-
sonal meetings withAdaAllport.
Nicole Barenbaum (1997) hasputtogether abriefaccount ofMarion Taylor’s 
life.Taylor wasbornin1902 inIllinois, moved toCalifornia withherparents and
younger sister in1908, andbegan writing toherdiary in1911. Soon afterher13thbirth-
day,herdiary entries became more personal, including fantasies andsecret feelings. SheFinal PDF to printer