more enlightening portrait of Jenny than could have been obtained from a
few test scores on some preselected dimensions.
Allport also was interested in the concept of “self,”particularly the pro-
cess by which children develop a sense of themselves. We all talk about a self
and recognize our identity as separate from others. But how does this notion
develop? Allport suggested that at birth children have no concept of them-
selves as distinct from their environment. Gradually they come to sense that
their bodies are somehow different from other objects in the world. Babiessoon discover that, unlike other parts of the environment, they can control
the movement of their body and sense when a part of their body has been
touched. From here the child develops a sense of self-identity and self-esteem,until finally the full sense of a self has evolved. Allport agreed with the neo-
Freudians, who argued that the development of personality continues long af-
ter the first few years of life. Today the self occupies a central role in person-ality theory and research. We touch on some of that work when we examine
the humanistic (Chapters 11 and 12) and cognitive (Chapters 15 and 16) ap-
proaches to personality.
Henry Murray
Unlike most trait theorists, who typically disregard psychoanalytic theory,
Henry Murray ’s approach to personality represents a blend of psychoanalytic
and trait concepts. Early in his career Murray had the opportunity to interact
extensively with Carl Jung. Jung’ s influence can be seen in the frequent refer-
ences Murray made to the unconscious in his writings. The psychoanalyticflavor of Murray’ s work also can be found in one of his principal contribu-
tions to the field of personality, the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT). As
described in Chapter 3, the TAT is a projective measure designed to get at
material not readily accessible to conscious thought.
Murray called his approach personology and identified needs as the basic
elements of personality. He was not very concerned with viscerogenic needs ,
such as the need for food and water. Rather, his work focused on psycho-
genic needs , which he described as a “readiness to respond in a certain way
under certain given conditions ”(1938, p. 124). In keeping with his psychoan-
alytic background, he postulated that these needs are largely unconscious.
Murray eventually arrived at a list of 27 psychogenic needs, many of them
shown in Table 7.1.
According to Murray, each of us can be described in terms of a personal
hierarchy of needs. For example, if you have a strong need for a lot of close
friends, you would be said to have a high need for Affiliation. The impor-
tance of this need is not so much how it compares with the Affiliation needs
of other people but how intense it is compared to your other needs. Suppose
you have a big test tomorrow, but your friends are having a party tonight. If
your Achievement need is higher on your personal hierarchy than your need
for Affiliation or your need for Play, you’ ll probably stay with your books. If
your Achievement need, although high, is not quite as strong as these other
needs, your grade will probably suffer.“Personality, like ev-
ery other living thing,
changes as it grows. ”
Gordon AllportImportant Trait Theorists 155