Knowra Gordon Allport Gordon Allport Gordon Allport (1897–1967) was an American psychologist who helped establish personality psychology and studied prejudice, social attitudes, and intergroup contact.
Trait theory : An approach to personality that explains individual differences through relatively stable patterns of thought, feeling, and behavior. Allport treated traits as central, organized dispositions that distinguish one person from another.
Functional autonomy : The idea that an adult motive can become independent of the drives or purposes that originally produced it. Allport used it to explain why present motives need not be reduced to childhood causes.
Harvard University : A private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, founded in 1636. Allport studied and taught at Harvard, where he became a leading figure in psychology.
Allport’s scale : A five-point classification of religious orientation, from institutional and extrinsic use to inward and intrinsic commitment. Allport developed the scale with J. Michael Ross to study how religious orientation relates to prejudice.
Prejudice : An unjustified negative attitude toward a person or group, often shaped by stereotypes and social learning. Allport’s analysis helped define prejudice as a studied psychological and social phenomenon.
Cardinal trait : A pervasive personality disposition that strongly shapes nearly every aspect of a person’s life. It is the most dominant level in Allport’s hierarchy of individual traits.
The Nature of Prejudice : Gordon Allport’s 1954 book analyzing the psychology, social roots, and reduction of prejudice. This book brought together his account of prejudice and the conditions for intergroup contact.
Gordon Allport Award : An award from the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues recognizing outstanding intergroup-relations research. The award bears his name in recognition of his influence on the study of prejudice and group relations.
Intergroup contact theory : The theory that contact between members of different groups can reduce prejudice under favorable conditions. Allport formulated the influential conditions under which contact can lessen hostility between groups.
Central trait : A small set of broad dispositions that captures the main features of an individual’s personality. Allport used central traits to summarize the characteristic patterns in a person’s conduct.
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