Date of Birth: November 11, 1897
Zodiac Sign: Scorpio
Date of Death: October 9, 1967
Biography
Gordon Willard Allport was an influential American psychologist known for his groundbreaking work in personality psychology. Born on November 11, 1897, in Montezuma, Indiana, Allport grew up in a family that valued education and intellectual pursuits. He earned his A.B. degree from Harvard University in 1919 and later completed his Ph.D. in Psychology there in 1922. Allport’s early career included a stint teaching at Harvard before moving to Dartmouth College. He eventually returned to Harvard, where he spent the majority of his professional life. Allport is best known for his trait theory of personality, which categorizes human traits into three levels: cardinal, central, and secondary. His seminal work, “Personality: A Psychological Interpretation,” published in 1937, laid the foundation for future studies in personality psychology. He also contributed significantly to the understanding of prejudice and social psychology, as illustrated in his influential book, “The Nature of Prejudice,” published in 1954. Throughout his career, Allport received numerous awards and honors for his contributions to psychology, including the Gold Medal Award for Life Achievement in Psychological Science from the American Psychological Association. He passed away on October 9, 1967, leaving behind a legacy that continues to influence the field of psychology.
5 Interesting Facts about Gordon W. Allport
1. Gordon Allport was one of the first psychologists to focus on the study of personality.
2. He introduced the concept of functional autonomy, which suggests that some human motives are independent of their origins.
3. Allport’s work on prejudice laid the groundwork for future research in social psychology.
4. He was a mentor to several prominent psychologists, including Jerome S. Bruner and Stanley Milgram.
5. Allport was awarded the American Psychological Association’s Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award in 1964.
5 Most Interesting Quotes from Gordon W. Allport
1. “Personality is less a finished product than a transitive process.”
2. “The individual and his potentialities are the primary units of psychology.”
3. “Prejudice is an antipathy, felt or expressed, based upon a faulty and inflexible generalization.”
4. “So many tangles in life are ultimately hopeless that we have no appropriate sword other than laughter.”
5. “The outlines of our lives are largely determined by our biological inheritance and by the social environment in which we develop.”
Highest Net Worth Achieved
There is no public information available regarding Gordon W. Allport’s net worth.
Children
Gordon W. Allport and his wife, Ada Lufkin Gould, had one child, a son named Robert Allport.
Relevant Links
1. [Gordon Allport – Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Allport
2. [Psychology History – Gordon Allport](http://www.muskingum.edu/~psych/psycweb/history/allport.htm
4. [Simply Psychology – Gordon Allport](https://www.simplypsychology.org/gordon-allport.html
