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Gordon Allport

Gordon Allport Books

Psychologist

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“If a person is capable of rectifying his erroneous judgments in the light of new evidence he is not prejudiced. Prejudgments become prejudices only if they are reversible when exposed to new knowledge. A prejudice, unlike a simple misconception, is actively resistant to all evidence that would unseat it. We tend to grow emotional when a prejudice is threatened with contradiction. Thus the difference between ordinary prejudgments and prejudice is that one can discuss and rectify a prejudgment without emotional resistance.”

IfsPersonsLightGrowsDifferencesSimpleEmotionalJudgmentCapableOrdinaryEvidencePrejudiceResistanceContradictionExposedBiasThreatenedMisconceptionNew KnowledgeRectify
Author:Gordon Allport
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“The outlines of the needed psychology of becoming can be discovered by looking within ourselves; for it is knowledge of our own uniqueness that supplies the first, and probably the best, hints for acquiring orderly knowledge of others.”

FirstsPsychologyBecomingNeededUniquenessHintsOutlinesSuppliesOrderlyAcquiring Knowledge
Book:Becoming; Basic Considerations for a Psychology of Personality
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“We cannot know the young child's personality by studying his systems of interest, for his attention is as yet too labile, his reactions impulsive, and interests unformed. From adolescence onward, however, the surest clue to personality is the hierarchy of interests, including the loves and loyalties of adult life.”

KnowsChildrenYoungInterestAttentionStudyPersonalityAdultsIncludingLoyaltyReactionsAdolescenceClueHierarchyYoung ChildrenImpulsiveLove And Loyalty
Book:Becoming; Basic Considerations for a Psychology of Personality
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“The specific goals we set for ourselves are almost always subsidiary to our long range intentions. A good parent, a good neighbour, a good citizen, is not good because his specific goals are acceptable, but because his successive goals are ordered to a dependable and socially desirable set of values. (1947)”

LongScienceValuesParentGoalSocietyCitizensIntentionRangeAcceptableDesirableNeighbourGood CitizenDependableGood ParentSpecific Goals
Author:Gordon Allport
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“The scientist, by the very nature of his commitment, creates more and more questions, never fewer. Indeed the measure of our intellectual maturity, one philosopher suggests, is our capacity to feel less and less satisfied with our answers to better problems.”

FeelsProblemScienceAnswersIntellectualCommitmentCapacityScientistPhilosopherSatisfiedMaturityFewer
Book:Becoming: Basic Considerations for a Psychology of Personality
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“The dog [in Pavlov's experiments] does not continue to salivate whenever it hears a bell unless sometimes at least an edible offering accompanies the bell. But there are innumerable instances in human life where a single association, never reinforced, results in the establishment of a life-long dynamic system. An experience associated only once with a bereavement, an accident, or a battle, may become the center of a permanent phobia or complex, not in the least dependent on a recurrence of the original shock.”

HumansMayLongDoeSometimesResultsPsychologyDogBattleOriginalsComplexesAccidentsExperimentsInstancePermanentHuman LifeShockDependentAssociationEstablishmentOfferingBellsBereavementLong LifeAccompanyPhobiaRecurrencePavlov
Author:Gordon Allport
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