Premium
“A coherent datum of perception”: Gordon Allport, Floyd Allport, and the politics of “personality”
Author(s) -
Nicholson Ian A. M.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
journal of the history of the behavioral sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.216
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1520-6696
pISSN - 0022-5061
DOI - 10.1002/1520-6696(200023)36:4<463::aid-jhbs11>3.0.co;2-c
Subject(s) - personality , politics , meaning (existential) , psychology , perception , subject (documents) , character (mathematics) , brother , personality psychology , social psychology , sociology , psychoanalysis , law , political science , anthropology , geometry , mathematics , neuroscience , library science , computer science , psychotherapist
This paper examines Floyd and Gordon Allport's early work on “personality” psychology. In the early 1920s, personality was an unorthodox topic, and for the Allports it initially served as an intellectual and personal bond. Floyd proposed the subject to his brother as a dissertation topic, and the two worked closely on developing personality tests. By 1924, however, “personality” had become the site of a dispute between the two brothers over the intellectual and methodological character of American psychology. The present study examines the origins of this dispute, while gauging the personal and professional ramifications of the dispute. On a larger level, this essay explores the role and meaning of “personality” in the academic culture of 1920s America. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.