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How social was personality? The Allports' “connection” of social and personality psychology
Author(s) -
Barenbaum Nicole B.
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<471::aid-jhbs12>3.0.co;2-e
Subject(s) - personality , personality psychology , psychology , theoretical psychology , social psychology , field (mathematics) , differential psychology , asian psychology , personality development , psychoanalysis , critical psychology , sociology , school psychology , applied psychology , cognitive psychology , pure mathematics , mathematics
This paper investigates three conflicting reconstructions of the historical relationship between personality and social psychology and addresses questions they raise regarding the subdisciplinary status of personality in the 1920s and the way in which the field gradually emerged as a separate area of psychology. Contesting claims that Floyd Allport first connected social psychology to a separate “branch” of personality psychology in the 1920s, I argue that he drew upon earlier work of psychologists and sociologists who treated personality as a central topic of social psychology. I compare Floyd Allport's views with those of Gordon Allport, who endeavored to establish personality as a separate subdiscipline. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.