Throughout history, the set of characteristics that make people different from each other, having a distinctive way of interpreting, acting and living life, have been thoroughly studied. This distinctive pattern is what we commonly know as personality. Being an abstract concept, personality can be interpreted from a large number of approaches
Among these approaches, some consider that personality is a unique configuration in each person, with no two being alike. Thus, each person is totally unique, although some similarities with others may be found. This point of view is what we consider the idiographic approach, being the maximum exponent of this Gordon Allport and his theory of personality.
The fact that we behave, or respond to the world, in one way or another is due to a wide group of variables and factors.
The situations we experience, what they demand of us and how we interpret both the situation and what we may be able to see are very relevant elements when deciding on one action plan or another. However, not only does the situation control behavior, but There are a series of internal variables that govern the environmental demands that we make and even think specifically
The latter correspond to the set of characteristics that make up our personality, which according to the principle of functional autonomy of motives, is a force that causes us to motivate ourselves to act in a certain way, this action being in turn motivating due to the activation of the patterns learned throughout the life cycle.
The Propium and its configuration in the personality
Personality has been conceptualized in very different ways depending on the author, theoretical current and approach that has treated it. In the case of Allport, this important psychologist considers that personality is a dynamic organization of psychophysiological systems that determine the characteristic way of thinking and acting of the subject. Through these elements, Allport creates a theoretical system aimed at explaining the behavioral style of individuals.
However, personality needs a backbone element in which the different personality characteristics are structured. This axis is what the author calls propium, this being the self-perception of being a differentiated entity. It is about the subject’s perception of himself as a being made up of different characteristics, experiences and desires, with the self-perception being a differentiated being.
In Allport’s theory of personality, It is considered that this perception of the entity itself is formed by different factors The elements that make up this skeleton of mental life, which are acquired throughout psychic maturation, are the following.
1. Body self
This part of the propium is basically the experience of bodily and perceptual sensations , which allow the experience with the external environment. It is the component of awareness about the parts of one’s own body and the way it feels when coming into contact with external stimuli.
2. Identity
It is about the idea that we are a “something” continuously, that lives different experiences throughout life. It can be understood as the backbone of our own life history, the way in which we interpret the journey we have been taking and, from this, the conclusions we draw about ourselves.
3. Self-esteem
The perception that we are not passive entities, but that we modify our experience and our life with our actions, is a very important part when it comes to integrating personality. We see ourselves as valuable beings.
4. Self-image
It is a comparative element, which takes into account on the one hand the performance itself and on the other the reaction of the environment to it. In other words, it is what you think others think about you.
5. Extension of the self
This part of the self refers to the perception that the person has specific interests, these elements being important to us. These objectives and goals form a vector of action that guides behavior.
Self-perception of the ability to find adaptive solutions to the different problems and demands that the environment can provide. It is closely related to self-confidence.
7. Intentionality
The most complex element of the propium, the creation of an intentional self, involves the self-awareness of being a being with its own objectives and goals, the ability to motivate itself and fight to achieve
The structure of personality
Personality is an element that can be understood as a kind of organized system that generates behavioral patterns from the activity of the subject. To explain its organization and allow the study and prediction of behavior, it is necessary to take into account the main and most basic of the elements that make it up: the traits.
Traits are that element that allows us to evaluate different stimuli as a whole to which we can respond in a similar way, our behavior being in some way adaptive to them.
Traits are understood as the point of union between mental processes and physiological components, this union being responsible for our performance. So, Allport states that traits cause the tendency to always act in similar ways
Traits in Allport’s personalistic theory
As the main exponent of the idiographic approach, Allport considered that the behavioral patterns of each person are unique and different between subjects. Despite this, it is considered that human beings generally possess the same types of traits, such as dependency, aggressiveness, sociability and anxiety, so it is not unusual for similar patterns to exist. What makes each individual have their own personality is the relationship that exists between personality traits and which ones stand out in each one.
Personality traits can be classified depending on how identifying they are with the subject’s general behavior considering the author three major types of traits
1. Cardinal traits
They are considered cardinal traits those personality traits that are part of the person’s own core , affecting and defining most of the person’s behavioral repertoire. That is, they are the ones that have the most weight in the way of being of each individual.
The central features are those sets of characteristics that have an influence on a person’s behavior in different contexts They participate in our actions and the tendencies we have even though they influence a more restricted set of behavior, such as socialization, being generally independent of each other.
3. Secondary traits
These are some elements that, Although they are not part of the general personality of the subjects, they can arise at certain times as when facing a specific situation.
This whole set of factors makes Allport’s theory a complex element that tries to give meaning to personality from a structural point of view, the main characteristics of the personalistic theory being the fact that each person is configured through a composition of different traits unique to each person and the fact that the human being is an entity that does not limit itself to remaining static while life passes by, but actively participates in its environment to build, experience and achieve goals and objectives.
What kind of theory is Allport’s?
Allport’s personality theory is interesting not only for its content, but also for the confluence between various ideologies and theoretical perspectives.
Regardless of whether it is limited to an idiographic point of view, in which the variables that make each person unique and different stand out, The theory established by Allport indicates that although each person’s configuration is unique, there are common behavioral patterns because personality traits are generally shared innate elements.
Likewise, although his theory is nativist in nature, it does not ignore the influence of situational factors when explaining behavior, thus approaching interactionist positions that see behavior as a combination between the biological and the environmental.
Finally, Allport’s theory is part of the structuralist theories of personality. These theories are based on the idea that personality is a configuration of characteristics organized with a specific structure, which allows predicting future behavior as the individual tends to act according to said structure.
However, it also reveals a certain interest in the processual, that is, in the process by which it develops and not only its structure, in analyzing how the propium is formed.
