Gordon Allport
Gordon Willard Allport (November 11, 1897 - October 9, 1967) was an American psychologist. He was born in Montezuma, Indiana. His works include Becoming, Pattern and Growth in Personality and The Individual and his Religion.
Allport is considered a trait theorist, discussing traits which he believed predominate a person's personality. These were referred to as central traits, traits which help in the development of personality. When one becomes an apparent force, it is referred to as a cardinal trait. Central traits and cardinal traits are influenced by environmental factors.
During his time at Harvard he was involved in instructing many future Ph.D.s, among them Stanley Milgram (Milgram, 1977).
Allport once visited Freud in Vienna. Upon his arrival, he recounted how he had met a boy on the train riding to his office who was afraid of getting dirty. He refused to sit down near anyone dirty, despite his mother's reassurances. After studying Allport for a minute, he asked, "Was that little boy you?" Allport was offended by this question and refused to believe in Freud's psychoanalysis. The incident had a lasting effect on Allport and his theories, leading him to focus on conscious motivations.
In addition to his contributions to personality, Allport made contributions to social psychology, especially in the study of attitudes. Allport emphasized the distinction between extrinsic and intrinsic religion. Extrinsic religion...
A committed Christian, he also made contributions to the Psychology of Religion. Some of his writings on these topics reflect his interest in the social psychology of prejudice.
Allport’s Scale is a measure of prejudice in a society. It is also referred to as Allports Scale of Prejudice and Discrimination or Allports Scale of Prejudice. It was devised by psychologist Gordon Allport in The Nature of Prejudice (1954).
The scale
Allport’s Scale of Prejudice goes from 1 – 5.
Scale 1, Antilocution Antilocution means a majority group freely make jokes about a minority group. Speech is in terms of negative stereotypes and negative images. This is also called hate speech. It is commonly seen as harmless by the majority. Antilocution itself may not be harmful, but it sets the stage for more severe outlets for prejudice. Examples are jokes about the Irish, French, blacks, gays etc.
Scale 2 Avoidance People in a minority group are actively avoided by members of the majority group. No direct harm may be intended, but harm is done through isolation.
Scale 3 Discrimination Minority group is discriminated against by denying them opportunities and services and so putting prejudice into action. Behaviours have the specific goal of harming the minority group by preventing them from achieving goals, getting education or jobs, etc. The majority group is actively trying to harm the minority.
Scale 4 Physical Attack The majority group, vandalise minority group things, they burn property and carry out violent attacks on individuals or groups. Physical harm is done to members of the minority group Examples are lynchings of blacks, pogroms against Jews in Europe, tarring and feathering Mormons in 1800s.
Scale 5 Extermination The majority group seeks extermination of the minority group. They attempt to liquidate the entire group of people (e.g., Native American population, Final Solution of Jewish Problem, Ethnic Cleansing in Bosnia, etc.).
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Allport G. The Nature of Prejudice, Addison-Wesley; 1954.
- Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne
- Milgram, Stanley. (1977) The individual in a social world : essays and experiments. ISBN 0201043823.
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