contributions

During his time teaching at Harvard he acted as a mentor to many young psychologists and some of his students went on to become great contributors to the world of psychology such as Stanley Milgram and Jerome Bruner.

Throughout Allport’s career he was appointed to many positions of authority such as

the 11 years he served as editor of the Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology and his time spent on the Council of Directors for the American Psychological Association. In 1938, he became president of the APA. He was also one of the founders of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues.

His strong opinions on prejudice and discrimination

cited in his book 'The Nature of Prejudice' contrasted

with many in his field who believed people of different

races should be kept separate to avoid conflict and

led to his popularity amongst civil right activists such

as Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.

Allport believed that humans were not controlled by their past or subconscious but had free will and controlled their own decisions. This was not a very popular belief in psychology at the time and led to some controversy amongst his colleagues. His focus on the conscious throughout his career in psychology strayed from the popular beliefs of empirical behaviourists at the time.

Allport, although he may be less cited than some of his better-known colleagues, left a legacy on the psychological world and many of his theories are still as relevant today as they were in the 20th century.

Allport is best known for his Trait Theory. Allport believed that a person’s traits could exist on one of three levels: Cardinal, Central and Secondary Traits. His research on this topic made a big contribution to the field of personality psychology and lay the foundations for many of his students to expand on his ideas. While the trait theory has been replaced in popularity by more updated theories, such as the “Big Five” theory, it is still well regarded today.