368 Part IV Dispositional Theories
different from the previous one. New problems may lead her to seek new goals and
to set higher levels of aspiration.Processes That Are Not Functionally Autonomous
Functional autonomy is not an explanation for all human motivation. Allport (1961)
listed eight processes that are not functionally autonomous: (1) biological drives, such
as eating, breathing, and sleeping; (2) motives directly linked to the reduction of basic
drives; (3) reflex actions such as an eye blink; (4) constitutional equipment, namely
physique, intelligence, and temperament; (5) habits in the process of being formed;
(6) patterns of behavior that require primary reinforcement; (7) sublimations that can
be tied to childhood sexual desires; and (8) some neurotic or pathological symptoms.
The eighth process (neurotic or pathological symptoms) may or may not
involve functionally autonomous motives. For an example of a compulsive symp-
tom that was not functionally autonomous, Allport (1961) offered the case of a
12-year-girl who had a disturbing habit of smacking her lips several times a min-
ute. This habit had begun about 8 years earlier when the girl’s mother told her that
when she inhaled it was good air and when she exhaled it was bad air. Because
the girl believed that she had made the air bad by bringing it out, she decided to
kiss it to make it well. As her habit continued, she repressed the reason for her
compulsion and continued “kissing” the bad air, a behavior that took the form of
smacking her lips. This behavior was not functionally autonomous, but the result
of a compulsive need to keep good air from becoming bad air.
Allport suggested a criterion for differentiating between a functionally auton-
omous compulsion and one that is not. For example, compulsions that can be
eliminated through therapy or behavior modification are not functionally autono-
mous, whereas those that are extremely resistant to therapy are self-sustaining and
thus functionally autonomous. When therapy allowed the 12-year-old girl to dis-
cover the reason for her habit, she was able to stop smacking her lips. On the other
hand, some pathological symptoms serve a contemporary lifestyle and are function-
ally autonomous from earlier experiences that instigated the pathology. For exam-
ple, a second-born child’s attempts to overtake his older brother may change into
a compulsive lifestyle, one marked by unconscious strivings to overtake or defeat
all rivals. Because such a deep-seated neurosis is probably not amenable to therapy,
it meets Allport’s criterion for being functionally autonomous.The Study of the Individual
Because psychology has historically dealt with general laws and characteristics that
people have in common, Allport repeatedly advocated the development and use of
research methods that study the individual. To balance the predominant normative
or group approach, he suggested that psychologists employ methods that study the
motivational and stylistic behaviors of one person.Morphogenic Science
Early in his writings, Allport distinguished between two scientific approaches: the
nomothetic, which seeks general laws, and the idiographic, which refers to that which