Feist−Feist: Theories of
Personality, Seventh
EditionIV. Dispositional Theories 13. Allport: Psychology of
the Individual(^394) © The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2009
motivation for it changes. For example, a child first learning to walk is motivated by
some maturational drive, but later he may walk to increase mobility or to build self-
confidence. Similarly, a scientist initially dedicated to finding answers to difficult
problems may eventually gain more satisfaction from the search than from the solu-
tion. At that point, her motivation becomes functionally independent from her orig-
inal motive of finding answers. She may then look for another area of inquiry even
though the new field is somewhat 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 in-
volve functionally autonomous motives. For an example of a compulsive symptom
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 minute. 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 be-
havior 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 au-
tonomous compulsion and one that is not. For example, compulsions that can be
eliminated through therapy or behavior modification are not functionally au-
tonomous, 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 example,
a second-born child’s attempts to overtake his older brother may change into a com-
pulsive 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
388 Part IV Dispositional Theories