Inventing personality: Gordon Allport and the science of selfhood.

Inventing Personality examines the early career of Gordon Allport (1897-1967) to reveal the history of the personality category he championed. Drawing on an extensive array of previously unpublished biographical materials, Nicholson masterfully combines biography with intellectual history to reveal the ways in which Allport's science was embedded in the cultural politics of America in the 1920s and the 1930s. He argues that personality's emergence as an object of science was linked to the gradual demise of character and the self-sacrificing, morally grounded self that it supported. Carefully highlighting Allport's complex commitments to both science and spirituality, Nicholson examines the rich cultural and historical contexts that framed the emergence of personality as a discipline, revealing multiple (even contradictory) meanings of "personality" in the language of American selfhood. He asserts that "personality's" appeal lay in its ability to integrate and obscure the complex polarities of material and spiritual; old and new; masculine and feminine; and freedom and control-categories rendered unstable in a new and distinctively modern age. This book will be invaluable to scholars and practitioners interested in personality, and it will serve as a model of scientific biography. Inventing Personality Examines The Early Career Of Gordon Allport (1897-1967) To Reveal The History Of The Personality Category He Championed. Drawing On An Extensive Array Of Previously Unpublished Biographical Materials, Ian A.m. Nicholson Combines Biography With Intellectual History To Reveal The Ways In Which Allport's Science Was Embedded In The Cultural Politics Of The United States In The 1920s And 1930s. He Argues That Personality's Emergence As An Object Of Science Was Linked To The Gradual Demise Of Character And The Self-sacrificing, Morally Grounded Self That It Supported. This Book Will Be Invaluable To Scholars And Practitioners Interested In Personality, And It Will Serve As A Model Of Scientific Biography.--jacket. Fine Character And Splendid Ideals : Allport's Early Years (1897-1915) -- A New World : Harvard (1915-1919) -- The Missionary Life : Robert College, Constantinople (1919-1920) -- A Science Of Personality : Graduate School (1920-1922) -- A Psychology Of The Spirit : Germany And England (1922-1924) -- Constructing A Category : Personality Psychology At Harvard And Dartmouth (1924-1930) -- The Politics Of Moderation : Personality Psychology At Harvard (1930-1936) -- Personality And Social Crisis (1937-1938). Ian A.m. Nicholson. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 265-282) And Index. What I emphasize in this book, is the rich interplay between the scientific language Gordon Allport deployed and the American culture in which he was embedded. Weaving together the personal and the professional, I argue against what historian Roger Smith described as the "still dominant natural-scientific view that scientific language shuts out normative meaning." Using Allport's own experience, I draw attention to some of the ways in which the science of personality was implicated in a broad cultural transformation in the language of American selfhood. In this book, I aim to go beyond the antiquated "great man" historiography of the textbooks and toward a more dynamic and socially embedded model of scientific development. Instead of celebrating Allport's individual genius, my intention is to describe the network of circumstances that lent amplitude to his voice and made his scholarly program plausible. I examine the cultural, political, and spiritual issues at stake in the ostensibly neutral scientific language of selfhood. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2004 APA, all rights reserved) "Inventing Personality examines the early career of Gordon Allport (1897-1967) to reveal the history of the personality category he championed. Drawing on an extensive array of previously unpublished biographical materials, Ian A. M. Nicholson combines biography with intellectual history to reveal the ways in which Allport's science was embedded in the cultural politics of the United States in the 1920s and 1930s. He argues that personality's emergence as an object of science was linked to the gradual demise of character and the self-sacrificing, morally grounded self that it supported. This book will be invaluable to scholars and practitioners interested in personality, and it will serve as a model of scientific biography."--BOOK JACKET. Annotation Blending biography and intellectual history, this book examines Allport's early career and his concept of "personality" and its theoretical implications. Nicholson (psychology, Saint Thomas University) argues that the emergence of "personality" as an object of scientific study was rooted in the cultural politics of the 1920s and 1930s, and specifically the decline of "character" as a moral category. Annotation (c)2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) Annotation Nicholson examines the early career of Gordon Allport (1897-1967) to reveal the history of the personality category he championed. 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