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Home > Dictionary of Science Quotations > Scientist Names Index A > Gordon Allport Quotes

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Gordon Allport
(11 Nov 1897 - 9 Oct 1967)

American humanistic psychologist and educator.


Science Quotes by Gordon Allport (6 quotes)

A prejudice, unlike a simple misconception, is actively resistant to all evidence that would unseat it
— Gordon Allport
In The Nature of Prejudice (1954, 1958), 9.
Science quotes on:  |  Evidence (267)  |  Misconception (6)  |  Prejudice (96)  |  Resistant (4)

Each person is an idiom unto himself, an apparent violation of the syntax of the species.
— Gordon Allport
Becoming: Basic Considerations for a Psychology of Personality (1955), 19.
Science quotes on:  |  Apparent (85)  |  Himself (461)  |  Idiom (5)  |  Person (366)  |  Species (435)  |  Violation (7)

Prejudgments become prejudices only if they are not reversible when exposed to new knowledge.
— Gordon Allport
In The Nature of Prejudice (1954, 1958), 9.
Science quotes on:  |  Expose (28)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  New (1273)  |  Prejudice (96)

The dog [in Pavlov’s experiments] does not continue to salivate whenever it hears a bell unless sometimes at least an edible offering accompanies the bell. But there are innumerable instances in human life where a single association, never reinforced, results in the establishment of a life-long dynamic system. An experience associated only once with a bereavement, an accident, or a battle, may become the center of a permanent phobia or complex, not in the least dependent on a recurrence of the original shock.
— Gordon Allport
Personality: A Psychological Interpretation(1938), 199.
Science quotes on:  |  Accident (92)  |  Association (49)  |  Become (821)  |  Bell (35)  |  Complex (202)  |  Continue (179)  |  Dog (70)  |  Edible (7)  |  Establishment (47)  |  Experience (494)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Hear (144)  |  Human (1512)  |  Innumerable (56)  |  Life (1870)  |  Long (778)  |  Never (1089)  |  Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (18)  |  Permanent (67)  |  Phobia (3)  |  Psychology (166)  |  Result (700)  |  Shock (38)  |  Single (365)  |  System (545)  |  Whenever (81)

The scientist, by the very nature of his commitment, creates more and more questions, never fewer. Indeed the measure of our intellectual maturity, one philosopher suggests, is our capacity to feel less and less satisfied with our answers to better problems.
— Gordon Allport
Becoming: Basic Considerations for a Psychology of Personality (1955), 67.
Science quotes on:  |  Answer (389)  |  Better (493)  |  Capacity (105)  |  Commitment (28)  |  Create (245)  |  Feel (371)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Intellect (251)  |  Intellectual (258)  |  Maturity (14)  |  Measure (241)  |  More (2558)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Never (1089)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Problem (731)  |  Question (649)  |  Satisfy (29)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Suggest (38)

The specific goals we set for ourselves are almost always subsidiary to our long range intentions. A good parent, a good neighbour, a good citizen, is not good because his specific goals are acceptable, but because his successive goals are ordered to a dependable and socially desirable set of values. (1947)
— Gordon Allport
Presidential Address to the first annual Meeting of the American Psychological Asssociation (1947). As cited by Charles Abraham and Paschal Sheeran, 'Implications of Goal Theories for the Theories of Reasoned Action and Planned Behavior' in Christopher J. Armitage and Julie Christian (eds.), Planned Behavior: The Relationship Between Human Thought and Action (2004), 101.
Science quotes on:  |  Acceptable (14)  |  Citizen (52)  |  Desirable (33)  |  Goal (155)  |  Good (906)  |  Intention (46)  |  Long (778)  |  Neighbour (7)  |  Order (638)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Parent (80)  |  Range (104)  |  Set (400)  |  Society (350)  |  Specific (98)  |  Subsidiary (5)  |  Successive (73)  |  Value (393)


See also:
  • 11 Nov - short biography, births, deaths and events on date of Allport's birth.

Carl Sagan Thumbnail In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion. (1987) -- Carl Sagan
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Quotations about:Atomic  BombBiologyChemistryDeforestationEngineeringAnatomyAstronomyBacteriaBiochemistryBotanyConservationDinosaurEnvironmentFractalGeneticsGeologyHistory of ScienceInventionJupiterKnowledgeLoveMathematicsMeasurementMedicineNatural ResourceOrganic ChemistryPhysicsPhysicianQuantum TheoryResearchScience and ArtTeacherTechnologyUniverseVolcanoVirusWind PowerWomen ScientistsX-RaysYouthZoology  ... (more topics)
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