Assessment in Allport’s Theory

Allport wrote more about personality assessment techniques than most other theorists did. He listed eleven major methods for assessment and relied heavily on the personal-document technique and the Study of Values.

The Personal-Document Technique
The personal-document technique involves examining diaries, autobiographies, letters, literary compositions, and other samples of a person’s written or spoken records to determine the number and kinds of personality traits. Allport’s most famous case is an analysis of a collection of more than 300 letters written over a 12-year period by a middle-aged woman identified as Jenny (Allport, 1965, 1966). In the research with Jenny’s letters, 36 judges listed nearly 200 traits. Because many terms were synonymous,
Allport was able to reduce them to eight categories.

The Study of Values
Allport and two colleagues developed an objective self-report assessment test called the Study of Values (Allport, Vernon, & Lindzey, 1960). Allport believed that everyone possesses some degree of each type of value but one or two will be dominant in the personality. The categories of values are as follows.
1. Theoretical values are concerned with the discovery of truth and are characterized by an empirical, intellectual, and rational approach to life.
2. Economic values are concerned with the useful and practical.
3. Aesthetic values relate to artistic experiences and to form, harmony, and grace.
4. Social values reflect human relationships, altruism, and philanthropy.
5. Political values deal with personal power, influence, and prestige in all endeavors, not just in political activities.
6. Religious values are concerned with the mystical and with understanding the universe as a whole.