Allport opposed the use of case studies and projective techniques with emotionally disturbed persons and opted for the study of emotionally healthy persons.
Allport favored the ideographic approach-the study of the individual case-as indicated by personal documents. However, Allport did apply the nomothetic method with his use of psychological tests like the Study of Values.
Allport conducted research on expressive behavior, which is described as behavior that expresses our personality traits (Allport & Vernon, 1933). With coping behavior, Allport identified a behavior orientation that has a specific purpose and is consciously planned and carried out. Expressive behavior is spontaneous, difficult to change, has no specific purpose, and is usually displayed without awareness (Keltner, 1997).
Considerable research and experimental work on expressive behavior has become popular today. This research has shown that personality can be assessed from audiotapes, films, and videotapes.
Reliable research has been done with expressive behaviors linked to specific traits. Studies have shown that observers can accurately assess personality factors such as anxiety from watching brief films of a person or form impressions of strangers by photographs.
In further research findings, Type A behavior patterns can be discerned from Type B behavior by their expressions of disgust, glaring, grimacing, and scowling (Heller & Haynal, 1997).
However, cultural differences have been found in the study of facial expressions and personality between Chinese infants who showed consistently less facial expression than American infants (Camras, 1998).
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