Floyd Henry Allport - Biography

Biography

Allport was born on August 22, 1890, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to John Edward, a physician, and Nellie Edith Wise Allport, a school teacher. Allport had three brothers: Fayette W., and Harold E., and Gordon W. Allport, also a psychologist. During Allport's childhood, the family moved from Wisconsin to Ohio, and after graduating from Glenville High, Allport moved to Cambridge to attend Harvard University. Allport received his A.B. in psychology in 1913 and his Ph.D in 1919. In between degrees, from October 1917 until June 1918, he served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army Expeditionary Forces in World War I. Allport's first marriage was to Ethel Margaret Hudson on October 5, 1917. His second marriage to Helene Willey Hartley, was on September 5, 1938. Allport had three children: Edward Herbert, Dorothy Fay, and Floyd Henry, Jr.

From 1919 to 1922, Allport was an instructor in psychology at Harvard and Radcliffe, and then until 1924 he was an associate professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. In 1924, Allport became one of the original faculty members at Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. He was a full professor of Social and Political Psychology until 1956. In 1957, after 32 years at Syracuse University, Allport became visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley. He retired from teaching that year in Los Altos, California. He died in California on October 15, 1978.

Allport published numerous books and articles in the field of psychology. Three of his most influential books are Social Psychology, Institutional Behavior, and Theories of Perception and the Concept of Structure.