User:Ablaine2/sandbox

Floyd Henry Allport (August 22, 1890 – October 15, 1979) an American psychologist often considered "the father of experimental social psychology", Floyd Henry Allport played a key role in the creation of social psychology as a legitimate field of behavioral science. His book, Social Psychology (1924), impacted all future writings in the field. He was particularly interested in public opinion, attitudes, morale, rumors, and behavior. He focused on exploration of these topics through laboratory experimentation and survey research.

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 was the second of four sons. His three brothers were Fayette W., Harold E., and Gordon W. Allport, also a psychologist. During Allport's childhood, the family moved from Wisconsin to Ohio and it was there that he graduated from Glenville High. After high school Allport moved to Cambridge to attend Harvard University. In 1913 Allport received his A.B. in psychology and in 1919 his Ph.D. At Harvard he studied under Edwin B. Holt (a student of William James) and Hugo Munsterberg. In between degrees, from October 1917 until June 1918, he served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army Expeditionary Forces during 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 at Chapel Hill. Allport became one of the original faculty members at Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs in 1924. He was a full professor of Social and Political Psychology until 1956. After 32 years at Syracuse University Allport became visiting professor at the University of California at Berkeley in 1957. He retired from teaching in 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. .

Professional Life
Allport remained at Harvard as an instructor for three years after he received his Ph.D., and in 1922 he moved to the University of North Carolina where he accepted an Associate Professorship. There his primary colleague was John F. Dashiell. In 1924, after only two years, Allport left North Carolina and became a Professor of Social and Political Psychology in the brand new Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. The new school at Syracuse recruited Allport specifically in an effort to integrate social scientists to the program. He was immediately appointed Chair of the program and his efforts at creating the first doctoral program in Social Psychology were supported. Popularity of the Maxwell school rose rapidly after Allport's appointment to Chair. He remained at Syracuse University until he retired in 1957 at the age of 67. While working as a professor Allport reportedly had very strong relationships with his students. They admired him, he respected their intellectual differences and he remained in contact with many after their graduations, even occasionally visiting some of their homes.

Editorial Positions
Beginning the year after he completed his Ph.D. (1920), Allport worked in editorial positions for numerous academic journals. In 1921 he worked on what was then titled the Journal of Abnormal Psychology. In 1925 that journal expanded to the Journal of Abnormal Psychology and Social Psychology and Floyd continued on there as a Fellow Editor. Quickly it gained popularity and in 1926 became an official periodical of the American Psychological Association. Between 1925 and 1938 he became Associate Editor and continued to work on the publication until 1945. The journal eventually split into two separate publications that persist today: the Journal of Abnormal Psychology and the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Allport became a member of the Board of Direcors of the American Psychological Association from 1928 to 1930 and worked as a member of the Social Science Research Council from 1925-1927, and from 1929-1931. In 1931 President Hoover appointed him to serve on the research subcommittee of a conference on Home Building and Home Ownership. He served as President on the Council of Directors for the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues from 1938-1940.

Awards
Allport's achieved the following awards during his career :

•	Fellow Status in the American Association for the Advancement of Science

•	Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award of the American Psychological Association (1966)

•	Gold Medal Award of the American Psychological Foundation (1969)

•	Honorary Doctorate from Syracuse University (1974)

Social Psychology
Allport is most notably recognized as the founder of the modern field of Social Psychology. He challenged much of the way of thinking of his day by focusing on behavioral interpretations of social themes and stressing individuals as the agents of social behavior rather than groups. His work includes research on social influence, convergence and conformity, personality theory and measurements of attitudes. His textbook Social Psychology (1924) was the means by which social psychology began to took hold as an experimental science. Instead of stressing sociological issues and themes, which is what had exclusively been done up to this point, Social Psychology emphasized individual behaviors and measurements of attitudes. He examined convergence of individual judgment in group settings, reference groups and group norms through laboratory research. This empirical examination helped to solidify social psychology as a legitimate field of study. Allport also extensively studied attitude. He was unhappy with existing means of attitude measurement so he created an original technique. It provided lists of items that subjects may hold different attitudes on which got ranked from one extreme to another and then the average rankings on each position were scored. This was one of the first solid efforts of quantifying attitudes, another way that social psychology worked to verify itself within the field of psychological research.