Allport was a premier psychologist who extensively studied personality - especially traits. His trait theory contains several key concepts that all converge in the self, or what he called the "proprium." Traits are real, but they are not visible. He defines them as "a generalized and focalized neuropsychic system (peculiar to the individual), with the capacity to render many stimuli functionally equivalent, and to initiate and guide consistent (equivalent) forms of adaptive and expressive behavior" (Text 267). Type and trait are not the same thing, and Allport felt these traits are shaped as the person grows older. Allport's theories were often controversial, and that could certainly be said for his feelings about children. .

             Allport felt children were unsocialized "horrors" who have to learn behavioral and social actions. Yes, young children are as he says, "egocentric," and they can be absolute horrors. They are testing their boundaries and what they can get away with, and they do it often because they have short attention spans and learning curves. Children have no social development when they are born, (Allport felt they were all hereditary traits at that point), and they have to mature and develop into conscious adults somehow. By being "hellions" when they are young, they develop as sense of what is right and wrong which will follow them into adulthood. From that aspect, discipline is a necessary, even vital part of raising children. They must have boundaries to help them develop and grow into mature individuals. If they are testing the waters to see how far they can go, they must have discipline to understand what is acceptable and unacceptable behavior in the self and through society's views. Children whose parents do not take the time to discipline and teach them have no boundaries and no guidelines, and so, they have no concept of acceptable and decent behavior when they grow older.