Allocentric
adj, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A tourist who tends to be adventurous and to prefer novel and unfamiliar experiences.
"According to [Stanley C.] Plog (1991b), psychocentrics tend to prefer a high degree of familiarity in their travel and, as a result, enjoy group or "packaged" tours. In contrast, allocentrics enjoy vacations to exotic and unique destinations, and prefer to travel independently (i.e., not as part of group tours)."
- 1 Concerned with the interests of others more than one's own; community-minded.
- 2 Of spatial representations: linked to a reference frame based on the external environment and independent of one's current location in it (for example, giving a direction as "north" as opposed to "right").
- 3 Of a tourist: tending to be adventurous and preferring novel and unfamiliar experiences. also
"[Stanley C.] Plog (1974, 1990, 1991b) delineated personality types along a continuum ranging from allocentrism to psychocentrism. The psychocentric personality type tends toward territory boundedness, insecurity, and powerlessness. Psychocentric individuals also tend to have non-active lifestyles and are non-adventurous. In contrast, allocentric individuals tend to be self-confident, intellectually curious, and feel in control of their lives."
Example
More examples"[Stanley C.] Plog (1974, 1990, 1991b) delineated personality types along a continuum ranging from allocentrism to psychocentrism. The psychocentric personality type tends toward territory boundedness, insecurity, and powerlessness. Psychocentric individuals also tend to have non-active lifestyles and are non-adventurous. In contrast, allocentric individuals tend to be self-confident, intellectually curious, and feel in control of their lives."
Etymology
The adjective is derived from allo- (prefix meaning ‘different; other’) + -centric (suffix meaning ‘having a specified object at the centre, or as the focus of attention’). Sense 3 (‘of a tourist: tending to be adventurous’) was coined by the American travel researcher Stanley C. Plog in a paper presented to the Southern California Chapter of the Travel Research Association on 10 October 1972, which was later published in February 1974. The noun is probably derived from the adjective.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.