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Carl Rogers
Humanistic Psychology

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Biography

CARL ROGERS
Born: January 8, 1902, Oak Park, IL Died: February 4, 1987, San Diego, CA

CARL ROGERS ACADEMIC TIMELINE

1919-Enrolled at University of Wisconsin 1924-Graduated from University of Wisconsin and enrolled at Union Theological Seminary 1926-Transferred to Columbia 1931-Earned Ph.D. from Columbia 1940-Began teaching at University of Ohio

1946-Elected president of American Psychological Association (APA).

1951-Published Client Central Therapy 1961-Published On becoming A Person

1980-Publihed A Way of Being

1987-Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

EARLY LIFE
Carl Rogers enrolled at the University of Wisconsin in 1919 as an agriculture major, but later changed to religion.
After attending a 1922 Christian conference in China, Rogers began to question his career choice.

He graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1924 with a bachelor's degree in History and enrolled at the Union Theological Seminary before transferring to Teachers College of Columbia University to complete his master's degree. He completed his doctorate at Columbia in 1931.

CAREER

After receiving his Ph.D., Rogers spent a number of years working in academia, holding positions at Ohio State University, the University of Chicago, and the University of Wisconsin. It was during this time that Rogers developed his approach to therapy, which he initially termed "nondirective therapy." This approach, which involves the therapist acting as a facilitator rather than a director of the therapy session, eventually came to be known as client-centered therapy. After a number of conflicts within the psychology department at the University of Wisconsin, Rogers accepted a position at the Western Behavioral Studies Institute (WBSI) in La Jolla, California. Eventually, he and several colleagues left WBSI to form Center for Studies of the Person (CSP). Carl Rogers continued his work with clientcentered therapy until his death in 1987.

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Theory Introduction

Proponents and Influences

Used

ideologies from Combs and Snygg (1949) to further expand the personality theory
the Phenomenal field theory as a basis for his contribution to the psychology of personality proposed by Donald Snygg and Arthur W. Combs. According to this theory, all behavior is determined by the phenomenal field of the behaving organism.

Used

Basic Ideology
His

Humanistic and Phenomenological approach emphasized the individuals inherent drive towards self-actualization and creativity
Propositions

Nineteen

laid a groundwork for Rogers to develop the Person-Centered Personality Approach

Basic Ideology
Development

of the Personality Self Concept

Self Image Self Esteem Ideal Self

Unconditional Positive Regard Accepting an individual "without negative judgment of .... [a person's] basic worth

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Concepts of Theory

Self Actualization
"The organism has one basic tendency and striving - to actualize, maintain, and enhance the experiencing organism

The main determinant of whether we will become self-actualized is childhood experience. "As no one else can know how we perceive, we are the best experts on ourselves.
Carl Rogers (1959) believed that humans have one basic motive, that is the tendency to selfactualize - i.e. to fulfill one's potential and achieve the highest level of 'human-beingness' we can. Self-actualization occurs when a persons ideal self (i.e. who they would like to be) is congruent with their actual behavior (selfimage). Rogers describes an individual who is actualizing as a fully functioning person.

The Five Characteristics of the Fully Functioning Person

1.

Open to experience: both positive and negative emotions accepted.

Existential living: in touch with different experiences as they occur in life, avoiding prejudging and preconceptions. 3. Trust feelings: feeling, instincts and gut-reactions are paid attention to and trusted. Creativity: creative thinking and risk taking are features of a persons life.

2.

3.

4.

5.

5. Fulfilled life: person is happy and satisfied with life, and always looking for new challenges and experiences.

Self-concept: the organized, consistent set

of perceptions and beliefs about oneself.

The self is the humanistic term for who we really are as a person. The self is influenced by the experiences a person has in their life, and out interpretations of those experiences. Two primary sources that influence our self-concept are childhood experiences and evaluation by others. The closer our self-image and ideal-self are to each other, the more consistent or congruent we are and the higher our sense of self-worth.

The self-concept includes three components:

1.

Self worth what we think about ourselves.

Self-image How we see ourselves, which is important to good psychological health. Ideal self This is the person who we would like to be.

2.

3.

Self Worth and Positive Regard

Carl Rogers viewed the child as having two basic needs: positive regard from other people and self-worth.

Our feelings of self-worth are of fundamental importance both to psychological health and to the likelihood that we can achieve goals and ambitions in life. Rogers believed feelings of self-worth developed in early childhood and were formed from the interaction of the child with the mother and father. As a child grows older, interactions with significant others will affect feelings of self-worth.

Rogers believed that we need to be regarded positively by others; we need to feel valued, respected, treated with affection and loved.

Unconditional positive regard is where parents, significant others (and the humanist therapist) accepts and loves the person for what he or she is. Conditional positive regard is where positive regard, praise and approval, depend upon the child, for example, behaving in ways that the parents think correct.

Congruence: A persons ideal self may not be consistent

with what actually happens in life and experiences of the person.

According to Rogers, we want to feel, experience and behave in ways which are consistent with our self-image and which reflect what we would like to be like, our idealself. The closer our selfimage and ideal-self are to each other, the more consistent or congruent we are and the higher our sense of self-worth. A person whose selfconcept is incongruent with her or his real feelings and experiences will defend because the truth hurts.

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Application of Theory

Examples: self help

A person feels like his or her life is bland and boring. A humanistic perspective would encourage the person to do some soul-searching and determine what is missing a hobby? Friendships? A relationship? Whatever it takes for the person to feel fully self-actualized is what should be sought as treatment. Carl Rogers and Gloria

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