CH10: Carl Rogers' Person-Centered Theory

• Rogers developed a humanistic theory of personality that grew out of his experiences as a practicing psychotherapist
• More concerned with helping people (“How can I help this person grow and develop?”) than with discovering why they behaved as they did (“What caused this person to develop in this manner?
• Built a “client-centered” theory of personality
• 2 broad assumption:

  Formative Tendency: A tendency for all matter, both organic and inorganic, to evolve from simpler to more complex forms (e.g., single-cell to tissues to organs)
• Actualizing Tendency: Tendency within all humans (and other animals and plants) to move toward completion or fulfillment of potentials
• A.T., People must be involved in a relationship with a partner who is congruent, or authentic, and who demonstrates empathy and unconditional positive regard for psychological growth to occur
• These three conditions as both necessary and sufficient conditions for becoming a fully functioning or self-actualizing person.
• Self-actualization: A subset of the actualization tendency; the tendency to actualize the self as perceived in awareness
• Self-concept: All those aspects of one’s being and one’s experiences that are perceived in awareness.
• Ideal self: One’s view of self as one wishes to be; contains all those attributes, usually positive, that people aspire to possess.
• A wide gap between the ideal self and the real self indicates incongruence and an unhealthy personality.
• Levels of Awareness: Some events are experienced below the threshold of awareness and are either ignored or denied.
• Some experiences are accurately symbolized and freely admitted to the self-structure.
• 3. Some experiences that are inconsistent with one’s view of the self are distorted so that they can be assimilated into existing self-concept.
• Denial of Positive Experiences: Many people have difficulty accepting genuine compliments and positive feedback, even when deserved
• A compliment carries an implied threat.
• Therapeutic Conditions - If the conditions of therapist congruence, unconditional positive regard, and empathic listening are present in a client-counselor relationship, then the process of therapy will transpire.
• Therapeutic Conditions - if the process of therapy takes place, then certain outcomes can be predicted.
• Counselor Congruence - exists when a person’s organismic experiences are matched by an awareness of them and by an ability and willingness to openly express these feelings
• Unconditional Positive Regard - occurs when the therapist is experiencing a warm, positive and accepting attitude toward what is the client Means that the therapists accept and prize their clients without any restrictions or reservations
• Empathic Listening - exists when therapists accurately sense the feelings of their clients and are able to communicate these perceptions so that clients know that another person has entered their world of feelings without prejudice, projection, or evaluation Means a therapist sees things from the client’s point of view and that the client feels safe and unthreatened
• The Person of Tomorrow

  1. More adaptable
  2. Open to their experience
  3. Trust in their organismic selves
  4. Live fully in the moment
  5. Confident in their ability to experience harmonious relations with others
  6. More integrated