CARL ROGERS -Born on January 8, 1902 in Oak Park, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, the fourth of six children. -There were no economic problems during his early life since Rogers’s father was a successful civil engineer and contractor while his mother was a housewife and a devout Christian.
CARL ROGERS -His parents discouraged the development of friendships outside their home because, nonfamily members engaged in questionable activities. -At the age of 12, his family moved to a farm where he developed an interest in science. -With strict upbringing and many chores, he became isolated, independent and self- disciplined.
CARL ROGERS -In 1919, he enrolled at the University of Wisconsin and chose to study agriculture. Later, he switched to religion to study for the ministry. -In 1922, Rogers’s was one of the ten students selected to attend the World Student Christian Federation Conference in Peking, China for six (6) months. -After graduation, he married Helen Elliott despite of strong parental disapproval and moved to New York City where he enrolled in the Liberal Union Theological Seminary.
CARL ROGERS -He doubted that the best vehicle for help to individuals with problems was to be found in religious doctrine (Religion’s loss, emerged, Psychology’s gain). -Rogers’s transferred to Columbia University to study clinical and educational psychology. -Begun his clinical work at the Rochester Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (where he had worked as an intern while pursuing his Ph.D.)
CARL ROGERS -Returned to his Alma Mater (Univ. of Wisconsin) in 1957 to teach, however, there was conflict in the psychology department that he became disillusioned with higher education. -He accepted a research position in La Jolla, California, where he provided therapy, gave speeches and wrote until his death in 1987.
THEORY Rogers’s is mainly interested in discovering the conditions under which a person can fully develop his or her potentialities. The entire theory is built on a single “force of life,” he calls the actualizing tendency.
For a person to “grow,” he needs an environment that provides him with: Genuineness (openness and self-disclosure) Acceptance (being seen with unconditional positive regard) Empathy (being listened to and understood)
Rogers believed that every person can achieve their goals, wishes and desires in life. When or if they did so, self- actualization took place.
The Actualizing Tendency The built-in motivation present in every life-form to develop its potentials to the fullest extent possible. He believes that all creatures strive to make the very best of their existence. If they fail to do so, it is not for a lack of desire.
Why do we want air, water and food? Why do we seek safety, love and a sense of competence? Why, do we seek to discover new medicines, invent new power sources, or create new works of art? That is because, it is in our nature as living things to do the very best we can!!! -quoted
“The organism has one basic tendency and striving – to actualize, maintain and enhance the experiencing organism” (Rogers, 1951). All humans, as well as other living organisms, have an innate need to survive, grow and enhance themselves. All biological drives are included under actualizing tendency, because they must be satisfied if the organism is to continue its positive development. This “forward thrust of life” continues in spite of many obstacles.
For example: Children first learning to walk stumble again and again, but, despite the pain, press on with their attempts to walk.
The actualizing tendency causes individual to become: More differentiated (complex) More independent More socially responsible
All of an organisms experiences are evaluated using the actual tendency as a frame of reference. Rogers calls this method of evaluating one’s experiences the organismic valuing process.
Those experiences that are in accordance with the actualizing tendency are satisfying and thus, are approached and maintained. Those experiences that are contrary to the actualizing tendency are unsatisfying, and therefore are avoided or terminated.
Organismic Valuing Process Creates a feedback system that allows the organism to coordinate its experiences with its tendency toward self-actualization.
Carl Rogers’s Person- Centered Theory Central to his personality theory is the notion of the SELF or SELF- CONCEPT.
Self-concept The organized, consistent set of perceptions, thoughts, feelings and beliefs people have about themselves.
Two Primary Sources Influencing the Self-concept: Childhood experiences Evaluation by others
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 ideal- self.
Three Components of Self- Concept: Self-worth (or self-esteem) – what we think about ourselves. Rogers believed feelings of self-worth developed in early childhood and were formed from the interaction of the child with the mother and father.
Self-Image – How we see ourselves, which is important to good psychological health. Includes the influence of our body image on inner personality. At a simple level, we might perceive ourselves as a good or bad person, beautiful or ugly. Self-image has an affect on how a person thinks feels and behaves in the world.
Ideal Self – This is the person who we would like to be. It consists of our goals and ambitions in life, and is dynamic – i.e. forever changing. The ideal self in childhood is not the ideal self in our teens or late twenties etc.
Self-Worth and Positive Regard Two basic needs of the child as viewed by Carl Rogers: Positive Regard from other People Self-Worth
Self-Worth and Positive Regard How we think about ourselves, our feelings of self-worth are of fundamental importance both to psychological health and the likelihood that we can attain our goals and ambitions in life and achieve self-actualization.
Self-Worth and Positive Regard High Self-Worth Low Self-Worth -has confidence -avoid challenges in life -positive feelings about him or -not accept that life can be herself painful and unhappy at -faces challenges in life times -accepts failure and -he/she will be defensive unhappiness at times, and and guarded with other is open with people. people
Self-Worth and Positive Regard Self-Worth are developed in early childhood through child’s interaction with the mother and father. As child grows older, interactions with significant others will affect his feeling of self-worth.
Self-Worth and Positive Regard Positive Regard – is to do with how other people evaluate and judge us in social interaction.
Unconditional Positive Regard is where parents, significant others (and the humanist therapist) accepts and loves the person for what he or she is regardless of the mistakes committed.
Conditional Positive Regard is where positive regard, praise and approval, depend upon the child, for example, he/she behaves in ways that the parents think correct.
This “conditioning” leads us to have conditional positive self-regard as well. We begin to like ourselves only if we meet up with the standards others have applied to us, rather than if we are truly actualizing our potentials. And since these standards were created without keeping each individual in mind, more often than not we find ourselves unable to meet them, and therefore unable to maintain any sense of
Conditions of Worth (similar to superego) the individuals belief that he or she is worthy of affection only when expressing desirable behaviors.
Congruence and Incongruence Rogers said that people’s self-concepts often do not exactly match reality. For example, a person may consider himself to be very honest but often lies to his boss about why he is late to work.
Congruence Is a fairly accurate match between the self- concept and reality. A person’s ideal self and actual experience are consistent or very similar. Its development is dependent on unconditional positive regard. A person must be in this state for him to achieve self-actualization.
Incongruence Is a discrepancy between the actual experience of the organism and the self- picture of the individual insofar as it represents that experience. A person is said to be in a state of incongruence if some of the totality of their experience is unacceptable to them and is denied or distorted in the self-image.
Incongruence There is a gap between the real self and the ideal self, the “I am” and the “I should”
Results of Incongruence People experience anxiety when their self- concept are being threatened. In order to protect themselves from anxiety, they distort their experiences so that they can hold on to their self-concept. (e.g. a belief of being a generous person but stingy with her money)
Defense Mechanisms As we prefer to see ourselves in ways that are consistent with our self-image, we may use defense mechanisms in order to feel less threatened by some of what we consider to be our undesirable feelings.
A person whose self-concept is incongruent with his or her real feelings and experiences will defend because the truth hurts.
Two defenses: Denial- blocking out of threatening situation altogether. Keeping a memory or an impulse out of your awareness (refuse to perceive it) you may be able to avoid a threatening situation. (Repression in Freud’s term)
Two defenses: Perceptual Distortion- a matter of reinterpreting the situation so that it appears less threatening. (student being threatened by tests and grade may blame the professor for poor teaching, bad attitude or for giving a tricky questions; RATIONALIZATION in Freud’s term) .
A Fully-functioning person… Openness to Experience -it is the accurate perception of one's experiences in the world, including one's feelings. -being able to accept reality and one’s feelings. -if one cannot be open to his feelings, he cannot be open to actualization
A Fully-functioning person… Existential Living- This is living in the here-and-now. Rogers, as a part of getting in touch with reality, insists that we not live in the past or the future -- the one is gone, and the other isn't anything at all, yet! The present is the only reality we have.
A Fully-functioning person… Organismic trusting- We should allow ourselves to be guided by the organismic valuing process. We should trust ourselves, do what feels right, what comes natural. Rogers meant trust your real self, and you can only know what your real self has to say if you are open to experience and living existentially! In other words, organismic trusting assumes you are in contact with the actualizing tendency.
A Fully-functioning person… Experiential freedom- Rogers felt that it was irrelevant whether or not people really had free will. We feel very much as if we do. We feel free when choices are available to us. Rogers says that the fully-functioning person acknowledges that feeling of freedom, and takes responsibility for his choices.
A Fully-functioning person… Creativity- If you feel free and responsible, you will act accordingly, and participate in the world. A fully-functioning person, in touch with actualization, will feel obliged by their nature to contribute to the actualization of others, even life itself. This can be through creativity in the arts or sciences, through social concern and parental love, or simply by doing one's best at one's job.
Maladjusted Person Defensive Living - Not open to experience Live According to preconceived plan - generally laid down by parents. Disregards organism - not intuitive Feels manipulated - not free to choose Common and conforming
Client-Centered/Rogerian Therapy He originally called it non-directive, because he felt that the therapist should not lead the client, but rather be there for the client while the latter directs the progress of the therapy. Clients look to therapists for guidance, and will find it even when the therapist is trying not to guide.
Client-Centered/Rogerian Therapy One of the phrases that Rogers used to describe his therapy is ”SUPPORTIVE, not reconstructive,\" and he uses the analogy of learning to ride a bicycle to explain: When you help a child to learn to ride a bike, you can't just tell them how. They have to try it for themselves. And you can't hold them up the whole time either. There comes a point when you have to let them go. If they fall, they fall, but if you hang on, they never learn.
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