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Rogers: Person- Centered Theory
Although he is best known as the founder of client-centered therapy, Carl Rogers developed a humanistic theory of personality that grew out of his experiences as a practicing psychotherapist.
Carl Ransom Rogers was born on January 8, 1902, in Oak Park, Illinois, the fourth of six children born to Walter and Julia Cushing Rogers.
Person-Centered Theory
We use the label client-centered in reference to Rogers’s therapy and the more inclusive term person-centered to refer to Rogerian personality theory.
A. Basic Assumptions
Rogers postulated two broad assumptions—the formative tendency and the actualizing tendency.
1. Formative Tendency - Rogers (1978, 1980) believed that there is a tendency for all matter, both organic and inorganic, to evolve from simpler to more complex forms. For the entire universe, a creative process, rather than a disintegrative one, is in operation. Rogers called this process the formative tendency and pointed to many examples from nature. For in- stance, complex galaxies of stars form from a less well-organized mass; crystals such as snowflakes emerge from formless vapor; complex organisms develop from single cells; and human consciousness evolves from a primitive unconsciousness to a highly organized awareness.
2. Actualizing Tendency - An interrelated and more pertinent assumption is the actualizing tendency, or the tendency within all humans (and other animals and plants) to move toward completion or fulfillment of potentials (Rogers, 1959, 1980). This tendency is the only mo- tive people possess. The need to satisfy one’s hunger drive, to express deep emotions when they are felt, and to accept one’s self are all examples of the single motive of actualization. Because each person operates as one complete organism, actualization involves the whole person—physiological and intellectual, rational and emotional, conscious and unconscious.
B. The Self and Self-Actualization
According to Rogers (1959), infants begin to develop a vague concept of self when a portion of their experience becomes personalized and differentiated in awareness as “I” or “me” experiences. Once infants establish a rudimentary self structure, their tendency to actualize the self begins to evolve. Self-actualization is a subset of the actualization tendency and is therefore not synonymous with it. The actualization tendency refers to organismic experiences of the individual; that is, it refers to the whole person—conscious and unconscious, physiological and cognitive. On the other hand, self-actualization is the tendency to actualize the self as perceived in awareness. When the organism and the perceived self are in harmony, the two actualization tendencies are nearly identical; but when people’s organismic experiences are not in harmony with their view of self, a discrepancy exists between the actualization tendency and the self- actualization tendency.
Rogers (1959) postulated two self sub- systems, the self-concept and the ideal self.
1. The Self-Concept - The self-concept includes all those aspects of one’s being and one’s experiences that are perceived in awareness (though not always accurately) by the individual. The self-concept is not identical with the organismic self. Portions of the organismic self may be beyond a person’s awareness or simply not owned by that person.
2. The Ideal Self -The second subsystem of the self is the ideal self, defined as one’s view of self as one wishes to be. The ideal self contains all those attributes, usually positive, that people aspire to possess. A wide gap between the ideal self and the self-concept in- dicates incongruence and an unhealthy personality. Psychologically healthy individuals perceive little discrepancy between their self-concept and what they ideally would like to be.
C. Awareness
Without awareness the self-concept and the ideal self would not exist. Rogers (1959) defined awareness as “the symbolic representation (not necessarily in verbal sym- bols) of some portion of our experience” (p. 198).
Levels of Awareness
Rogers (1959) recognized three levels of awareness.
1. First, some events are experienced below the threshold of awareness and are either ignored or denied. An ignored experience can be illustrated by a woman walking down a busy street, an activity that presents many potential stimuli, particularly of sight and sound. Because she cannot attend to all of them, many remain ignored. An example of denied experience might be a mother who never wanted children, but out of guilt she becomes overly solici- tous to them. Her anger and resentment toward her children may be hidden to her for years, never reaching consciousness but yet remaining a part of her experience and coloring her conscious behavior toward them.
2. Second, Rogers (1959) hypothesized that some experiences are accurately symbolized and freely admitted to the self-structure. Such experiences are both non- threatening and consistent with the existing self-concept.
3. Third level of awareness involves experiences that are perceived in a dis- torted form. When our experience is not consistent with our view of self, we reshape or distort the experience so that it can be assimilated into our existing self-concept.
Denial of Positive Experiences
Our example of the gifted pianist illustrates that it is not only the negative or deroga- tory experiences that are distorted or denied to awareness; many people have diffi- culty accepting genuine compliments and positive feedback, even when deserved. A student who feels inadequate but yet makes a superior grade might say to herself, “I know this grade should be evidence of my scholastic ability, but somehow I just don’t feel that way. This class was the easiest one on campus. The other students just didn’t try. My teacher did not know what she was doing.” Compliments, even those genuinely dispensed, seldom have a positive influence on the self-concept of the re- cipient. They may be distorted because the person distrusts the giver, or they may be denied because the recipient does not feel deserving of them; in all cases, a compli- ment from another also implies the right of that person to criticize or condemn, and thus the compliment carries an implied threat (Rogers, 1961).
D. Becoming a Person
Rogers (1959) discussed the processes necessary to becoming a person. First, an individual must make contact—positive or negative—with another person.
As children (or adults) become aware that another person has some measure of regard for them, they begin to value positive regard and devalue negative regard. That is, the person develops a need to be loved, liked, or accepted by another person, a need that Rogers (1959) referred to as positive regard. If we perceive that others, especially significant others, care for, prize, or value us, then our need to receive pos- itive regard is at least partially satisfied.
Positive regard is a prerequisite for positive self-regard, defined as the expe- rience of prizing or valuing one’s self. Rogers (1959) believed that receiving positive regard from others is necessary for positive self-regard, but once positive self-regard is established, it becomes independent of the continual need to be loved.
E. Barriers to Psychological Health
1. Conditions of Worth - Instead of receiving unconditional positive regard, most people receive conditions of worth; that is, they perceive that their parents, peers, or partners love and accept them only if they meet those people’s expectations and approval. “A condition of worth arises when the positive regard of a significant other is conditional, when the individual feels that in some respects he [or she] is prized and in others not” (Rogers, 1959, p. 209).
2. Incongruence - Psychological disequilibrium begins when we fail to recognize our organismic experiences as self-experiences: that is, when we do not accurately symbolize organismic experiences into awareness because they appear to be inconsistent with our emerging self-concept. This incongruence between our self-concept and our organismic experience is the source of psychological disorders.
3. Vulnerability - The greater the incongruence between our perceived self (self- concept) and our organismic experience, the more vulnerable we are. Rogers (1959) believed that people are vulnerable when they are unaware of the discrepancy be- tween their organismic self and their significant experience. Lacking awareness of their incongruence, vulnerable people often behave in ways that are incomprehensible not only to others but also to themselves.
4. Anxiety and Threat - Rogers (1959) defined anxiety as “a state of uneasiness or tension whose cause is unknown” (p. 204). As we become more aware of the incongruence between our organismic experience and our perception of self, our anxiety begins to evolve into threat: that is, an awareness that our self is no longer whole or congruent. Anxiety and threat can represent steps toward psychological health be- cause they signal to us that our organismic experience is inconsistent with our self- concept. Nevertheless, they are not pleasant or comfortable feelings.
5. Defensiveness - is the protection of the self-concept against anxiety and threat by the denial or distortion of experiences in- consistent with it (Rogers, 1959). Because the self-concept consists of many self- descriptive statements, it is a many-faceted phenomenon. When one of our experiences is inconsistent with one part of our self-concept, we will behave in a defensive manner in order to protect the current structure of our self-concept.
The two chief defenses are distortion and denial. With distortion, we misinterpret an experience in order to fit it into some aspect of our self-concept. We perceive the experience in awareness, but we fail to understand its true meaning. With denial, we refuse to perceive an experience in awareness, or at least we keep some aspect of it from reaching symbolization.
6. Disorganization - Most people engage in defensive behavior, but sometimes defenses fail and behav- ior becomes disorganized or psychotic. But why would defenses fail to function?
To answer this question, we must trace the course of disorganized behavior, which has the same origins as normal defensive behavior, namely a discrepancy be- tween people’s organismic experience and their view of self. Denial and distortion are adequate to keep normal people from recognizing this discrepancy, but when the incongruence between people’s perceived self and their organismic experience is ei- ther too obvious or occurs too suddenly to be denied or distorted, their behavior be- comes disorganized. Disorganization can occur suddenly, or it can take place gradu- ally over a long period of time. Ironically, people are particularly vulnerable to disorganization during therapy, especially if a therapist accurately interprets their ac- tions and also insists that they face the experience prematurely (Rogers, 1959).
Psychotherapy
Like person-centered theory, the client-centered counseling approach can be stated in an if-then fashion. 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. If the process of therapy takes place, then certain outcomes can be predicted. Rogerian therapy, therefore, can be viewed in terms of conditions, process, and outcomes.
1. Conditions
Rogers (1959) postulated that in order for therapeutic growth to take place, the fol- lowing conditions are necessary and sufficient. First, an anxious or vulnerable client must come into contact with a congruent therapist who also possesses empathy and unconditional positive regard for that client. Next, the client must perceive these characteristics in the therapist. Finally, the contact between client and therapist must be of some duration.
The significance of the Rogerian hypothesis is revolutionary. With nearly any psychotherapy, the first and third conditions are present; that is, the client, or patient, is motivated by some sort of tension to seek help, and the relationship between the client and the therapist will last for some period of time. Client-centered therapy is unique in its insistence that the conditions of counselor congruence, unconditional positive regard, and empathic listening are both necessary and sufficient (Rogers, 1957).
Even though all three conditions are necessary for psychological growth, Rogers (1980) believed that congruence is more basic than either unconditional pos- itive regard or empathic listening. Congruence is a general quality possessed by the therapist, whereas the other two conditions are specific feelings or attitudes that the therapist has for an individual client.
a. Counselor Congruence - The first necessary and sufficient condition for therapeutic change is a congruent therapist. 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 (Rogers, 1980). To be congruent means to be real or genuine, to be whole or integrated, to be what one truly is.
b. Unconditional Positive Regard - Positive regard is the need to be liked, prized, or accepted by another person. When this need exists without any conditions or qualifications, unconditional positive re- gard occurs (Rogers, 1980). Therapists have unconditional positive regard when they are “experiencing a warm, positive and accepting attitude toward what is the client” (Rogers, 1961, p. 62). The attitude is without possessiveness, without evalu- ations, and without reservations.
c. Empathic Listening - The third necessary and sufficient condition of psychological growth is empathic listening. Empathy exists when therapists accurately sense the feelings of their clients and are able to communicate these perceptions so that clients know that an- other person has entered their world of feelings without prejudice, projection, or evaluation. To Rogers (1980), empathy “means temporarily living in the other’s life, moving about in it delicately without making judgments”
2. Process
If the conditions of therapist congruence, unconditional positive regard, and empa- thy are present, then the process of therapeutic change will be set in motion. Al- though each person seeking psychotherapy is unique, Rogers (1959) believed that a certain lawfulness characterizes the process of therapy.
Stages of Therapeutic Change331
The process of constructive personality change can be placed on a continuum from most defensive to most integrated. Rogers (1961) arbitrarily divided this continuum into seven stages.
Stage 1 is characterized by an unwillingness to communicate anything about oneself. People at this stage ordinarily do not seek help, but if for some reason they come to therapy, they are extremely rigid and resistant to change. They do not recognize any problems and refuse to own any personal feelings or emotions.
Stage 2, clients become slightly less rigid. They discuss external events and other people, but they still disown or fail to recognize their own feelings. How- ever, they may talk about personal feelings as if such feelings were objective phenomena.
Stage 3, they more freely talk about self, although still as an object. “I’m doing the best I can at work, but my boss still doesn’t like me.” Clients talk about feelings and emotions in the past or future tense and avoid present feelings. They refuse to accept their emotions, keep personal feelings at a distance from the here-and-now situation, only vaguely perceive that they can make personal choices, and deny individual responsibility for most of their decisions.
Stage 4 Client begin to talk of deep feelings but not ones presently felt. “I was really burned up when my teacher accused me of cheating.” When clients do ex- press present feelings, they are usually surprised by this expression. They deny or distort experiences, although they may have some dim recognition that they are ca- pable of feeling emotions in the present. They begin to question some values that have been introjected from others, and they start to see the incongruence between their perceived self and their organismic experience.
Stage 5, they have begun to undergo significant change and growth. They can express feelings in the present, although they have not yet accurately symbolized those feelings. They are beginning to rely on an internal locus of evaluation for their feelings and to make fresh and new discoveries about themselves. They also experience a greater differentiation of feelings and develop more appreciation for nuances among them.
Stage 6 experience dramatic growth and an irreversible movement toward becoming fully functioning or self-actualizing. They freely allow into awareness those experiences that they had previously denied or distorted. They become more congruent and are able to match their present experiences with awareness and with open expression.
Clients who reach Stage 7 become fully functioning “per- sons of tomorrow” (a concept more fully explained in the section titled The Person of Tomorrow). They are able to generalize their in-therapy experiences to their world beyond therapy. They possess the confidence to be themselves at all times, to own and to feel deeply the totality of their experiences, and to live those experiences in the present. Their organismic self, now unified with the self-concept, becomes the locus for evaluating their experiences. People at Stage 7 receive pleasure in knowing that these evaluations are fluid and that change and growth will continue. In addition, they become congruent, possess unconditional positive self-regard, and are able to be loving and empathic toward others.
Theoretical Explanation for Therapeutic Change
When persons come to experience themselves as prized and unconditionally accepted, they realize, perhaps for the first time, that they are lovable. The example of the therapist enables them to prize and accept themselves, to have unconditional positive self-regard. As clients perceive that they are emphatically understood, they are freed to listen to themselves more accurately, to have empathy for their own feelings. As a consequence, when these persons come to prize themselves and to accurately understand themselves, their perceived self becomes more congruent with their organismic experiences. They now possess the same three therapeutic characteristics as any effective helper, and in effect, they become their own therapist.
3. Outcomes
The most basic outcome of successful client-centered therapy is a congruent client who is less defensive and more open to experience. As a result of being more congruent and less defensive, clients have a clearer picture of themselves and a more realistic view of the world. They are better able to assimilate experiences into the self on the symbolic level; they are more effective in solving problems; and they have a higher level of positive self-regard.
The Person of Tomorrow
If the three necessary and sufficient therapeutic conditions of congruence, un- conditional positive regard, and empathy are optimal, then what kind of person would emerge? Rogers (1961, 1962, 1980) listed several possible characteristics.
First, psychologically healthy people would be more adaptable. Thus, from an evolutionary viewpoint, they would be more likely to survive—hence the title “per- sons of tomorrow.” They would not merely adjust to a static environment but would realize that conformity and adjustment to a fixed condition have little long-term sur- vival value.
Second, persons of tomorrow would be open to their experiences, accurately symbolizing them in awareness rather than denying or distorting them. This simple statement is pregnant with meaning. For people who are open to experience, all stimuli, whether stemming from within the organism or from the external environment, are freely received by the self. Persons of tomorrow would listen to themselves and hear their joy, anger, discouragement, fear, and tenderness. A related characteristic of persons of tomorrow would be a trust in their organismic selves. These fully functioning people would not depend on others for guidance because they would realize that their own experiences are the best criteria for making choices; they would do what feels right for them because they would trust their own inner feelings more than the pontifications of parents or the rigid rules of society.
A third characteristic of persons of tomorrow would be a tendency to live fully in the moment. Because these people would be open to their experiences, they would experience a constant state of fluidity and change. What they experience in each moment would be new and unique, something never before experienced by their evolving self. They would see each experience with a new freshness and appreciate it fully in the present moment. Rogers (1961) referred to this tendency to live in the moment as existential living. Persons of tomorrow would have no need to deceive themselves and no reason to impress others
Fourth, persons of tomorrow would remain confident of their own ability to ex- perience harmonious relations with others. They would feel no need to be liked or loved by everyone, because they would know that they are unconditionally prized and accepted by someone. They would seek intimacy with another person who is probably equally healthy, and such a relationship itself would contribute to the con- tinual growth of each partner. Persons of tomorrow would be authentic in their rela- tions with others. They would be what they appear to be, without deceit or fraud, without defenses and facades, without hypocrisy and sham. They would care about others, but in a nonjudgmental manner. They would seek meaning beyond them- selves and would yearn for the spiritual life and inner peace.
Fifth, persons of tomorrow would be more integrated, more whole, with no artificial boundary between conscious processes and unconscious ones. Because they would be able to accurately symbolize all their experiences in aware- ness, they would see clearly the difference between what is and what should be; be- cause they would use their organismic feelings as criteria for evaluating their ex- periences, they would bridge the gap between their real self and their ideal self; because they would have no need to defend their self-importance, they would pre- sent no facades to other people; and because they would have confidence in who they are, they could openly express whatever feelings they are experiencing.
Sixth, persons of tomorrow would have a basic trust of human nature. They would not harm others merely for personal gain; they would care about others and be ready to help when needed; they would experience anger but could be trusted not to strike out unreasonably against others; they would feel aggression but would chan- nel it in appropriate directions.
Finally, because persons of tomorrow are open to all their experiences, they would enjoy a greater richness in life than do other people. They would neither dis- tort internal stimuli nor buffer their emotions. Consequently, they would feel more deeply than others. They would live in the present and thus participate more richly in the ongoing moment.
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To cite reference:
Feist, Jess & Feist, Gregory J. 2008. Theories of Personality, 7th Edition. The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Publish in the United States of America.
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