Roger's Ideas
Carl Rogers was a humanistic psychologist who is known for his personality theory, that emphasizes growth and the potential for human good. Rogers advanced the humanistic perspective field by stressing that the human person is an active, creative, experiencing being who lives in the present and subjectively responds to current perceptions, relationships, and encounters. He coined the term ‘actualizing tendency’ which refers to a person’s basic instinct to succeed at his/her highest possible capacity. Through person-centered counseling and scientific therapy research, Rogers formed his theory of personality development, which highlighted free will and the human potential for goodness. Rogers based his personality development propositions on humanistic (person-centered) psychology and phenomenal field (subjective experience) theory. He believed that everyone exists in the center of a constantly changing world of experience. A person reacts to changes in his/her phenomenal field in a holistic fashion and all behavior is motivated by self-actualizing tendencies. As a result of these interactions with the environment and others, an individual forms a structure of the self -- an organized, fluid, conceptual pattern of concepts and values related to the self. In the development of the self-concept, Rogers elevated the importance of positive regard or feedback. Rogers believed that a growth-promoting environment required three conditions-- genuineness, acceptance, and empathy. According to Rogers, when people opened up about their own feelings, dropped their facades, and were transparent and self-disclosing, they were expressing genuineness. People raised in an environment of unconditional positive regard, in which no preconceived conditions of worth are present, had the opportunity to fully actualize and feel accepted. By sharing and mirroring feelings to others, Rogers stated that we expressed empathy. All three of these characteristics help shape positive growth.
Rogers described life in terms of principles rather than stages of development. These principles existed in fluid processes rather than static states. The fully functioning person continually aims to fulfill their potential at each of these processes, which he called the good life. These people would allow personality and self-concept to emanate from experience. He found that fully functioning individuals held several common traits:
- Growing openness to experiences and a lack of defensiveness toward anything new.
- Increasingly existential lifestyle in which each moment is appreciated and lived to its fullest.
- Preponderance for organismic trust of their own judgments and choices.
- Greater freedom of choice and a lack of personal restrictions or rules.
- Higher levels of creativity and adaptability without necessarily conforming.
- Extreme reliability and constructiveness in their dealings with others.
- Tendency toward rich, full lives with exciting and intense experiences.