Rogers: Person-Centered Theory

Psychology of Personality

Lecture, Chapter 11

Overview of Client-Centered Theory

§Focused on how to help clients grow and develop rather than diagnose the source of the problem.

§Strong support of empirical research to support theory and practice.

§Rogers had a “resistance” of theory in that at times, to him, theory seemed cold, external, and/or final.

Rogers’ Life

§Carl Rogers was born in Illinois, as the 4^th of six children, in a devoutly religious family.

§Rogers’ early life was marked with social inadequacies and shyness, a problem which he overcame in adulthood and which likely triggered his being proponent of the notion that interpersonal relationships are powerful cultivators of personality and psychological health.

§Rogers entered seminary with intention to become a minister, but after exposure to psychology decided to abandon having the fixed belief system characteristic of formal religion in exchange for freedom to explore new ideas.

§After exposure to Adler and Rank, as well as experience with child psychology, Rogers developed his own ideas on psychotherapy.

§Rogers received numerous professional awards for his contributions to psychotherapy and personality theory development.

§Rogers insisted that his theory of personality remain tentative…

Basic Assumptions

§Formative Tendency

§Actualizing Tendency

–Maintenance

–Enhancement

–Congruence, empathy, and unconditional positive regard

The Self and Self-Actualization

§Self-actualization: the tendency to actualize the self as perceived in awareness.

§The self-concept: all the experiences and aspects of self as perceived in awareness.

§The ideal self: the view of self as one wishes it to be.

–incongruence

Awareness

§Levels of awareness

–Ignored or denied experiences

–Accurately symbolized experiences which are consistent with self concept.

–Distorted experiences which are inconsistent with self concept.

§Denial of positive experiences

Becoming a Person

§Make contact, whether positive or negative, with another person.

§Experience positive regard, love and acceptance from another person.

§Develop positive self-regard, prizing or valuing self.

§No longer need a continual supply of positive regard.

Barriers to Psychological Health

§Conditions of worth

§Incongruence

§Vulnerability

§Anxiety and threat

§Defensiveness (distortion and denial)

§Disorganization

Psychotherapy

§Like person-centered theory, client-centered counseling can be stated in an if-then fashion. With the presence of certain conditions, successful therapy will ensue. Necessary conditions include:

    –Counselor congruence, involving feelings, awareness, and expression; genuine acceptance

    –Unconditional positive regard

    –Empathic listening and understanding

Therapeutic Process

§The following process of therapeutic change occurs when the necessary conditions are met:

§Stage 1 - unwillingness to recognize anything about self

§Stage 2 – discuss external events only

§Stage 3 – discussion of self as object

§Stage 4 – discuss deep feelings not in the present

§Stage 5 – current expression of feelings without symbolization; increased differentiation of feelings

§Stage 6 – irreversible movement toward self-actualization

§Stage 7 – fully functioning outside of therapy; possess unconditional positive regard

Outcomes

§Become more congruent

§Be less defensive

§Become more open to experiences

§Have a more realistic view of the world

§Develop positive self-regard

§Narrow the gap between ideal self and real self

§Be less vulnerable to threat, physically & psychologically

§Become less anxious, physically & psychologically

§Take ownership of experiences

§Become more accepting of others

§Become more congruent in relationships with others

The Person of Tomorrow

§Rogers developed focus on psychological health from his general theory of therapy. A fully functioning person and/or the person of tomorrow possesses the following characteristics:

–Greater adaptability

–Openness to experiences

–Trust in their organismic selves

–Living fully in the moment; existential living

–Having harmonious relations with others

–Greater integration

–Incorporate a basic trust of human nature

–Enjoy greater richness in life

Philosophy of Science

§Science begins and ends with subjective experience but that everything in between must be objective and empirical.

§Scientists should be completely involved with the topic under scrutiny.

§Science begins when a scientist perceives a pattern in nature; over time, a testable hypothesis is formed.

§Methods should be rigorously controlled, empirical, and objective.

§Communication of results to others is subject to the scientists’ and the receivers’ experiences and interpretation.

Conclusion

§Did Rogers use science in his theory development? Was his theory able to generate research, be falsified, organize data, guide action, be internally consistent, and be parsimonious?

§Where does Person-Centered Theory fall on the basic issues concerning the nature of humanity?

–Determinism vs. free choice

–Pessimism vs. optimism

–Causality vs. teleology

–Conscious vs. unconscious

–Social vs. biological influences

–Uniqueness vs. similarities