Carl Rogers
The Humanistic Approach
Biography
• Carl grew up on a farm in Illinois, developing an
interest in biology & agriculture.
• Expressing emotions was not allowed in the
Rogers household & it took its toll on Carl who
developed an ulcer at 15.
• Rogers went to the University of Wisconsin to
study agriculture in 1919.
• He changed careers becoming interested in
religious studies. He finished his degree and left
for Union Theological Seminary in NY to become
a minister.
Biography
• Rogers view of humanistic psychology was at
odds with Freudian theory & behaviorism.
• He gained recognition when he won the APA
award for distinguished scientific contribution in
1956.
• In 1963, he moved to LaJolla, California.
Developed the Center for Studies of the Person.
• He continued his scientific efforts, writing,
holding workshops, etc. until he died in 1987.
Basic Premise
• Humans are motivated through an innate
potential to actualize, maintain and
enhance the self
• Sees people as basically good
Experiential World
• Phenomenology
– The reality of our environment depends on
our perception of it
– Subjective perception of reality
Emergence of Self-Concept
• Self-concept: How I see myself
• As infants grow, they develop the need for
positive regard
• Positive regard: Acceptance, love and
approval from others
• Child does not receive positive regard:
fails to develop actualizing tendency fully
Unconditional Positive Regard
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Approval granted regardless of behavior
Conditions of worth
Conditional positive regard
Positive self-regard
– Eventually grant positive regard to ourselves
Incongruence
• Discrepancy between self-concept and
aspects of experience
• Experiences inconsistent with how we see
ourselves cause anxiety
• Psychological adjustment/emotional health
Characteristics of Fully Functioning
Persons (Self-Actualizing)
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Awareness of all experiences
Live fully in the moment
Trust own behavior and experience
Sense of freedom in decision making
Creative, flexible to change
Recognition difficulties will inevitably arise
Personality
• No aspect is predetermined
• Actualizing tendency: Innate, but more
influenced by social factors than biological
• Accounts for childhood, but later
experiences are more important
• Optimistic, positive view of change as
possible at any point over the lifespan
Person-Centered Therapy
• Represents a shift from medical model to
growth model
• Strong emphasis on the therapeutic
relationship
3 Conditions in Person-Centered
Therapy
• Conditions are necessary and sufficient for
change
– Empathy
– Congruence/Genuineness
– Unconditional Positive Regard
Carl Rogers: Person-Centered
Approach
• Rogers believed that humans are basically
good.
• He argued that we have an innate drive to
reach an optimal sense of ourselves &
satisfaction with our lives.
• He felt that the process by which we do
this, not the end result is what matters.
• A person who does this is what he calls a
“Fully Functioning Person.”
Characteristics of a Fully Functioning
Person
• 1. These people are open to their experiences.
They strive to experience life to its fullest & are
willing to take some risks.
• 2. These people live in the present (here & now).
• 3. These folks trust their own feelings &
instincts. They aren’t held back by old standards
or concern for what others might think.
• 4. These folks are less concern with social
conventions.
Conditions of Worth & Unconditional
Positive Regard
• Rogers argues that most of us grow up in
an atmosphere where we are given love &
support as long as we behave the way we
are expected to.
• This is what he calls Conditional positive
regard. The emphasis is that love is given
conditionally (with a string attached).
If we don’t do what our parents want us to
do?
• Rogers argued that in these cases,
parents withhold their love from us.
• As a result of this, children learn to
abandon their true feelings, wishes, &
desires, for those of their parents.
• This paves the way for us to become
alienated from our true selves.
Unconditional positive regard
• We need this to accept all parts of our
personality.
• With this we know we are loved & valued for
being who we are.
• Parents can do this, by it clear that their love is
not contingent on the child’s behavior (even
when such behavior is abhored).
Research in Rogers’ Theory
• Q-Sort Technique
– Client sorts large number of statements about selfconcept into categories
– Goal: Reduce the discrepancy between the ideal and
actual self
• Incongruence between perceived self and ideal
self indicates poor emotional adjustment
• Failures to realize actualizing tendency can lead
to maladjustment
Criticisms of Rogers’ Theory
• Ignores aspects of personality that client
may be unaware of, but that still influence
client’s behavior
• Ambiguous concepts: Self-actualizing
tendency
Contributions of Rogers
• Research in psychotherapy
• Growth model
• Emphasis on developing self-concept in
personality
• Conditions necessary for therapy accepted
and used in many other schools of therapy