Carl R. Rogers Self-Actualiza5on Theory THE BASIC NATURE OFHUMAN BEINGS Rogers rejects the concept of a superior, prescient psychotherapist, on whom the "paEent" passively depends for shrewd interpretaEons. Instead he emphasizes that only we can know, and choose, our proper direcEons in life. In accordance with this belief, Rogers originally named his approach "client- centered therapy." Having subsequently expanded his ideas ot include such nonclinical areas as parenEng, educaEon, and interracial relaEons, he now prefers the broader designaEon of person-centered theory. ActualizaEon According to Rogers, we are moEvated by a single posiEve force: an innate tendency to develop our construcEve, healthy potenEals. This actualizing tendency includes both drive-reducing and drive- increasing behavior. On the one hand, we seek to reduce the drives of hunger, thirst, sex, and oxygen deprivaEon. Yet we also demonstrate such tension-increasing behavior as curiosity, creaEvity, and the willingness to undergo painful learning experiences in order to become more effecEve and independent. Rogers's theoreEcal opEmism does not blind him to our capacity for cruel and destrucEve behavior, but he aTributes this external forces. There are many potenEal piUalls along the path to actualizaEon, and apathogenic environment may cause us to behave in ways that belie our benign inner nature. The Need for PosiEve Regard All of us need warmth, respect, and acceptance from other people, parEcularly such significant others as our parents. This need for posiEve regard is innate, and remains acEve throughout our lives. But it also becomes partly independent of specific contacts with other people, leading to a secondary, learned need for posiEve self-regard. That is, what significant others think of us strongly influences how we come to regard ourselves. The quest to saEsfy the powerful need for posiEve regard represents the single most serious impediment to the actualizing tendency, as we will see in a subsequent secEon. Teleology Rogers agrees that childhood events plays prominent role in forming the adult personality. But he prefers to emphasize currently acEve needs and our striving toward the goal of actualizaEon. "Behavior is not 'caused' by something which occurred in the past. Present tensions and present needs are the only ones which the organism endeavors to reduce or saEsfy". THE STRUCTURE OF PERSONALITY Since actualizaEon involves the total organism, Rogers sees liTle need to posit specific structural constructs. Yet his theory is not truly holisEc, for he shares Horney's belief that we oZen suffer from painful intrapsychic conflicts."The great puzzle that faces anyone who delves at all into the dynamics of human behavior. [is]that persons are oZen at war within themselves, estranged from their own organisms". Experience and the Organismic Valuing Process Experience. Each of us exists at the center of our own private, ever-changing world of inner experience (experienEal field, phenomenal field), one that can never be perfectly understood by anyone else. Experience includes everything that is available to your awareness at any given moment: thoughts; emoEons; percepEons, including those that are temporarily ignored (such as the pressure of the chair seat on which you are siang); and needs, some of which may also be momentarily overlooked (as when you are engrossed in work or play). However, only a small porEon of experience is conscious. The greatest part consists of sEmuli and events that we perceive below the level of awareness.
