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Humanistic Theory of Personality by Carl Rogers

Carl Rogers developed a humanistic theory of personality focused on self-actualization and the self-concept. He believed people have an innate drive to fulfill their potential and become all they are capable of being. The self-concept is shaped by how one is viewed by others and influences congruence between the real and ideal selves. Unconditional positive regard from others is necessary for growth and becoming a fully functioning person.

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1K views4 pages

Humanistic Theory of Personality by Carl Rogers

Carl Rogers developed a humanistic theory of personality focused on self-actualization and the self-concept. He believed people have an innate drive to fulfill their potential and become all they are capable of being. The self-concept is shaped by how one is viewed by others and influences congruence between the real and ideal selves. Unconditional positive regard from others is necessary for growth and becoming a fully functioning person.

Uploaded by

Naina 6116
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Humanistic theory of personality by Carl rogers

The word personality comes from a latin word,”persona”, meaning ‘mask’. Personality
is defined as,”a unique set of traits and characteristics, relatively stable over the time”.

Personality is the sum total of who you are –Your attitude and reactions, both
physical and emotional. It’s what makes each person different from every other person
in the world.

Humanistic perspective – The ‘third force’ in psychology that focuses on those


aspects of personality that make people uniquely human, such as subjective feelings and
freedom of choice.

Carl Rogers was a humanistic psychologist


who agreed with the main assumptions of
Abraham Maslow. However, Rodgers added
that for a person to grow they need an
environment that provides them with
genuineness, acceptance and empathy. Carl
Rogers humanistic personality theory
emphasizes the importance of self
actualising tendency in shaping human
personalities.
Rogers believed that every person would achieve their goals, wishes and desires in life.
When, or rather if they do so, Self actualisation took place. Rogers defined self-
actualisation as:-
“The organism has one basic tendency and striving-to actualise, Maintain,
and enhance the experience in organism.”

Self-actualising tendency
Rogers believed that human beings are always striving to fulfil their innate capacities
and capabilities and to become everything that their genetic potential will allow them to
become. This striving for fulfilment is called the self actualising tendency. An
important tool in human self actualisation is the development of an image of oneself, or
the self concept. The self concept is based on what people are told by others and how
the sense of self is reflected in the words and actions of important people in one’s life,
Such as parents, siblings, co-workers, friends and teachers. Over time a person develops
self concept- concepts or values related to oneself. If a person has a positive self
concept they tend to feel happy about who they are and often see the world as a safe and
happy place. If they have a negative self-concept, they may feel unhappy with who
they are.

Ideal self and real self


Rogers further divided the self into two
categories: Ideal self and real self. The
ideal self is the person that you would like to
be; The real self is the person you actually
are. The ideal self primarily comes from
important, significant others in a person’s life,
especially our parents when we are children.
Rogers focused on the idea that we need to
achieve consistency between these two selves.
Rogers believed that when the real self and
ideal self are very close or similar to each
other, People feel competent and capable but when there is a mismatch between the
ideal self and the real self, Anxiety and neurotic behaviour can be the result. How
closely one’s real self matches up with their ideal self is called congruity. When there is a
match between the ideal self and real self then there is, Congruence which leads to a
greater sense of self-worth and a healthy productive life. On the other hand when there
is great difference between the ideal and real self, We experience what is called
Incongruence, Which can lead to maladjustment.

SELF-WORTH
Self worth is rooted in our self concept. Self worth or self esteem is very important for
someone’s self concept. Self worth is how highly we think about ourselves or how we
value or regard ourselves. For example; Ram believes that he is a good person who
deserves good things.

Unconditional and conditional positive regard


Rogers finds positive regard as warmth, affection , Love and respect that come from
significant others in peoples experience. Positive regard is vital to people's ability to cope
with stress and strive to achieve self actualisation. Rodgers believes that unconditional
positive regard,or love, affection, and respect
with no strings attached, Is necessary for people to
be able to fully explore all that we can achieve and
become. Unfortunately, some parents, spouses
and friends give conditional positive regard,
which is love,affection,respect and warmth that
depend, or seem to depend on doing what those
people want.

Fully functioning person


For Rogers , a person who is in the process of self actualising, actively exploring
potential and abilities and experiencing a match between the real self and the ideal self ,
Is a fully functioning person. Fully functional people are in touch with their own
feelings and abilities and are able to trace their innermost urges and intuitions. To
become fully functioning, a person needs unconditional positive regard. He found that
fully functional individuals had several traits in common:-
1. openness to experience- They are always ready to explore new things.
2. Trust his feelings- whenever they make any decision they always trust their
feelings and instincts. They always take responsibility for their feelings.
3. Existential living- The individual lives his life to the fullest and does not have
any preconceptions. They learn from their past mistakes and try to apply them to
bright their future.
4. Creativity- These individuals always think out of the box are very creative and
always try to take risks in their life to grow and achieve their fullest potential.
5. A fulfilled life- A life where an individual has achieved everything is happy and
very satisfied with his life.

Criticism of Rogers theory


Some aspects of humanistic theory are difficult to test scientifically, and it has been
suggested that this viewpoint could be considered more of a philosophical view of
human behaviour than psychological explanation. Overall humanistic theory’s greatest
impact has been in the development of therapies designed to promote self growth and
to help people better understand themselves and others. For example, when viewed
through the lens of psychotherapy and therapist variables there appears to be a constant
relationship between Rogers' ideas of unconditional positive regard and the level of
therapist empathy perceived by clients, positively contributing to improvements in
clients self evaluation and improving client’s relationships with others.

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