Carl Rogers: Person-Centered Theory • He soon became less interested in farming and more devoted to

religion.
I. Overview of Client- Centered Theory
• Carl Rogers developed a humanistic theory of personality that III. PERSON - CENTERED THEORY
grew out of his experiences as a practicing psychotherapist. • Before “Non-directive Approach”
• Rogers was a consummate therapist but only a reluctant theorist. - Clients lead the discussion and not in a particular direction
• Rogers built his theory on the scaffold provided by experiences as • Then “Client-Centered Theory”
a therapist. - Non-directive & Unconditional Positive Regard
• Unlike most of these other theorists, however, he continually called - He used the term client not patient
for empirical research to support both his personality theory and Patient - sick & seeking for cure
his therapeutic approach. Client - an individual seeking for assistance in controlling his destiny
• Advocated a balance between tender-minded and hardheaded & overcoming difficulties
studies that would expand knowledge of how humans feel and • He believed that people are fundamentally good.
think. • Also, that people have an actualizing tendency or desire to fulfill
• Even though he formulated a rigorous, internally consistent theory their potentials and become the best people they can.
of personality, Rogers did not feel comfortable with the notion of
theory. A. Basic Assumptions
• His personal preference was to be a helper of people and not a • Formative Tendency – is a tendency of all matter to evolve from
constructor of theories. simpler forms into a more complex forms
• To him, theories seemed to make things too cold and external, and - Primitive unconsciousness to a highly-organized awareness
he worried that his theory might imply a measure of finality. • Actualizing Tendency – is a tendency within all humans to move
• Rogers realized that 10 or 20 years hence, his theories would be toward completion or fulfillment of potentials.
different; but unfortunately, throughout the intervening years, he - Can be suppressed but can never be destroyed
never systematically reformulated his theory of personality. Need for maintenance
• During the 1950s, at a midpoint in his career, Rogers was invited - Basic needs such as food, air…
to write what was then called the “client-centered” theory of - Also includes to resist change and seek the status quo
personality. , his final theory of personality rests on that original Need for enhancement
foundation spelled out in the Koch series. - People’s willingness to learn
B. The Self and Self-Actualization
II. Biography of Carl Rogers • Infants begin to develop a vague concept of self when a portion
• Carl Ransom Rogers was born on January 8, 1902, in Oak Park, of their experience becomes personalized and differentiated in
Illinois. awareness as “I” or “me” experiences.
• The fourth of six children born to Walter and Julia Cushing Rogers. • Actualization tendency – organismic experiences of the
• Carl was closer to his mother than to his father. individual.
• His parents were both devoutly religious, and Carl became • Self-actualization – is the tendency to actualize the self as
interested in the Bible. perceived in awareness.
• Rogers had intended to become a farmer, and after he graduated
from high school, he entered the University of Wisconsin as an The Self-Concept
agriculture major. • Includes all those aspects of one’s being and one’s experiences
that are perceived in the awareness by the individual.
The Ideal Self awareness because they appear to be inconsistent with our
• One’s view of self as one wishes to be. emerging self-concept. This incongruence between our self-
• Contains all those attributes, usually positive, that people aspire to concept and our organismic experience is the source of
possess. psychological disorders.
C. Awareness • Vulnerability
• Without awareness the self-concept and the ideal self would not - The greater the incongruence between our perceived self (self-
exist. concept) and our organismic experience, the more vulnerable we
• “the symbolic representation of some portion of our experience” are.
Levels of Awareness • Anxiety and Threat
• First, some events are experienced below the threshold of - Whereas vulnerability exists when we have no awareness of the
awareness and are either ignored or denied. incongruence within our self, anxiety and threat are experienced
• Second, Rogers hypothesized that some experiences are as we gain awareness of such incongruence.
accurately symbolized and freely admitted to the self-structure. • Defensiveness
Such experiences are both non-threatening and consistent with the - The protection of the self-concept against anxiety and threat.
existing self-concept. Two chief defenses are:
• Third level of awareness involves experiences that are perceived  Distortion – we misinterpret an experience in order to fit it
in a distorted form. into some aspect of our self-concept.
Denial of Positive Experiences  Denial – refuse to perceive an experience in awareness, or
 A compliment from another also implies the right of that person to at least we keep some aspect of it from reaching
criticize or condemn, and thus the compliment carries an implied symbolization.
threat. • Disorganization
D. Becoming a Person - Most people engage to defensive behavior, but sometimes
• An individual must make contact – positive or negative – with defenses fail and behavior disorganized or psychotic.
another person.
• Positive regard – the person develops a need to be loved, liked, IV. Psychotherapy
or accepted by another person. • Client-centered therapy is deceptively simple in statement but
• Positive self-regard – experience of prizing or valuing one’s self. decidedly difficult in practice.
E. Barriers to Psychological Health • Client-centered counseling approach can be stated in an if-then
• Conditions of Worth fashion.
- They perceive that their parents, friends, or partners love and
accept them only if they meet those people’s expectations and
approval. A. Conditions
- “A condition of worth arises when the positive regard of a • First, an anxious or vulnerable client must come into contact with
significant other is conditional, when the individual feels that in a congruent therapist who also possesses empathy and
some respects he [or she] is prized and in others not.” unconditional positive regard for that client.
• Next, the client must perceive these characteristics in the
• Incongruence therapist.
- Psychological disequilibrium begins when we fail to recognize • Finally, the contact between client and therapist must be of some
our organismic experiences as self experiences; that is, when we duration.
do not accurately symbolize organismic experiences into
 • Client-centered therapy is unique in its insistence that the • Empathy means “temporarily living in the other’s life, moving about
conditions of counselor congruence, unconditional positive in it delicately without making judgments”.
regard, and empathic listening are both necessary and sufficient. B. Process
Stages of Therapeutic Change
Counselor Congruence • Stage 1 - Clients have unwillingness to communicate anything
• The first necessary and sufficient condition for therapeutic about oneself
change is a congruent therapist. • Stage 2 - Clients become less rigid
• Congruence exists when a person’s organismic experiences are • Stage 3 - Clients freely talk about themselves
matched by an awareness of them and by an ability and • Stage 4 - Clients begin to talk of deep feelings but not ones
willingness to openly express these feelings. presently felt
• A congruent therapist is not passive, not aloof, and not • Stage 5 - Clients begun to undergo significant change and
“nondirective.” growth
• Congruence involves: • Stage 6 - Clients experience dramatic growth and an irreversible
- Feelings movement toward fully functioning or self-actualizing
- Awareness • Stage 7 - Clients become fully-functioning “persons of tomorrow”
- Expression C. Outcomes
• Incongruence can arise from either of the two points Rogers’ Theory of Therapeutic Change
• First, there can be a breakdown between feelings and IF the following conditions exist:
awareness. 1.A vulnerable or anxious client
• Second, is a discrepancy between awareness of an experience 2.contacts a counselor who possesses
and the ability or willingness to express it to another. 3.congruence in the relationship,
4.unconditional positive regard for the client, and
Unconditional Positive Regard 5.empathic understanding for the client’s internal frame of
• Positive regard is the need to be liked, prized, or accepted by reference, and
another person. When this need exists without any conditions or 6.the client perceives Conditions 3, 4, & 5 – the three necessary
qualifications, unconditional positive regard occurs. and sufficient conditions for therapeutic growth;
• Unconditional Positive Regard – therapists accept and prize THEN therapeutic change occurs and the client will:
their clients without any restrictions or reservations and without 1.become more congruent;
regard to the clients’ behavior. 2.be less defensive;
3.become more open to experiences;
4.have a more realistic view of the world;
5.develop positive self-regard;
6.narrow the gap between ideal self and real self;
Empathic Listening 7.be less vulnerable to threat;
• The third necessary and sufficient condition of psychological 8.become less anxious;
growth is empathic listening. 9.take the ownership of experiences;
• Empathy exists when therapists accurately sense the feelings of 10. become more accepting of others;
their clients and are able to communicate these perceptions so that 11. become more congruent in relationships with others.
clients know that another person has entered their world of feelings
without prejudice, projection, or evaluation.
V. Person of Tomorrow VII. Related Research
• Adaptable – they would not merely adjust to a static A. Self-Discrepancy Theory
environment but would realize that conformity and adjustment to
a fixed condition have little long-term survival value.
• Open to experiences – all stimuli, whether stemming from
within the organism or from the external environment, are freely
received by the self.
• Live fully in the moment – they would see each experience
with a new freshness and appreciate it fully in the present
moment.
• Harmonious relations with others – they would feel no need to
be liked or loved by everyone, because they would know that
they are unconditionally prized and accepted by someone.
• More integrated –accurately symbolize all their experiences in
awareness.
• Basic trust of human nature – they would not harm others
merely for personal gain.
• Greater richness in life – they would neither distort internal
stimuli nor buffer their emotions. They would live in the present
and thus participate more richly in the ongoing moment.

VI. Philosophy of Science B. Motivation and Pursuing One’s Goals

According to Rogers, science begins and ends with the One area of research where Rogers’ ideas continue to be
subjective experience, although everything in between must be influential is goal pursuit. Setting and pursuing goals is a way for
objective and empirical. Scientists must have many of the people to organize their lives in a way that leads to desirable
characteristics of the person of tomorrow . outcomes and adds meaning to daily activities. According to Rogers,
a source of psychological distress is incongruence, or when one’s
ideal self does not sufficiently overlap with his or her self-concept
and this incongruence can be represented in the goals the person
chooses to pursue.

• Organismic Valuing Process (OVP) – is a natural instinct

directing us toward the most fulfilling pursuit.
• Intrinsic Goals – are goals a person finds satisfying and
fulfilling; these goal are part of the ideal self, and people will be
directed toward them by their OVP.
• Extrinsic Goals – are goals that are not experienced as
inherently rewarding; these goals can be represented in one’s
self-concept but are not necessarily part of the ideal self.