Critical Summary of Carl Rogers

Carl Rogers is an American humanistic psychologist. He enrolled in agriculture at the University of Wisconsin but switched to history. Rogers completed his PhD in psychology at the University of Columbia and spent twelve years as a clinical psychologist (Crowne, 2009). He wrote a book titled The Clinical Treatment of the Problem Child. He was president of the American Psychological Association and received its Distinguished Scientific Contribution award. Rogers became an eminent figure in psychology from his proposed theory called the person-centered theory. Person-centered theory puts its main emphases on humanistic values and respect for the individual. So much emphases that critics could say humanistic theories are visibly bias towards individualistic values. Arguably, the person-centered therapy has been proven to have moderate effectiveness and is widely used. The theory suggests we need to look at human beings as a totality and treat them as a whole. Rogers designated the word ‘organisms’ for individuals and suggested it tied to the notion of self-actualization assumption that is made up from various components that work together, like the human body is made up of different organs. Whole is seen more of a goal and a lifelong process. Even though Rogerian theory has exploded into numerous extensions, such as the fully functioning person, interpersonal relations, family life, education, group leadership, and conflict, I will be focusing on the following key concepts: self-concept, self-experience, positive regard and positive self-regard, conditions of worth, congruence and incongruence, threat and anxiety, organismic value process, empathic understanding, and self-actualization. In Roger’s view, self-concept is one of the most important features of personality. Self-concept includes all thoughts, feelings, and beliefs a person has about themself in relations to others. One’s self-concept is shaped by how other’s see them. Individuals take those evaluations of others and combine it into a self-evaluation and that’s how they perceive themself. I would agree with this notion because the correlation of self-concept and ideal self depicts one’s self-esteem. There’s an old saying that reads like, “you hear something so many times that you believe it to be true.” This is also just one affirmation out of many why individuals should engage in positive self-talk regularly. The ideal self is the ‘self-concept which the individual would most like to possess, upon which he places the highest value for himself’ (1958, p. 200). Although Rogers has come up with personality tests such as the Chicago Q-sort and the control group, critics could argue humanistic theories can not be easily tested like psychodynamic theories can be. Another interrelated concept in Rogerian theory is self-experience. “Awareness of self becomes differentiated out of experience early in the course of development; this is self-experience” (Crowne, 2009). Self-experience develops a fundamental need, the need for positive regard. Positive regard is one’s perception of some self-experience of another which makes a positive difference resulting in feelings of warmth, acceptance, and respect. Individuals also have a need for positive self-regard. Another word for self-regard is self-esteem or self-worth (Rehman, 2010). Positive self-regard is developed by experiencing the positive regard others show us growing up. Both positive regard and positive self-regard are essential for healthy growth and development. The need for positive self-regard leads to a selective perception of experience in terms of the conditions of worth that are made by others. A condition of worth develops when one’s behaviour is evaluated as more or less worthy of self-regard by others. For example, a child gets his favourite candy only when he performs well on a test. When an individual gets positive regard under circumstances, Roger calls this conditional positive regard. Conditional positive regard implies the individual is only appreciated when they display acceptable behaviours. Roger believes this hinders the positive growth of self and conditional positive self-regard develops as a result (Rehman, 2010). Conditional positive self-regard means that an individual begins to like themself only if they meet up with the standards others have applied to them, rather than when they truly actualize their potentials. Children who receive conditional love from their parents tend to distort their experiences in order to feel accepted. Unconditional positive regard is complete love and acceptance of a person regardless of what the individual says or does. Children who receive unconditional love from their parents are more likely to develop congruence. One must also demonstrate empathic understanding, which means perceiving an individual’s frame of reference and recognizing its significance and emotional meaning as if one were that individual (Crowne, 2009). Empathic understanding brings us as close as we can get to fully understanding an individual. Rogers used the term congruence and incongruence to describe the relationship between self-concept and reality. For example, an individual considers themself to be an honest person but often lies about why they’re late to work, this is called incongruence. According to Rogers, incongruity often creates anxiety and can cause individuals to respond defensively (Eysenck, 2004). Two key defensive processes are denial and distortion. Denial involves refusing to accept at the conscious level that the experience happened. Distortion involves misremembering the experience to make it consistent with the perceived self (Eysenck, 2004). Individuals who have a high degree of incongruence are likely to feel very anxious because reality continually threatens their self-concepts (Rehman, 2010). Organismic value process is an ongoing process, according to Rogers, in which values are never fixed or rigid, but experiences are being accurately symbolized and valued in terms of the satisfactions experienced by the individuals (Rehman, 2010). This process is a subconscious guide that evaluates experience for its growth potential; it draws individuals toward experiences that are growth producing and away from those that would inhibit growth. For example, a child will glady eat but will grow in disgust once they are full and reach their threshold. Roger’s person-centered theory emphasizes the concept of self-actualization. Some critics could argue that this concept reflects Abraham Maslow’s own ideals and values. The concept suggests that all behaviour is motivated by self-actualizing tendencies. These tendencies include the meeting of physiological needs, need to learn, and need to grow (Crowne, 2009). Growth occurs when individuals confront problems, struggle to master them, and through that struggle they develop new aspects of their skills, capacities, and views about life (Rehman, 2010). Humans are motivated only by this one tendency to grow, to self-actualize (Crowne, 2009). Most critics have pointed out the vague and abstract concept of the self-actualized person being too subjective. Critics have also argued that this theory is naively optimistic and fails to provide insight into the evil side of human nature. Person-centered theory may be characterized by four principle emphases: an attitude expressed by Rogers as ‘belief in the fundamental predominance of the subjective, the theory of personality, a theory of psychotherapy and personality change, and several extensions including the fully functioning person, interpersonal relations, family life, education, group leadership, and conflict (Crowne, 2009). This theory is mainly criticized because it is not a scientific approach, rather it focuses on the experiences of an individual. In order to understand a person, we must understand their subjective sense of reality and know their ‘world’. We do this through empathic understanding. However, there is a limit and we are unable to reach the point of absolute objectivity to fully and truly understand a person. Each individual has needs for positive regard and for positive self-regard. Congruence is when self-experiences are accurately represented in self-concept. The gap between the real self and the ideal self, the “I am” and the “I should” is called incongruity. The two main defensive processes are denial and distortion. The most important conditions are unconditional positive regard and empathic understanding (Crowne, 2009). The one and only motive that underlies all human behaviour is self-actualization. There is little research directly addressing the assumption that our major motivating force is to achieve self-actualization (Eysenck, 2004). Rogers proposes this process will lead individuals to make choices that are good for them if they are given the freedom to choose. I am hesitant to agree with this statement because individuals who are not given much structure throughout heir childhood tend to go down the wrong path. Said Carl Rogers: “The good life is a process, not a state of being. It is a direction, not a destination” (Crowne, 2009).

References
Crowne, D. (2009). Personality theory. (2nd ed., pp. 52-94). Ontario: Oxford University Press.

Eysenck, M. (2004). Psychology: An international approach. (pp. 451-454). New York: Psychology Press Ltd. Retrieved from http://books.google.ca/books?id=l8j_z5-qZfAC&pg=PA451&lpg=PA451&dq=self concept and ideal self-concept carl rogers&source=bl&ots=iCw5u1uIT4&sig=6BYpZSt57Wxr82MMNKCJ__g0Idc&hl =en&sa=X&ei=WRYeU7TYFMvvoATz1oBY&ved=0CHYQ6AEwBw

Rehman, M. (2010). Carl rogers self theory of personality. Retrieved from http://www.scribd.com/doc/28250013/Carl-Rogers-Self-Theory-of-Personality-Devel opmen

References: Crowne, D. (2009). Personality theory. (2nd ed., pp. 52-94). Ontario: Oxford University Press. Eysenck, M. (2004). Psychology: An international approach. (pp. 451-454). New York: Psychology Press Ltd. Retrieved from http://books.google.ca/books?id=l8j_z5-qZfAC&pg=PA451&lpg=PA451&dq=self concept and ideal self-concept carl rogers&source=bl&ots=iCw5u1uIT4&sig=6BYpZSt57Wxr82MMNKCJ__g0Idc&hl =en&sa=X&ei=WRYeU7TYFMvvoATz1oBY&ved=0CHYQ6AEwBw Rehman, M. (2010). Carl rogers self theory of personality. Retrieved from http://www.scribd.com/doc/28250013/Carl-Rogers-Self-Theory-of-Personality-Devel opmen