How Did Carl Rogers Contribute To Psychology
CP Psychology
Period 2 November 12, 2013
Carl Rogers
Carl Rogers was a highly intelligent man. Rogers was a humanistic psychologist who was also known as a therapist. His work is well known and is basically a combination of all the theories and techniques made up by many psychologists that he was inspired by. His style of therapy was admired and used by most therapists all around. Rogers was born on January 8, 1902 in Oak Park, Illinois. Oak Park is a suburb in Chicago. He was the fourth of six children; his mother was a strict Christian and a housewife while his father was a very successful civil engineer. Carl Rogers was able to read before he got to kindergarten so that allowed him to begin his education in the second grade. When he was 12, Rogers and …show more content…
his family moved to a farm just about 30 miles west from Chicago. His parents were very strict and he always had a lot of chores to do, which lead Rogers to become a self-disciplined, isolated, and an independent individual. Since Carl Rogers lived on the farm most of his life he went to the University of Wisconsin as an agriculture major.
During his studies he realized that agriculture wasn’t his thing so he switched his major to religion to study for the ministry. Rogers was doing so well in his studies of religion that he was selected along with nine other students to go to Beijing for the “World Student Christian Federation Conference.” Rogers got to study there for six months. After all of the time that he spent in Beijing he began to doubt some of his basic religious views. Rogers graduated from University of Wisconsin with a bachelor’s degree in history. After Rogers graduated he married his long term girlfriend Helen Elliot against his parents’ wishes. Later on in life Carl and Helen had two children a son and a daughter. Carl and Helen then moved to New York City after their wedding, Rogers began attending the Union Theological Seminary. The Union Theological Seminary was a famous liberal religious institution. Rogers took a student organized seminar called, “Why am I entering the ministry?”. Shortly after that class his interest in learning more about religion faded away
quickly. “Religion’s loss was, of course, psychology’s gain: Rogers switched to the clinical psychology program of Columbia University, and received his Ph.D. in 1931. He had already begun his clinical work at the Rochester Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children,”(Boeree). While Rogers was working at the Rochester Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children he came across Otto Rank’s theory and therapy techniques, which started Rogers on his way to developing his own approach of things. Otto Rank advocated that treatment be patient centered not therapist centered, and that the therapist be more emotionally involved in the process. “He was offered a full professorship at Ohio State in 1940. In 1942, he wrote his first book, Counseling and Psychotherapy. Then, in 1945, he was invited to set up a counseling center at the University of Chicago. It was while working there that in 1951 he published his major work, Client-Centered Therapy, wherein he outlines his basic theory”(Boeree). Rogers decided to return to his former College University of Wisconsin to teach in 1957. In 1967 Rogers accepted a research position at Western Behavioral Studies Institute in La Jolla, California, where he provided therapy, gave speeches, and wrote. “Eventually, he and several colleagues left WBSI to form Center for Studies of the Person (CSP). Carl Rogers continued his work with client-centered therapy until his death in 1987”(Cherry). Carl Rogers had some great theories and ideas. Rogers’s theory The Actualizing Tendency or Self Actualization is based on years of experience dealing with his clients. The Actualizing Tendency is the built-in motivation present in every life-form to develop its potentials to the fullest extent possible. “…Rogers believes that all creatures strive to make the very best of their existence. If they fail to do so, it is not for a lack of desire”(Boeree). He basically is saying that your level of achievement is based on how bad you want it and how hard you are willing to try to get whatever it is that you are trying to achieve. “Rogers believed that every person can achieve their goals, wishes and desires in life”(McLeod). Carl Rogers stated, “As no one else can know how we perceive, we are the best experts on ourselves.” “Like a flower that will grow to its full potential if the conditions are right, but which is constrained by its environment, so people will flourish and reach their potential if their environment is good enough”(McLeod). The quote that was just stated just showed that Rogers’s theory does not only apply to people but it also applies to the environment and the things in it. Rogers thought that each individual person is unique.
Rogers was very good when it came to his therapy techniques. He had a couple problems with the name of his technique but he figured it out. The first name he had was Non-Directive; he called it that because he felt as though the therapist should not lead the client but they should be there for the client while the client directs the progress of the therapy. “As he became more experienced, he realized that, as "non-directive" as he was, he still influenced his client by his very "non-directiveness!" In other words, clients look to therapists for guidance, and will find it even when the therapist is trying not to guide”(Boeree). Rogers then changed the name to Client-Centered. Other therapist thought that name was too basic to be the name for his therapy because most therapies are client-centered. Now people just call it Rogerian Therapy. “One of the phrases that Rogers used to describe his therapy is "supportive, not reconstructive," and he uses the analogy of learning to ride a bicycle to explain: When you help a child to learn to ride a bike, you can 't just tell them how. They have to try it for themselves. And you can 't hold them up the whole time either. There comes a point when you have to let them go. If they fall, they fall, but if you hang on, they never learn”(Boeree). Rogerians only technique that they are known for using during therapy is reflection. Reflection is defined as the mirroring of emotional communication. “If the client says "I feel like shit!" the therapist may reflect this back to the client by saying something like "So, life 's getting you down, hey?" By doing this, the therapist is communicating to the client that he is indeed listening and cares enough to understand”(Boeree). It gives the patient a sense of comfort. When using the reflection method you have to be careful on when to use it because it can become very noticeable to the clients, you will start sound like a parrot copying every other phrase that comes out of your clients mouth. Rogers’s three requirements to being an effective therapist was Congruence: genuineness, honesty with the client, Empathy: the ability to feel what the client feels, and Respect: acceptance, unconditional positive regard towards the client. “More therapists cite Rogers as their primary influence than any other psychologist”(Cherry).
Carl Rogers was a very smart humanistic psychologist/therapist. He was a very self-dependent individual. Rogers had five other siblings to grow up with when he was a child. He went through a few major changes in college but he eventually found the major that was perfect for him. Rogers had a wife and two kids. He wrote excellent books and he came up with even better theories that are still used to this day. Rogers was even nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 1987. When a person thinks about Carl Rogers they are most likely going to think about how great of a therapist he was.
Works Cited
Boeree, Dr. C. George. “CARL ROGERS”. Personality Theories. http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/rogers.html.
Cherry, Kendra. “Carl Rogers Biography (1902-1987)”. About.com. http://psychology.about.com/od/profilesofmajorthinkers/p/bio_rogers.htm.
McLeod, Saul. “Carl Rogers”. Simply Psychology. http://www.simplypsychology.org/carl-rogers.html.
Period 2 November 12, 2013
Carl Rogers
Carl Rogers was a highly intelligent man. Rogers was a humanistic psychologist who was also known as a therapist. His work is well known and is basically a combination of all the theories and techniques made up by many psychologists that he was inspired by. His style of therapy was admired and used by most therapists all around. Rogers was born on January 8, 1902 in Oak Park, Illinois. Oak Park is a suburb in Chicago. He was the fourth of six children; his mother was a strict Christian and a housewife while his father was a very successful civil engineer. Carl Rogers was able to read before he got to kindergarten so that allowed him to begin his education in the second grade. When he was 12, Rogers and …show more content…
his family moved to a farm just about 30 miles west from Chicago. His parents were very strict and he always had a lot of chores to do, which lead Rogers to become a self-disciplined, isolated, and an independent individual. Since Carl Rogers lived on the farm most of his life he went to the University of Wisconsin as an agriculture major.
During his studies he realized that agriculture wasn’t his thing so he switched his major to religion to study for the ministry. Rogers was doing so well in his studies of religion that he was selected along with nine other students to go to Beijing for the “World Student Christian Federation Conference.” Rogers got to study there for six months. After all of the time that he spent in Beijing he began to doubt some of his basic religious views. Rogers graduated from University of Wisconsin with a bachelor’s degree in history. After Rogers graduated he married his long term girlfriend Helen Elliot against his parents’ wishes. Later on in life Carl and Helen had two children a son and a daughter. Carl and Helen then moved to New York City after their wedding, Rogers began attending the Union Theological Seminary. The Union Theological Seminary was a famous liberal religious institution. Rogers took a student organized seminar called, “Why am I entering the ministry?”. Shortly after that class his interest in learning more about religion faded away
quickly. “Religion’s loss was, of course, psychology’s gain: Rogers switched to the clinical psychology program of Columbia University, and received his Ph.D. in 1931. He had already begun his clinical work at the Rochester Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children,”(Boeree). While Rogers was working at the Rochester Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children he came across Otto Rank’s theory and therapy techniques, which started Rogers on his way to developing his own approach of things. Otto Rank advocated that treatment be patient centered not therapist centered, and that the therapist be more emotionally involved in the process. “He was offered a full professorship at Ohio State in 1940. In 1942, he wrote his first book, Counseling and Psychotherapy. Then, in 1945, he was invited to set up a counseling center at the University of Chicago. It was while working there that in 1951 he published his major work, Client-Centered Therapy, wherein he outlines his basic theory”(Boeree). Rogers decided to return to his former College University of Wisconsin to teach in 1957. In 1967 Rogers accepted a research position at Western Behavioral Studies Institute in La Jolla, California, where he provided therapy, gave speeches, and wrote. “Eventually, he and several colleagues left WBSI to form Center for Studies of the Person (CSP). Carl Rogers continued his work with client-centered therapy until his death in 1987”(Cherry). Carl Rogers had some great theories and ideas. Rogers’s theory The Actualizing Tendency or Self Actualization is based on years of experience dealing with his clients. The Actualizing Tendency is the built-in motivation present in every life-form to develop its potentials to the fullest extent possible. “…Rogers believes that all creatures strive to make the very best of their existence. If they fail to do so, it is not for a lack of desire”(Boeree). He basically is saying that your level of achievement is based on how bad you want it and how hard you are willing to try to get whatever it is that you are trying to achieve. “Rogers believed that every person can achieve their goals, wishes and desires in life”(McLeod). Carl Rogers stated, “As no one else can know how we perceive, we are the best experts on ourselves.” “Like a flower that will grow to its full potential if the conditions are right, but which is constrained by its environment, so people will flourish and reach their potential if their environment is good enough”(McLeod). The quote that was just stated just showed that Rogers’s theory does not only apply to people but it also applies to the environment and the things in it. Rogers thought that each individual person is unique.
Rogers was very good when it came to his therapy techniques. He had a couple problems with the name of his technique but he figured it out. The first name he had was Non-Directive; he called it that because he felt as though the therapist should not lead the client but they should be there for the client while the client directs the progress of the therapy. “As he became more experienced, he realized that, as "non-directive" as he was, he still influenced his client by his very "non-directiveness!" In other words, clients look to therapists for guidance, and will find it even when the therapist is trying not to guide”(Boeree). Rogers then changed the name to Client-Centered. Other therapist thought that name was too basic to be the name for his therapy because most therapies are client-centered. Now people just call it Rogerian Therapy. “One of the phrases that Rogers used to describe his therapy is "supportive, not reconstructive," and he uses the analogy of learning to ride a bicycle to explain: When you help a child to learn to ride a bike, you can 't just tell them how. They have to try it for themselves. And you can 't hold them up the whole time either. There comes a point when you have to let them go. If they fall, they fall, but if you hang on, they never learn”(Boeree). Rogerians only technique that they are known for using during therapy is reflection. Reflection is defined as the mirroring of emotional communication. “If the client says "I feel like shit!" the therapist may reflect this back to the client by saying something like "So, life 's getting you down, hey?" By doing this, the therapist is communicating to the client that he is indeed listening and cares enough to understand”(Boeree). It gives the patient a sense of comfort. When using the reflection method you have to be careful on when to use it because it can become very noticeable to the clients, you will start sound like a parrot copying every other phrase that comes out of your clients mouth. Rogers’s three requirements to being an effective therapist was Congruence: genuineness, honesty with the client, Empathy: the ability to feel what the client feels, and Respect: acceptance, unconditional positive regard towards the client. “More therapists cite Rogers as their primary influence than any other psychologist”(Cherry).
Carl Rogers was a very smart humanistic psychologist/therapist. He was a very self-dependent individual. Rogers had five other siblings to grow up with when he was a child. He went through a few major changes in college but he eventually found the major that was perfect for him. Rogers had a wife and two kids. He wrote excellent books and he came up with even better theories that are still used to this day. Rogers was even nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 1987. When a person thinks about Carl Rogers they are most likely going to think about how great of a therapist he was.
Works Cited
Boeree, Dr. C. George. “CARL ROGERS”. Personality Theories. http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/rogers.html.
Cherry, Kendra. “Carl Rogers Biography (1902-1987)”. About.com. http://psychology.about.com/od/profilesofmajorthinkers/p/bio_rogers.htm.
McLeod, Saul. “Carl Rogers”. Simply Psychology. http://www.simplypsychology.org/carl-rogers.html.