CARL ROGERS:

PERSON-CENTERED THEORY
Humanistic Theory of Personality
 OVERVIEW
• Carl Rogers is the founder of the CLIENT-CENTERED THERAPY
• Combined research and and practice in order to understand how humans
feel and think
• He focused on being a therapist, a helper of people, because he thinks that
being a theorist will make him too cold and external.
 BIOGRAPHY
• Carl was born in Illinois to Walter and Julia Rogers, who
were both devoutly religious.
• Roger intended to become a farmer and entered
college with Agriculture as his chosen path.
• He was involved with religious activities in school and
travelled to China to attend a religious conference.
• He shifted his career path from Agriculture to
becoming a minister and attended a seminary in New
York.
• Disappointed with the doctrinaire attitude in the
seminary, he shifted again his career path to
Psychology.
 BIOGRAPHY
• Carl was influenced by Otto Rank’s post-Freudian
practice of psychotherapy.
• He published Counseling and Psychotherapy.
• He formed the Center for Studies of the Person.
• He believed that interpersonal relationship between
two individuals is a powerful ingredient that cultivates
psychological growth within both persons.
• His life was marked by change and openness to
experience.
 BASIC ASSUMPTIONS
CLIENT-CENTERED refers to the THERAPY; while PERSON-CENTERED, which is
more inclusive, refers to the THEORY.

FORMATIVE TENDENCY
• The tendency of all matter to evolve from simpler to complex forms
ACTUALIZING TENDENCY
• The tendency within all humans (and other animals and plants) to move toward
completion of fulfillment of potentials.
• There is a need to MAINTAIN and ENHANCE the organism.
 CONDITIONS
UNCONDITIONAL
POSITIVE REGARD

CONGRUENCY

POTENTIAL GROWTH
EMPATHY
 THE SELF AND SELF-ACTUALIZATION
SELF-ACTUALIZATION
• A subset of actualization tendency and is therefore not synonymous with it.
• Harmony with Real Self and Ideal Self should be achieved.

SELF CONCEPT
• How human think, feel and act. Usually seen by others.
IDEAL SELF
• One’s view of self as one wishes to be.
• Usually contains positive attributes that people aspire to possess.

INCONGRUENCE will happen if the ideal self and self-concept is not in harmony
 AWARENESS
• Without awareness the self-concept and ideal self would not exist.

LEVELS OF AWARENESS
1. Some events or experienced below the threshold of awareness are either
IGNORED or DENIED;
2. Some experiences are ACCURATELY SYMBOLIZED and freely admitted to
the self-structure; and
3. Experiences that are perceived in a DISTORTED form.

DENIAL OF POSITIVE EXPERIENCE

BECOMING A PERSON
 BARRIERS TO PSYCHOLOGICAL
HEALTH
• CONDITIONS OF WORTH
External Evaluations
• INCONGRUENCE
Vulnerable
Anxiety and Threat

• DEFENSIVENESS
Distortion and Denial

• DISORGANIZATION
 ROGERIAN THERAPY
• Simple in statement but difficult in practice.
• If-then approach.

CLIENT
 STAGES OF THERAPEUTIC CHANGE
• Stage 1: Unwillingness to communicate anything about oneself;
• Stage 2: Clients become slightly rigid;
• Stage 3: They freely talk about self, although still an object;
• Stage 4: Begin to talk of deep feelings but not ones presently felt;
• Stage 5: Client begun to undergo significant change and growth;
• Stage 6: Experiencing dramatic growth and an irreversible movement
toward becoming fully-functioning or self-actualizing; and
• Stage 7: Occur outside of therapeutic encounter and become…

PERSON OF TOMORROW
 PERSONS OF TOMORROW
• A fully-functioning person or a person of tomorrow, is:
• more adaptable;
• open to their experiences;
• Live fully in the moment;
• Confident with harmonious relationship with others;
• More integrated, more whole;
• Have a basic trust of human nature;
• Would enjoy a greater richness in life.
 CONCEPT OF HUMANITY

DETERMINISM FREE CHOICE

PESSIMISM OPTIMISM

CAUSALITY TELEOLOGY

CONSCIOUS UNCONSCIOUS

BIOLOGICAL SOCIAL INFLUENCE

UNIQUENESS SIMILIRATIES
WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE A PERSON OF TOMORROW?