Carl Rogers is among the small group of enlightened, visionary individuals that stand as giants in the field of psychology. Due to the theories that Rogers developed not only in psychology but in theories of education, he is considered, as Constance Holden
writes, "…one of the grand old men of American psychology and a leading figure in the postwar development of humanistic psychology" (Holden, 1997, p. 31). This paper reviews his theory of personality, his approach to therapy and the contributions he made to the field of psychology as a whole.
Rogers' Theory of Personality
Rogers' theory of personality was actually a theory that embraces providing the client with a "…roadway toward self-actualization… as an unfolding process of self-discovery and self-awareness," according to Jeffrey S. Nevid (Nevid, 2011, p. 403). Rogers believed that personality is expressed through "…conscious experience of directing ourselves toward fulfilling our unique potentials" as humans (Nevid, 403). The self…...
mlaWorks Cited
Dryden, Windy, and Mytton, Jill. 1999. Four Approaches to Counseling and Psychotherapy.
East Sussex, UK: Psychology Press.
Goodman, Geoff. 1991. Feeling Our Way into Empathy: Carl Rogers, Heinz Kohut, and Jesus.
Journal of Religion and Health, 30(3), 191-204.
After all, Rogers believed that every individual has within himself "vast resources for self-understanding and for altering their self-concepts, basic attitudes and self-directed behavior" (Moon quoting Rogers). But these resources need to be tapped if a facilitator (like the client-centered therapist) can bring out conditions such as "congruence, empathic understanding, and unconditional positive regard" (Moon).
In order to properly provide therapy for the client, a therapist should be able to experience what that client is experiencing, Moon explains, paraphrasing Rogers. He quotes Rogers as saying that a therapist must "sense the hurt or pleasure of another as he senses it, and to perceive the causes thereof as he perceives them… [and to] lay aside your own values in order to enter another's world without prejudice" (Moon quoting Rogers). Moon sums up the Rogers approach to clients by saying that Rogers first views the conditions vis-a-vis the client and Rogers does not…...
mlaWorks Cited
Cochran, Tracy. (2004). Mindful Writing: Jon Kabat-Zinn Asks Us to Come to Our Senses.
Publishers Weekly, 251(49), 23-26.
Elias, Marilyn. (2009). "Mindfulness" Meditation Being Used in Hospitals and Schools.
USA Today. Retrieved January 13, 2010, from http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-06-07-meditate_N.htm .
This can help to provide individuals with the capacity to retain some control over their emotional, personal and professional lives as the loss turns into a state of normalcy.
Here, we differentiate between the imposition of undue ego orientation and the achievement of meaningful self-actualization. For the woman suffering from the loss of her husband, for instance, the ability to achieve this can be tantamount to finding ways of living independently and maintaining perspective in the absence of a key part of one's emotional support system. As the text by Cherry (2008) indicates, "humanistic psychology was instead focused on each individual's potential and stressed the importance of growth and self-actualization. The fundamental belief of humanistic psychology was that people are innately good, with mental and social problems resulting from deviations from this natural tendency." (p. 1)
Certainly, the traumatic experience of losing a loved one qualifies as just such a deviating…...
mlaWorks Cited:
Cherry, K. (2008). Humanistic Psychology. About Psychology.
Fuller, R.C. (1982). Carl Rogers, Religion, and the Role of Psychology in American Culture. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 22(4), 21-32.
Genuineness, empathy, and respect are at the heart of Rogers' process of mirroring. Instead of directing or challenging the client, a Rogerian therapist validates the client's feelings and expressions. For example, if the client says 'I am worthless,' unlike a cognitive behaviorist who might ask why, or probe the false and extreme nature of the statement, a Rogerian might simply say, 'you feel as if you have no worth at all?' To encourage the client to explore the statement. Rogerian therapy has been criticized for being overly circular, for taking longer than most people can afford to spend upon therapy, and not being directive enough. However, Rogerians contend that "If independence (autonomy, freedom with responsibility) is what you are helping a client to achieve, then they will not achieve it if they remain dependent on you, the therapist. They need to try their insights on their own, in real…...
mlaWorks Cited
Boeree, C. George. (2006). Carl Rogers. Personality Theories. Retrieved March 16, 2009 at http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/rogers.html
He "believed that in order for a client/therapist relationship to develop the therapist must embody these characteristics unconditional positive regard, empathy, and congruence" (Rothmans, from Kirschenbaum, 2004). These elements are characteristic nowadays of therapeutic relationship in all therapeutic approaches, and their efficiency in therapy was proved by research. Rogers' theories are best known today as "humanistic psychology." Humanism appears as 'Third Force' of therapy views, along with the psychoanalytic and behavioral views. This perspective is focused on helping the individual help himself rather than on diagnosis. Rogers was more interested in helping the client achieve his full potential in life, process termed "self-actualization." Amy Demorest suggested concisely that in Carl Rogers' psychological theory "it is the individual's own actualizing tendency that brings order and meaning into a life, and thus understanding will only be found if we focus on the individual's subjective experience" (Demorest, 2005) and therefore Rogers' approach…...
mlaWorks Cited
Rothman, Morgan. "Psyography: Carl Rogers," Last retreived from site, December 7, 2006 on faculty.frostburg.edu/mbradley/psyography/carlrogers.html
Kirschenbaum, H. "Carl Rogers's Life and Works: An Assessment on the 100th Anniversary of His Birth" [Electronic version]. Journal of Counseling and Development, 2004, 82, 116-124.
Demorest Amy. Psychology's Grand Theorists: How Personal Experiences Shaped Professional Ideas. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Mahwah, NJ. 2005. p. 172
Boeree, George. Carl Rogers: "Biography." Last retrieved from site December 7, 2006 http://www.psychology.sunysb.edu/ewaters/345/203_rogers/rogers_bio.pdf
Carl ogers Theory of Personality
Introduction to the Personality Theory of Carl ogers
Twentieth Century psychologists Carl ogers (1902-1987) was a founder of the Humanistic approach to human psychology (Gerrig & Zimbardo, 2008). His theories were derivative of earlier phenomenological theorists and were predicated largely on the proposition that the natural state of every individual is to seek continual, life-long psychological development. However, whereas other schools of psychology defined the process of psychological growth in terms of chronological stages of development, ogers suggested principles of self-actualization that were not linked directly to chronological age in the manner of some of his contemporaries in other schools of psychology (Gerrig & Zimbardo, 2008; McWilliams, 2004).
Two of the most important elements of ogers' contribution to the field of client-centered psychology are his nineteen fundamental propositions through which he defined the progressive psychological development of the individuals and his list of seven behavioral characteristics that define…...
mlaReferences
Branden, N. (2007). The Psychology of Self-Esteem. New York: Basic Books.
Gerrig, R. And Zimbardo, P. (2008). Psychology and Life. New York: Allyn & Bacon.
Hockenbury, DH and Hockenbury, S.E. (2007) Discovering Psychology. New York:
Worth.
The forces of socialization, according to Rogers, is what creates a discrepancy between the self and the drive towards actualization. At the core of the discrepancy is conditional positive self-regard. The conditions created for positive self-regard is often what creates the lack of adjustment and misbehavior so often found in the world today. According to Rogers, therapy can remove these conditions and move humanity closer towards the self-actualization that is the basic drive in all living organisms.
I agree with the reading that Rogers' theories incorporates some fundamental weaknesses, one of which is the fact that he distinguishes only between two extremes. In studying humanity, nothing can be viewed in such simple terms. However, I also agree with the point that Rogers has made an important contribution to psychology, especially during these times, when the social consciousness is moving towards a more positive view of the world and the selves…...
Person-Centered Therapy Today
A sign on the restaurant wall where I lunched today reads, "What you call psychotic behavior ... we call company policy." A joke, obviously, but it set me thinking about differences in the world today compared to the 1950s when Carl ogers was developing person-centered therapy. Take a small thing like "multi-tasking," for example. In the 1950s a person who drove down an expressway at 70+ miles per hour while listening to a recorded book and talking on the telephone at the same time might well be judged in need of psychological evaluation. Today we think it's "normal." Even therapists are expected to "multi-task" (Erskine, 2003). The point is, we live in a different, more complex world from the one Carl ogers inhabited. Can a therapeutic system he designed to meet the needs of his time (before the Age of Information) be adequate to meet the needs…...
mlaReferences
Carl Ransom Rogers web site: About Carl R. Rogers. The Carl Rogers Reader. http://www.saybrook.edu/crr/valhow.html .
Carlozzi, A.F., Stein, K.S., Ray, K., and Barnes, L. (2002). Empathy theory and practice: A survey of psychologists and counselors. Journal of Psychology, 136 (2), Mar., 161-170.
Erskine, R.G. (2003). Beyond empathy: A therapy of contact-in-relationship. http://integrativetherapy.com/article-empathy.html .
Erskine, R.G. et al. (1999). Beyond empathy: A therapy of contact in relationship. New York: Routledge.
Person-Centered1. Name and Brief Description of Key Figure (See, & Kamnetz, 2004)Carl Rogers is known to have pioneered the person-centered psychotherapy and counselling. He began his career in the year 1928 as a clinical psychologist and worked with children in Rochester. He came up with theories of psychotherapy which were meant to assist various professions including teaching, social work, conflict resolution and parenting as well. An approximate of 200 organizations in the world have made steps to continue Carl Rogers work on person centered counseling. Carl Rogers is considered to be one of the most influential psychologists in America. In his career years, Carl Rogers worked in various universities in major states of America including Ohio, Chicago, California and New York. His career lasted from the year 1939 to 1987. The major goal of Carl Rogers in his career was to counter the current views in psychiatry and counselling. He…...
mlaReferences
See, J., & Kamnetz, B. (2004). Person-Centered Counseling in Rehabilitation Professions.
Therapeutic Techniques
Person cantered therapy (Carl ogers) and stages of change, and Adlerian Therapy Birth order
Person cantered therapy (Carl ogers) and stages of change
Carl ogers is the founder of the person-centered therapy. This therapy concerns how people or children adapt to change as they grow and develop in their tender ages. According to Carl ogers, therapy was supposed to be warmer, tender, and more optimistic than as proposed by the psychodynamic theory and psychologists. Carl ogers is for the notion that a therapist is supposed to take positives of nature in which a child grows and develops gradually. It does not make sense to have therapy that will tend to alter the personalized growth and developed phases of the child. Carl ogers strongly believes that therapists should be warm, understanding, and genuine in order to have any impact in their client's behavioral growth and development. Within the notion of growth…...
mlaReferences
Adler, A., Stein, H., & Alfred Adler Institute of Northwestern Washington. (2006). The
general system of individual psychology: Overview and summary of classical
Adlerian theory & current practice. Bellingham WA: Classical Adlerian Translation
Project.
When addressing positive emotions, Freud might have assumed that individuals who were raised in ideal environments and who did not develop sexual hang-ups were more likely to experience positive emotions than anxiety. Freud might also claim that positive emotions were the result of working through neuroses in psychotherapy, but his overall view of the human condition remained bleak.
4. The DSM-IV-TR is the latest version of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The tome outlines categories of mental illnesses, offering criteria that practitioners can use to diagnose clients such as symptoms. The DMS-IV-TR is useful but has many limitations. First, it creates a standard of labeling individuals and can lead to stigma or pigeonholing. Second, it does not acknowledge differences that might exist between different cultures that could affect the way mental illnesses are viewed.
5. A large number of prison inmates are clinically diagnosed with…...
Therapeutic Orientation:
The person-centered or humanistic perspective of Carl ogers
The humanistic or person-centered perspective of Carl ogers offers a positive and empowering concept of the human psyche and a client's prospects for growth and development. ather than placing the therapist in the role of an all-knowing expert, ogers viewed the psychologist as a kind of co-facilitator, who would help lead the client on a journey of personal empowerment by giving the client unconditional positive regard. "The therapist was not to be an expert who understood the problem and decided how it should be solved. ather, the therapist should free the client's power to solve personal problems" (Zimring, 1999, p.1). ogers viewed neuroses as having their roots in a loss of self-esteem and a critical role of the therapist is to give the client the support to feel better about him or herself. People are always viewed as the ultimate experts…...
mlaReferences
Rogers, C. (1956). The necessary and sufficient conditions of therapeutic personality change.
Journal of Consulting Psychology, 21, 95-103. Retrieved from: http://www.ibe.unesco.org/publications/ThinkersPdf/rogerse.PDF
Zimring, F. (1999). Carl Rogers. (1902-1987). (1994). Originally published in Prospects: The quarterly review of comparative education. XXIV, (3/4): 411-22. Retrieved from:
Carl ogers was probably the most important psychologist and psychotherapist of the 20th Century apart from Sigmund Freud, and his humanistic, person-centered approach has been applied to many fields outside of psychology, such as education, business, nursing, medicine and social work. Many of the basic textbooks in all of these fields reflect his influence, including the concept of learner-centered education and the use of the term 'clients' instead of 'patients'. He wrote over 100 academic books and articles, the most famous one being On Becoming a Person (1961) which clearly describes his main ideas and is summarized below. Originally trained for the ministry and then in Freudian psychoanalysis, ogers gradually broke with this school of psychology as a result of his work with abused children and his study of phenomenology and existentialist psychology. Central to his theory was the development of a healthy self-concept that was open, expressive and spontaneous…...
mlaREFERENCES
Cornelius-White, J.H.D. (2007). "Learner-centered Teacher-Student Relationships are Effective: A Meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research, 77 (1), pp. 113-143.
Demanchick, S., & Kirschenbaum, H. (2008). "Carl Rogers and the CIA." Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 48(1), 6-31.
Kramer, R. (1995) "The Birth of Client-Centered Therapy: Carl Rogers, Otto Rank, and 'The Beyond." Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 35.4, pp. 54-110.
Rogers, C. (1951). Client-centered Therapy: Its Current Practice, Implications and Theory. London: Constable.
However, after several internal conflicts with the Wisconsin psychology department, Rogers became disillusioned with academia and left the field.
In 1964, after being selected "Humanist of the Year" by the American Humanist Association, Rogers moved to La Jolla, California where he joined the Western ehavioral Sciences Institute as a researcher. In 1968 Rogers went on to found the Center for Studies of the Person. Rogers devoted the later part of his life to applying his theories in the areas of international and national social conflict, focusing on the Northern Ireland and South African conflicts. Along with his daughter, Rogers also conducted a series of residential programs on the Person-Centered Approach throughout the United States, Europe, and Japan. These workshops focused on such things as cross-cultural communications, personal growth, self-empowerment and social change.
Carl Rogers' primary contribution to society was his development of the person-centered approach to psychotherapy. Rogers and his theory…...
mlaBibliography
Hjelle, L.A., and D.J. Ziegler. (1981). Personality Theories: Basic Assumptions, Research and Applications. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Pitts, Carl E., Rogers, Carl. (1973): "Twelve Years Later: A Reply to Carl Rogers." Journal of Humanistic Psychology. Vol. 13(1), p.p. 75-84.
Rogers, Car. (1939): Clinical Treatment of the Problem Child. London: Constable.
Rogers, Carl. (1942): Counseling and Psychotherapy: New Concepts in Practice. London: Constable.
Carl ogers' Theory of Personality Compared to Those of Erik Erikson?
Over the past century or so, a number of psychological theorists have provided new ways of understanding human development over the lifespan, including Carl ogers, Erik Erikson and Jean Piaget. Although these theorists share some common views concerning how people develop over time, they differ in other ways with regards to what forces tend to be the most salient at different periods and how therapists should approach helping others resolve the problems they inevitably encounter along the way. To determine what ogers, Erikson and Piaget share in common and how they differ, this paper provides a review of the relevant literature concerning these theorists, followed by a personal reflections analysis. A summary of the research and important findings are presented in the conclusion.
eview and Analysis
Carl ogers
Best known for his person-centered approach to counseling, Carl ogers was an American psychotherapist…...
mlaReferences
Comstock, Dana L., Tonya R. Hammer, Julie Strentzsch, Kristi Cannon, Jacqueline Parsons and Ii Gustavo Salazar (2008), "Relational-Cultural Theory: A Framework for Bridging
Relational, Multicultural, and Social Justice Competencies." Journal of Counseling and Development, vol. 86, no. 3, pp. 279-281.
DeCarvalho, Roy J. (1999), The Founders of Humanistic Psychology. New York: Praeger.
Demorest, Amy (2005), Psychology's Grand Theorists: How Personal Experiences Shaped
My Passion for Counseling: A Journey of Meaning and Connection
My passion for counseling stems from a deep-seated desire to make a meaningful contribution to the lives of others and foster their well-being. This aspiration has been ignited by a combination of personal experiences, profound insights, and a unwavering commitment to empowerment.
Personal Experiences as a Catalyst
Growing up, I witnessed firsthand the transformative impact that counseling can have on individuals and families. My own struggles with anxiety and self-esteem led me to seek the guidance of a therapist, who provided me with a safe and supportive space to explore my challenges and....
1. paragraph
The scientific study of human behavior has a long and fascinating history, dating back to the ancient Greeks. Over the centuries, our understanding of the mind and behavior has evolved dramatically, thanks to the work of pioneering psychologists. In this essay, we will explore the evolution of psychology as a major field of study, from its humble beginnings to its current status as a vibrant and diverse discipline.2. The early days of psychology
The origins of psychology can be traced back to the ancient Greek philosophers, who were among the first to speculate on the nature of the mind. However,....1. The Pursuit of Joy: Understanding Happiness
This title suggests an active quest for happiness, reflecting the dynamic and often elusive nature of true joy.2. Happiness Unlocked: Keys to a Joyful Life
Implies that happiness is something that can be achieved through understanding and applying certain principles or 'keys'.3. Bliss Beyond Boundaries: Exploring Universal Happiness
This title conveys the idea that happiness transcends cultural, geographical, and personal boundaries, suggesting a universal approach to joy.4. The Science of Smiles: What Makes Us Truly Happy?
Focuses on the empirical study of happiness, suggesting a scientific exploration into what genuinely brings joy.5. Joy in Simplicity: The Art....
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now