Carl Rogers and Positive Regard

● According to Rogers, there is only one motive— the basic motive toward growth. But this motive
can be analyzed as consisting of attempts by an organism to maintain, enhance, and reproduce
itself. The specific motives that other theorists discuss (hunger, thirst, sex, avoidance of pain) can
be regarded as aspects of either
● Rogers argued that our striving for fulfillment is importantly influenced by our environment. We
are cognitive organisms, and our experiences (and their interpretations) can either help or hinder
our attempts to grow. In this regard our interactions with others are particularly important.
● He saw the actualizing tendency as creating both a need for positive regard and a need for
positive self regard. Our feelings of positive regard from others, as well as from the self, come
from interactions with our parents in what Rogers called unconditional positive regard
● Under these circumstances, the actualizing tendency works toward growth because the person’s
own concept (the self) is consistent with the feedback received from others. According to Rogers,
conditional positive regard leads to maladaptive behaviors because it creates anxiety. We feel
loved only to the extent that our behavior is correct. Anxiety triggers defenses, so that the
individual begins denying or distorting cognitions because they are inconsistent with the self-
concept.
● According to Rogers’s approach, the basic motive underlying all behavior is the actualizing
tendency. To be fully functioning individuals, we must have unconditional positive regard so that
we can “let down” our defenses and allow the self to change and grow.
The Fully Functioning Individual
● Five basic characteristics define Rogers’s concept of full functioning:
-Openness to experience. Fully functioning individuals do not have to defend themselves against certain
experiences; thus their perceptions of events are less distorted. They are aware of their own characteristics
and are more flexible about altering them. The fully functioning individual is usually more emotional than
others, experiencing a wider range of emotions and experiencing them more intensely.
-Existential living. The fully functioning individual lives each moment to the fullest and does not
concentrate on either the past or the future. The fully functioning person also has a general interest in life,
and all aspects of life are experienced as new and rich.
-Trust in one’s own organism. Rogers described the fully functioning individual as one who often
behaves in particular ways because it feels right rather than because it seems intellectually right.Thus,
fully functioning individuals are often intuitive because they are open and in touch with their innermost
feelings.
-Sense of freedom. Fully functioning persons experience a sense of personal freedom in choosing what
happens to them. They see themselves as having the personal power to determine what their future will be
-As might be expected, fully functioning persons are highly creative. This creativity is also evidenced by
their increased ability to adapt to change and to survive even drastic changes in their environment
● Rogers, have the power to control their own lives because they are free from the denial and
distortions that produce rigid behavior
● Full functioning does not promise happiness, although happiness often appears to be a byproduct
of the process. The fully functioning person can be expected, however, to be more comfortable
with life situations
Criticisms of Rogers’s Approach
 ● Rogers’s view of human motivation is much more optimistic than most. He sees humans as
motivated by the need to become fully functional in order to reach their ultimate potential.When
we fail to reach our potential, it is because of experiences we have had in interacting with our
parents or others where our self-worth has been made conditional
● First, many of the terms Rogers used are not operationally defined.
● Second, the environment is regarded as an important source of motivational change; yet it is
unclear which environmental conditions will enhance growth and which will hinder it.
● A third criticism of Rogers’s approach is that it implies a “me first” psychology. Rogers said little
about how feelings of responsibility toward others may lead to growth
● Fourth, Rogers’s approach does not emphasize to any great extent the goals toward which an
individual may be striving.Although he has emphasized the striving, he has largely ignored the
end products of that striving as important determinants of behavior
● In summary, Rogers’s theory is weak empirically. He has not specified the components of his
theory in a manner that can be easily tested. We might also question the generality of conditional
positive regard. We should probably make a distinction between situations in which a parent
disapproves of a specific behavior in a child and situations in which the parent “rejects” the child
Abraham Maslow and Self-Actualization
● Abraham Maslow also developed a homeostatic motivational theory that emphasizes the striving
to reach one’s full potential as basic to human motivation.
● Maslow argued that we must seek to understand the ultimate goals of behavior rather than the
superficial or apparent goals, because the apparent goal for any observed behavior may be quite
different from the ultimate goal.
● Rogers, Maslow also regarded the striving for perfection or self-actualization as the ultimate
purpose of behavior.r. His observations led him to the conclusion that human needs can be
understood in terms of a hierarchy of needs. Needs lower on the hierarchy are prepotent
(stronger) and must be satisfied before needs higher on the hierarchy will be triggered.
● we can partly satisfy lower needs, thus allowing higher needs to become partly active. Maslow
regarded the satisfaction of needs on the hierarchy in a probabilistic manner
Hierarchy of Needs
● Physiological Needs -The first level of the hierarchy consists of physiological needs. If needs
such as hunger or thirst are not adequately being met, the needs above them on the hierarchy are
pushed into the background in terms of controlling behavior.
● Safety Needs-These needs represent a need for safety or security in our environment. Like the
physiological needs, safety needs are triggered primarily in emergency situations.Safety needs
dominate our behavior primarily in times of emergency. Maslow, however, felt that safety needs
can also be seen in people’s preference for familiar surroundings, secure jobs, savings accounts,
and insurance.
● Love or Belongingness Needs-The love needs are not equivalent to sexual needs (which are
physiological), though sexual intimacy can serve to satisfy our need to belong. The love needs
require both the receiving and giving of love—love from another and someone to love
● Esteem Needs- If the love needs have been adequately met, they too slip into the background in
relation to guiding behavior, and the esteem needs become dominant.This evaluation can be
broken down into two subcategories—a need for self-esteem and a need for esteem from others.
The need for self-esteem motivates the individual to strive for achievement, strength, confidence,
 independence, and freedom. The need for self esteem seems to have at its core the desire to feel
worthwhile and appears highly similar to Rogers’s concept of positive regard. The related need of
esteem from others involves a desire for reputation, status, recognition, appreciation by others of
our abilities, and a feeling of importance. When the esteem needs are satisfied, we have feelings
of self-confidence and self-worth and see ourselves as having a purpose in the world
● Deprivation Motivation -The first four steps on Maslow’s hierarchy constitute the needs that must
be satisfied before reaching the final level, the level of self-actualization.Behaviors generated in
attempts to fill these needs are therefore said to be activated by deprivation motivation
● .Maslow also believed that people who have always had their basic needs satisfied will be less
influenced by these needs later if the needs are suddenly no longer being met.
● Self-Actualization-When we have satisfied the first four levels of need, the final level of
development—which Maslow termed self actualization—can be reached. At the self actualization
level, the person’s behavior is motivated by different conditions than at the lower levels.The
behavior of the self-actualized person is, as a result, motivated by a new set of needs, which
Maslow termed the being needs (B-motivation} These B-motives are values such as truth,
honesty, beauty, and goodness.
● Self Actualized individuals are no longer motivated by deficiencies but are motivated to grow
and become all that they are capable of becoming. Self Actualization constantly stimulates people
to test their abilities and expand their horizons
● He or she has mastered the deficiency needs and is motivated by what Maslow called growth
motivation. These persons seek to solve problems outside themselves and reach for truth
● A peak experience is a short but intense feeling of awe or ecstasy often accompanied by a sense
of fulfillment, insight, and oneness with something larger than one’s self. Some self actualized
persons rarely have peak experiences, while others experience peaks much more often. Those
self-actualized individuals who experienced peaks were called transcenders or speakers, and those
who did not were called non transcenders or non speakers.
● Transcenders see more fully the sacredness of all things and are more likely to be profoundly
religious. They are also more holistic in their approach to the world than non transcenders and are
more likely to be held in awe by others. Interestingly, Maslow believed that transcenders may be
less happy than non transcender
● Failure to Self-Actualize-, Maslow believed that the tendency toward growth is weaker than the
deficiency motives and can easily be stunted by a poor environment or poor education. Second,
Maslow believed that Western culture, with its emphasis on the negative nature of human
motivation..Third, Maslow noted that growth requires the taking of chances, a stepping away
from the secure and comfortable. It is not easy to take that step, which we must do again and
again to grow, and many people choose security over growth
Criticisms of Self-Actualization
● Perhaps the most common and damaging criticism concerned the self actualized individuals
whom Maslow studied. Maslow began his study of self-actualization in an attempt to understand
two friends whom he greatly admired.The major problem is one of replicability.
● Second, Maslow’s theory has sometimes been criticized as elitist. People confined by poor
education, dead-end jobs, or societal expectations are unlikely to become self-actualized persons
 ● a motivation toward growth may not be as general as Maslow proposed.Finally, Maslow’s theory
has been criticized because of its vagueness in language and concepts and its general lack of
evidence
Research on Self-Actualization-The self-actualized person also appears to live in the present but can
meaningfully tie past or future events to the present. One aspect of this time is competence. Peak
performance has been defined as an episode of superior functioning, while flow has been defined as an
intrinsically enjoyable experience. Peak experiences are largely passive; that is, one does not create a
peak experience but rather senses them when they occur. Peak experiences would therefore appear to be
largely perceptual, requiring no behavior of the individual and often leading to a reorganization of our
thoughts. Peak performance, however, is active, involving interaction
● One quality common to all three is absorption. In peak experience, peak performance, and flow,
an individual intensely focuses attention to the exclusion of other perceptual e
● Additionally, people make some attempt to engage in activities that create flow, whereas peak
experiences and peak performances are unplanned
A Revised Hierarchy of Needs
● Their revised model includes analyses of each need on three levels: (a) evolutionary significance,
(b) developmental trajectory, and (c) the specific environmental stimuli that trigger each need at
any given moment.
● Finally, the specific environmental situations that activate status seeking behavior could also be
analyzed. First, they include many of Maslow’s original five needs as well as three additional
ones. In addition, the overlapping circles indicate that any of the needs could potentially be active
at a given point in a person’s life (e.g., basic physiological needs never go away entirely
● They argue that evolution has provided all animals with a developmental trajectory that best fits
their day-to-day environment and maximizes reproductive success. Once a suitable mate has been
found the motive to retain him or her becomes prominent and both positive.
Competence
● As he defined it, competence is the capacity to interact effectively with one’s
environment.Effectance motivation, as he termed it, was most clearly seen in the behavior of
young children.The play behavior of children is serious business; it is triggered by the child’s
attempt to master the environment effectively.
● In the child, effectance motivation is rather global, and the child’s behavior is directed toward
whatever aspect of the environment catches his or her attention.
● These repeated behaviors can be quite exasperating to parents who are trying to keep the child
away from the remote, but they take on a new perspective if seen as motivated by the need to
control one’s environment
● While the goal of effectance motivation is simply to have an effect on the environment and in
turn discover how the environment affects us, the relationships we learn can serve us usefully
later.
● Personal Causation- The concept of control we strive for personal causation, such that we can be
causal agents in our environment. Personal causation is not strictly a motive but a guiding
principle upon which all other motives are built.
● We typically describe motivation in relation to the goals toward which a behavior leads: when
hungry, we seek food; when thirsty, we seek water; and so on.deCharms saw personal causation
as the underlying principle of all motivated behaviors.
 ● Origins and Pawns-DeCharms argued that people may be categorized as origins or pawns. An
origin believes that our behavior is controlled by our own choices. A pawn, on the other hand,
perceives our behavior as being controlled by external forces over which we have no control
Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory of Human Agency
● Humans are active rather than reactive organisms, and our behavior is shaped by internal factors
as much as by our environment. Bandura argues that understanding can best be achieved by
studying the complex interplay between behavior, cognition, and environmental factors which
interact with one another via reciprocal causation. The essence of reciprocal causation is that our
behavior (B), environment (E), and personal (P) factor
● Thus, both negative behaviors (e.g., eating disorders, alcohol abuse) and positive behaviors (e.g.,
athletic functioning, career development) are the result of the environmental factors
Core Features of Human Agency
● According to Bandura (2001), human agency has four core features, the first of which is
intentionality, or a proactive commitment to bring about a future course of action. Intentionality
is a necessary first step, but it is just the beginning.
● In order to maximize your chances of a successful outcome, intentionality is not enough;
forethought is needed. Forethought is your action plan, or your anticipation of future events and
their likely consequences
● forethought involves anticipation of future events, it is, by definition, not an easy thing to
accomplish. It is impossible to anticipate all of the things that may occur and how you might react
to them. Events like getting stuck in traffic, running into a former lover, or becoming violently ill
are all things that occasionally occur on dates, yet most people don’t have an “action plan” in
place for them
● We engage in self-reactiveness, or the motivation and self-regulation necessary to maintain a
course of action and to evaluate it with respect to our goals and standards.The final core feature of
Bandura’s theory is self-reflectiveness, or the ability to evaluate how effective we are at
exercising our capacity for human agency.Finally, through the process of self-reflectiveness, we
develop perceptions of self-efficacy that influence our future decisions regarding the
environments and behaviors that we seek out and those we avoid
● Personal agency includes the four features discussed earlier, and is concerned with agency from
the perspective of an individual.. One of the advantages to living in a society is that labor can be
divided among group members; it is not necessary for everyone to be an expert at every
conceivable tas
● When we take advantage of each other’s areas of expertise, we are relying on proxy agency. For
example, a friend or family member who works for a computer manufacturer or in an automobile
dealership comes in very handy when we need advice about the purchase of a new computer or
car.
● The third mode of Bandura’s theory is collective agency. This refers to the ability of groups to
accomplish more than can be done by the same number of individuals working alone, provided
that they work together and share the belief that they can achieve their goal.Bandura contends that
the perception of collective efficacy lives within the group members and that it both influences
and is influenced by their behavior and the surrounding environment
Applying the Social Cognitive Theory of Human Agency
 ● Beliefs about efficacy, which are a fundamental component of Bandura’s social cognitive theory,
have been found both to predict and to have a causal impact on many aspects of human
functioning.there is evidence that teachers’ beliefs about their collective efficacy to educate
students generally declines as the child’s grade level increase
● In the healthcare domain, feelings of personal efficacy are positively related to the development
and maintenance of healthy behavior.self-efficacy training was more successful than the standard
medical treatment in helping cardiac patients to quit smoking, reduce cholesterol, and increase
cardiovascular capacity. In people with diabetes, self-efficacy beliefs have been found to predict
adherence to dietary guidelines and blood glucose level
Self-Determination Theory
● Competence refers to our need to have some control over our environment and is similar to
Bandura’s concept of agency. Relatedness is our need to feel a sense of belongingness with
others. Autonomy is our need to learn helplessness and perceived control are two sides of the
same coin: lack of control has a demotivating effect on behavior, while perceived control has a
motivating effect.
● Participants who were asked to describe how they felt when they experienced their “most
satisfying events” consistently reported feelings of autonomy, relatedness, and competence as
being associated with these important experiences
● Psychological Needs and the Development of Intrinsic Motivation According to self
determination theory, satisfaction of the basic psychological needs is conducive to the
development of intrinsic motivation, or the value or pleasure associated with an activity as
opposed to the goal toward which the activity is directed
● Extrinsic motivation, by contrast, emphasizes the external goals toward which the activity is
directed.the development of intrinsic motivation is mediated by the fulfillment of the three basic
psychological needs postulated by self determination theory. Furthermore, intrinsic motivation
can be undermined by the presence of rewards for performing a behavior
● The need for competence may also mediate the development of intrinsic motivation, because we
are more likely to enjoy activities if we are proficient at them. According to self-determination
theory, behavior that was once the result of extrinsic factors can become intrinsically motivated,
provided that the external motives become internalized, or integrated into one’s sense of self
● state of amotivation, which occurs when an individual either does not engage in a behavior, or
does so but only “goes through the motions” . Amotivation can occur when our basic needs of
competence and autonomy are not met
● External regulation occurs when we engage in a behavior in order to receive rewards or avoid
punishments that are controlled by others. Introjection is similar to external regulation in that the
behavior is still motivated by rewards and punishments
● Identified regulation occurs when we begin to see the value of the activity for its own sake, but
are still motivated by external factors. For example, Melissa may recognize that reading is an
important lifetime skill, and may thus exercise her autonomy and choose to do more of it
● The final type of extrinsic motivation is called integrated regulation. This type of motivation
occurs when individuals have not only identified the behavior as valuable, but have integrated it
into their sense of self. For example, Melissa may aspire to be a generally knowledgeable and
educated person. A healthy desire to read will help her attain this goal
 ● True intrinsic motivation involves performing a behavior for the inherent satisfaction of the
activity. Melissa is intrinsically motivated when she desires to read for the pleasure of reading.
The Rise of Positive Psychology
● psychology had three primary foci: (1) to treat individuals with mental illness, (2) to improve the
productivity and functioning of all people, and (3) to determine how to best foster the
development of individuals Behaviour
● A second benefit is that much can be learned about disorders if we understand how they differ
from healthy development.These include positive emotions, positive individual traits and virtues,
and positive institution
● Present emotions are further divided into pleasures and gratifications. Pleasures include both
bodily pleasures such as sexual gratification and eating savory food as well as what Seligman
calls higher pleasures such as excitement, glee, and amusement, which are more complex than
bodily pleasures.
● However, pleasures can be enhanced by depriving ourselves of stimuli that activate them or
through mindfulness, which is focusing one’s attention on the moment rather than engaging in a
pleasure-inducing activity automatically or reflexively. Gratifications (also known as
eudaimonia) are activities that are characterized by immersion, intense concentration, effortless
involvement, and a loss of a sense of time.
● Activities that trigger gratification vary from person to person, but can include things like getting
lost in a good book, engaging in athletic activity, and creative activities such as painting,
composing or playing music
● They discovered six core virtues that were mentioned or alluded to in the written works of all or
nearly all traditions. They are wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, temperance.One can develop
temperance by exhibiting modesty, forgiveness, prudence, and self-regulation of affect and
behavior. Finally, hope, gratitude, humor, an appreciation of beauty, and belief in a higher
purpose/meaning in life can lead to transcendence
● The final pillar of positive psychology, positive institutions, has received substantially less
attention from researchers than positive emotions and positive traits/virtues .Community,
workplace, education, and family. Thus, the potential application of positive psychology to the
broader social realm is wide indeed,
● criticism-many core principles of their domain such as well-being and optimism without proper
recognition of the roots of those ideas and that positive psychology has applied a reductionist
research methodology to these principles, which is in opposition to the holistic approaches used
in humanistic. Positive psychology is telling us that we should be optimistic and happy. Put
another way, it is prescribing what choices we should make and how we should live our lives