CARL ROGERS &

PERSON-CENTERED
THEORY
Presented by:
Table of
Contents!
Biography Strengths & Weaknesses
The Life of Carl Rogers The Good and the Bad

Main Points of Theory Class Activity

What is Person-Centered Review the concepts
Theory?
 01
BIOGRAPHY
The personal life of Carl Rogers was marked by change
and openness to
experience.
 Biography

born on January 8, 1902

in Oak Park, Illinois intended to become a
farmer

fourth child of Walter and

lonely childhood and
Julia Cushing Rogers
wide reader

Parents have strict religious views

 Biography (2)

finding freedom in influenced by the ideas of

China Otto Rank

planned to become a minister studied Clinical and Educational

Psychology

married childhood friend - Helen

Elliot
 Biography (3)

conceptualized his own nominated for Nobel

ideas on psychotherapy Peace Prize

had a breakdown and two children; six

therapy grandchildren and one
great-grandchild

wanted to expand his research and his became President of the American
ideas to psychiatry Psychological Association
 02
MAIN POINTS OF
THEORY
 Person-Centered
Theory
It suggests that the ability to change and improve
personality is centered within the person. This
ultimate goal is to actualize the self, to become what
Rogers called a fully functioning person.
Basic
Assumptions
1. Formative Tendency
• is the tendency for all
organisms to evolve from
simpler to more complex forms
 Basic
Assumptions
2. Actualizing Tendency
• tendency for all organisms to
move toward completion or
fulfillment of potentials
(Rogers, 1978)
• 2 sub-levels

a. Maintenance

b. Enhancement
The Self and Self-
Actualization
● infants begin to develop a vague
concept of self when a portion of their
experience becomes personalized and
differentiated in awareness as “I” or
“me” experiences
● Once infants establish a rudimentary
self structure, their tendency to
actualize the self begins to evolve.
● The actualization tendency refers to
organismic experiences of the individual;
that is, it refers to the whole person—
conscious and unconscious, physiological
and cognitive.
● Self-actualization is the tendency to
actualize the self as perceived in
awareness.
● Self-actualization is a subset of the
actualization tendency and is therefore not
synonymous with it.
Self-Concept
● includes all those aspects of one’s
being and one’s experiences that
are perceived in awareness (though
not always accurately) by the
individual
● Self-concept is not identical with
the organismic self.
Ideal Self
● It is one’s view of self as one
wishes to be.
● The ideal self contains all those
attributes, usually positive, that
people aspire to possess.
Did you know this?
n g r u ence
Co

Self-concept
Ideal Self

Little discrepancy between the two indicate a

pscyhologically healthy individual.
 Did you know this?
g ru en ce
In c o n

Self-concept Ideal Self

A wide gap indicates incongruence and an

unhealthy personality
Awareness
 the symbolic representation of
some portion of our experience
 Rogers used the term
synonymously with
consciousness and
symbolization.
Three Levels of Awareness
a. Ignored or denied
b. Accurately symbolized
c. Distorted form
Denial of Positive Experiences
 many people have difficulty accepting
genuine compliments and positive
feedback
 Compliments, even those genuinely
dispensed, seldom have a positive
influence on the self-concept of the
recipient.
Becoming a Person
 an individual must make a
contact (positive or negative)
with another person
 This contact is the minimum
experience necessary for
becoming a person.
Positive regard
 people regards us in a way that affirms
our worth
Positive self-regard
 defined as the experience of prizing or
valuing one’s self
 Rogers believed that receiving positive
regard from others is necessary for positive
self-regard, but once positive self-regard is
established, it becomes independent of the
continual need to be loved.
 Barriers to Psychological Health

1. Conditions of Worth 2. Incongruence

3. Defensiveness 4. Disorganization
1. Conditions of Worth
 It arises when the positive
regard of a significant other is
conditional, when the
individual feels that in some
respects he [or she] is prized
and in others not.

IF THEN
https://twitter.com/Psych_Review/status/949302191784955905
2. Incongruence
a.
 The conditions of worth we receive
may lead to false self- concept, that is
based on distortions and denials. Once
b. Anxiety and Threat
the self-concept is different to the
experiences a person encounters,
incongruence emerge between self
and experience, which leads to
inconsistent behaviors.
2 Effects of Incongruence
Vulnerability
• people are vulnerable when they have not
awareness of the discrepancy or incongruence
• Anxiety - state of uneasiness or tension whose
cause is unknown
• Threat - an awareness that our self is no longer
whole or congruent
3. Defensiveness
a.
 is the protection of the self-
concept against anxiety and
threat by the denial or
distortion of experiences b.
inconsistent with it
Distortion
• misinterpreting an experience to
fit it into some aspect of our self-
concept
Denial -
• refusing to perceive an
experience in awareness
4. Disorganization
 Rogers always remained
 Disorganization happens when uncomfortable with the terms
the incongruence between “neurotic” and “psychotic,”
people and their organismic preferring instead to speak of
experience is either too “defensive” and “disorganized”
obvious or occurs too suddenly behaviors”
to be denied or distorted
 Psychotherapy
Client-centered therapy is an approach to
psychotherapy based on a belief that the
client is best able to decide what to explore
and how.
 Client-Centered Therapy
 Client-centered approach holds that in order for vulnerable or anxious
people to grow psychologically, they must come into contact with a
therapist who is congruent and whom they perceive as providing an
atmosphere of unconditional acceptance and accurate empathy

 the client-centered counseling approach can be stated in an if-then fashion

If the conditions of therapist congruence, then the process of therapy will

unconditional positive regard, and empathic listening transpire
are present in a client-counselor relationship
Conditions for Psychological Growth

1. Counselor Congruence

2. Unconditional Positive Regard

3. Empathic Listening
Counselor Congruence
• Congruence exists when a person’s organismic experiences are matched by
an awareness of them and by an ability and willingness to openly express
these feelings (Rogers, 1980).

• Congruent therapist wears no mask, do not attempt to fake a pleasant

facade, and avoid any pretense of friendliness and affection when these
emotions are not truly felt. Also, they do not fake anger, toughness, or
ignorance, nor do they cover up feelings of joy, elation, or happiness.
Unconditional Positive Regard
• Positive regard is the need to be liked, prized, or accepted by another
person. When this need exists without any conditions or qualifications,
unconditional positive regard occurs

• Therapists have unconditional positive regard when they are experiencing

a warm, positive and accepting attitude toward what is the client. The
attitude is without possessiveness, without evaluations, and without
reservations.
Empathic Listening
• Empathy exists when therapists accurately sense the feelings of their
clients and are able to communicate these perceptions so that clients know
that another person has entered their world of feelings without prejudice,
projection, or evaluation.

Sympathy Empathy

“I know how “I feel how you

you feel.” feel.”
 Stages of Therapeutic Change
slightly less rigid to talk of deep feelings

Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4

unwillingness to free talk about self

communicate
 Stages of Therapeutic Change
experience dramatic growth

Stage 5 Stage 6 Stage 7

undergo change and growth fully functioning” persons of

tomorrow”
Person of
Tomorrow
 Possible Characteristics
 psychologically healthy people would be more adaptable
 persons of tomorrow would be open to their experiences
 persons of tomorrow would be trust in their organismic selves
 persons of tomorrow would be have tendency to live fully in the moment
 persons of tomorrow would remain confident of their own ability to experience
harmonious relations with other
 Possible Characteristics
 persons of tomorrow would be more integrated, more whole, with no artificial
boundary between conscious processes and unconscious ones

 persons of tomorrow would have a basic trust of human nature

 persons of tomorrow are open to all their experiences, they would enjoy a greater
richness in life than do other people
 p i cture
A s t h e
fo rc e
rei n t
n c e p
co
 “Growth occurs when individuals
confront problems, struggle to master
them, and through that struggle
develop new aspects of their skills,
capacities, views about life.”

—Carl Rogers
 03
STRENGTHS &
WEAKNESSES
 Strengths
 Focuses on positive dimensions of personality
 Gives a complete picture of how a healthy
personality develops
 Provides explanations for development of
unhealthy personality
 The theory can be extended to a relatively
wide range of human personality
 Person-centered theory is internally consistent
and high on falsifiability.
Weaknesses
 it lacks empirical evidence and can be overly
optimistic, overlooking the influence of external
factors
 receives an average rating on its ability to spark
research activity within the general field of
personality
 Some language and concepts are vague.
 Subjectivity of empathy
 Emphasis on indivualism and self-actualization
may not fully resonate with collectivist cultures.
References
Thank
You!
 04
CLASS
ACTIVITY
“Growth occurs when individuals confront
problems, struggle to master them, and
through that struggle develop new aspects
of their skills, capacities, views about life.”

- CARL ROGERS