Carl Ransom Rogers: Humanistic Approach To Psychology

Rogers had a very positive view on humanity and believed that if a normal, self-aware person follows their own internal thoughts and feelings, they would come to the correct conclusions which would not only satisfy themselves, but others

Following a course in clinical and educational psychology at Teachers college, Columbia, working with Leta Hollingsworth, he then moved on to the Rochester Society for the prevention of Cruelty to Children.

One incident which appears to have had a particular impact on Carl Rogers was when working in his first job as a psychologist, at Rochester New York, for an organisation for the prevention of cruelty to children,

Carl R. Rogers constructed the person-centered theory by his influences of Elizabeth Davis and Frederick Allen who studied under Jessie Taft as well as Otto Rank and John Dewey (Patterson, 2007; Walsh, 2010). Influenced by Jessie Taft, Rogers adopted an optimistic view of people, individuals are capable of recreating themselves and are not the end products of their past (Patterson, 2007; Walsh, 2010). Otto Rank advocated that treatment of a client be centered around that client and that therapist be more emotionally involved within the process. Third Rogers was influenced by John Dewey who helped him understand and develop his position that self-actualized people live in harmony rather then conflict

Carl Rogers was born January 8, 1902 in Oak Park, Illinois, the fourth of six children. His education started in the second grade because he could already read before kindergarten. He spent his adolescence isolated, independent and self-disciplined. He went to the University of Wisconsin as an agriculture major, but later switched to religion to study for the ministry. He has been quoted as saying “that his new experiences so broadened his thinking that he began to doubt some of his basic religious views.” (Boeree) Carl Rogers later married Ms. Helen Elliot and moved to New York to start school at the Union Theological Seminary, a famous liberal religious institution.

Having a positive outlook at school i.e. having self-confidence and self-esteem gives children the choice to build independence. Showing expected behaviour by example i.e. being a good role model, and valuing their work and achievements will all help build up a good relationship with a child. This will all help in leading to better resilience. How children relate to other people depends on their emotional well being and resilience. As children develop they begin to interact with others. Children who feel good about themselves will be able to relate to others in a more positive way. This in turn will make them feel better emotionally and could help their confidence, in-group situations. It is important that practitioners help children to feel positive about themselves. High self-esteem helps children overcome set backs and cope with difficult situations such as disappointment and hurt feelings. If a child is happy and has high self-esteem this makes the process of relating to others easier. Low self-esteem may mean that a child may start to compare themselves with other children in the group. This can affect their emotional well being if they think that they aren’t doing as well as others.

This essay is to describe Sigmund Freud’s and Carl Rogers’ differing concepts of human psychology concerning determinism. Freud is known to be a determinist. This means that he believes that humans don’t have free will, that there are forces beyond the individuals control which control their actions and underlying reasons behind behaviours. (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/determinism-causal/). Rogers is known as a non-determinist. This is the belief that humans have free will, that they control their own behaviours, desires and are not bound by laws (http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/free-will?q=free+will). However a new idea which mostly stems from the cognitive approach has been created called “Soft – Determinism.” This is the idea that people have a degree of free will. That our behaviours and desires are mostly determined however we can choose specific ways to act in particular situations.

Self concept refers to awareness of their own characteristics, and of likenesses and differences between themselves and other children. We help promote this by having the children use names. We have them call each other by name as well as the teachers by their names. We also help by making up news stories with the children in them and use their names in them when telling them, we also

Freud’s view of human nature from a psychoanalytical stand point was he believed that the contents of an individual’s matters consciousness were determined by psychological, individual and biological motivations Freud, S. (2001).. His worldviews presented interpretations of who the individual was, where they came from, and what their destiny was. On the other hand, Rogers believed the psychoanalytical view humans as never free from primitive passions, childhood fixations, and only the product of powerful biological drives was not flexible enough. Rogers’s foundation of

History and Systems of Psychology is a course requirement offered to Psychology majors and minors. This course is used to provide majors and minors with the foundation and the evolution of the field of psychology. Within this class, many scholars of discussed. Two scholars that stood out to me in this course would be John Watson and Max Wertheimer. These two particular scholars are responsible for two of the most influential and famous schools of thought, behaviorism and Gestalt psychology. These two schools of thought are responsible for changing the field of psychology and introducing the field to new theories and ways of thinking. Although the two schools of thought are similar in being influential but they are different in many ways. The two schools of thought are even said to be contradictory of one another and one is even said to be the cause of the fading out of the other.

Brian Thorne in his book “Carl Rogers”, 2003 suggests: “Encouraged by his understanding of the work of John Dewey and his followers and by the influence of Otto Rank Rogers came to believe that what mattered was not some concept of objective reality, whatever it might be, but the way in which a given person perceives reality. In brief, the surest route to understanding a person’s behaviour is to come to knowledge of that person’s subjective awareness of himself or herself and of the world in which he or she exists.

Sigmund Freud and Carl Rogers are two psychologists who developed theories on personalities. Sigmund Freud was known as the “Father of Psychoanalysis” and his well known theory stated that nearly all psychological issues went back to a sexual problem. Carl Rogers was a humanistic psychologist who researched the personality theory in the notion of the self or the self concept.

In Spite of Watson. Most Rogers’s achievements can be seen as a result of Watson’s “negative” view on psychology. After observation had been established, Carl Rogers decided to take a more optimistic approach,

     The American psychologist Arnold Gessell established a research institute at Yale University in the 1920’s for the sole purpose