Carl Rogers : An American Psychology

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

Humanistic conceptions of personality focus on our own natural progression towards achieving one’s full potential, having a holistic approach. Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) believes that growth and behaviour is motivated by a number of needs ranging from basic to psychological needs. He uses a hierarchy, commonly depicted as a five-tier pyramid in which the bottom 4 levels represent our deficit needs, shown in figure 1 below. Once the individual’s physiological needs are met, they may move to the next and so on. After all deficit needs have been met, an individual is capable of achieving self-actualisation. According to Maslow, fulfilling this need means reaching one’s highest potential and truly understanding one’s self.

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,

A long-debated argument in the field of Psychology has been which theory or explanation of human behavior is the most important and the most viable. Is B. F. Skinner’s theory that behavior is the result of man’s response to external stimuli or is Carl Rogers’ theory that man’s behavior is the result of his determination to achieve self-actualization the best explanation? After much research and thought, I will argue in favor of Carl Rogers’ Humanistic Theory that “emphasizes the unique qualities of humans, especially their freedom and their potential for personal growth” (Weiten, 2016, p. 9).

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.

Person-centered theory is founded on the following assumptions; it is founded on the notion that every individual has the capability for self-actualization. That is; the influential tendency where every matter, whether organic or inorganic, advances from simpler nature to more comprehensive forms and actualizing tendency where the predisposition within every humans (both animals and plants) to incline toward full completion and or fulfillment of their potentials; wholeness. Some of these predispositions exist to offer maintenance whereas others are meant for enhancement. Occasionally, human

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,

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.

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

The founder of the person-centered theory is Carl Rogers, who proposed two general assumptions called the formative tendency and the actualizing tendency. According to Rogers, one is always willing to reach higher development, which is driven by actualizing tendency instead of only being determined by outer forces. Formative tendency, as stated by Rogers, referred to every matter starting as a much simpler form and developing to a much higher one. Rogers entirely believed that one possesses the ability to move in positive directions if the right conditions are given and the individual has the tools within him or herself to do so. A person therefore knows that he or she possesses the tendency to always grow and develop further in his or her personality (Cloninger, 2008).

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

For instance, Rogers (1965) devoted much of his work and writing to the uniqueness of ordinary people in the psychology of science. As such, he interrogated the place of the individual person in life through a series of thought-provoking psychological dissertations. For instance, he challenged the role of the American Association of Humanistic Psychologists in enhancing an educational atmosphere that would create a philosophy of life that transcends time and one that infuses the true value of living. Likewise, Wertheimer (1938) advanced the principle of the Gestalt Theory, which further interrogates the essence of life and living within the science of psychology. Indeed, both Rogers and Wertheimer seem to concur with the arguments of psychologists such as William James who placed more value and emphasis on the human value. For instance, he called on the need to look more deeply in the human mind and to report what lies in there. Indeed, this is statement concurs with Roger’s and Wertheimer’s convictions that the human mind is a fundamental tool in psychological sciences and which holds the magical key of introspection. Eventually, it emerges that the individual person holds much of the power to affect their life experiences with aspects such as joy, pain, and sorrow and the

Parse’s Human becoming theory was founded upon the principles and concepts of Rogers’ theory, and is based on nine assumptions and three main principles. The assumptions include:

It all begins with the central idea of phenomenology and the idea that all people have free will (Funder, 2012). Another assumption is that all people are basically good. They have an innate need to make the world and themselves better. This lends itself to the idea that the approach is optimistic and is routed on the human capacity to persevere. Rogers and Maslow viewed personal growth and life fulfillment as the basic human motive. Which can be reduced down to the notion that each and every person seeks to grow and enhance themselves, psychologically.