Carl Rogers and George Kelly's Views on Nature and Development

In life, there is nothing more important than knowing oneself. Carl Rogers, a famous psychologist in the 1900s, compiled a theory that went past the Freudian and behaviorist approaches and delved into the secrets of the individual. Relatively, Rogers explored the importance of taking a humanistic approach to understanding personality and with regard parents may seek the most proficient way to guide their 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 (Patterson, 2007; Walsh,

When Carl Rogers died in 1987, he left behind a legacy that has been invaluable to counsellors since its first introduction to the field of Psychology in 1940’s. He is known as the founder of the Person-Centred Approach, which, in its infancy, was originally called ‘Non-Directive Therapy’. This later evolved into client-centred therapy and finally Person-Centred Therapy as it is known today.

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

Many of Carl Rogers’s ideas have been influential on modern psychological practices, and specifically in the area of positive psychology. Client-centered therapy is

Freud’s psychoanalytic approach to therapy had more of a negative view of human nature that Carl Rogers’ view. Freud thought human dysfunction developed as a result of poor genetic make-up, as well as deficits (fixations) caused by missed psychosexual developmental stages. In short, human conflict came about as a result of struggles between the id (primal, instinctual urges), ego (role of self in reality) and superego (conscience/critic), manifested in the

There are four major personality theories: psychodynamic, trait, humanistic, and social-cognitive. The psychodynamic theory focuses on the role of the unconscious mind in the development of personality. The humanistic theory focuses on the role of each person’s conscious life experiences and choices in personality development. The social-cognitive theory emphasizes the importance of both learning and cognitive processes play an important role in personality. Whereas, the trait theory is more concerned with the end result of personality as well as the characteristics themselves.

Psychotherapy Networker conducted a survey in 2006 (as cited in Corey, 2009) identifying Carl Rogers as the single most influential psychotherapist of the past quarter century. Using humanistic psychological concepts, Rogers formulated a person-centered approach to therapy. According to Corey (2009), he believed that people are trustworthy and have the potential to understand themselves and find their own solutions to problems without the therapist 's intervention.

Humanist Carl Rogers developed a theory that saw behavior motivated by what he called the actualizing tendency, the desire to preserve and enhance oneself through self-actualization. While persuing self- actualization we engage in the valuing process, where we go through various experiences that either enhance oneself and are valued as good, or, bad experiences not enhancing oneself which are avoided. Hence, how we handle this process relies on two interacting factors: the organism, our total perception of our experiences, and, the self, our image of ourselves. A major decisive factor is childhood experience and the positive regard that is engrossed. Rogers also developed a technique called client-centered therapy. In an accepting atmosthere the patient confronts inconsistent feelings and experiences, where self and organism are brought back into congruence. Now free from their troubles they can proceed with

It is inevitable that in psychotherapy there are numerous theories. Theories arise out of scholarly investigations of ideas on human behavior. Human behavior is an extraordinarily interesting subject and therefore produces a plethora of ideas from a variety of theorists. These theorists are influenced by their education, culture, and time period. One influential theorist is Carl Rogers. His contributions to human behavior have changed many of the theories that preceded him, and his theory contributed to many theories that followed.

There are numerous personality theories one could choose from in pursuit of an explanation on human behavior. Some theories focus on stages of development, complete unconscious control, or the concept that personality is governed by a pre-disposition directly related to genetic tendencies. Carl Rogers, however, focused his theory, the Person-Centered Theory, on the basis that individuals are self-actualizing and learn and develop in response to current circumstances. According to Hergenhahn and Olson (2007), “Rogers postulated one master motive that he called self-actualization, the organism has one basic tendency and striving—to actualize, maintain, and enhance the experiencing organism. Rogers further postulated that

Humanistic psychology has led to the development of several different psychotherapies. All are based on the idea that people possess the resources for growth and healing and that the goal of therapy is to help remove the barriers that block this growth and achievement. Although, several theorists have contributed to Humanistic Psychology, one of the most renowned is, Abraham Maslow. Humanistic psychology is defined as:

Kelly is the recognized leader of a significant development in the field of personality, a development that contributed to the highly regarded cognitive therapies of Ellis and Beck.

George Kelly’s theory of personality was predicated upon one thought – “Man is a scientist” meaning each of us tries to make sense of the world we live in by forming hypothesis. Once we enter into adulthood, according to Kelly, we will have developed a very complex model of the world and our place in it. Kelly believed a person’s conscious thoughts, feelings and personal experiences defined their