?Chapter Outline
I. Overview of Rogers's Person-Centered Theory Although Carl Rogers is finest known since the founder of client-centered therapy， he also developed an important theory of personality that underscores his process to therapy.
II. Biography of Carl Rogers Carl Rogers was born into a devoutly religious family inside a Chicago suburb in 1902. After the family moved to your farm near Chicago， Carl became interested in scientific farming and learned to appreciate the scientific method. When he graduated from the University of Wisconsin， Rogers intended to become a minister， but he gave up that notion and completed a Ph.D. in psychology from Columbia University in 1931. In 1940， after nearly a dozen years absent from an academic life working as a clinician， he took a position at Ohio State University. Later， he held positions within the University of Chicago and also the University of Wisconsin. In 1964， he moved to California where he helped found the Center for Studies with the Person. He died in 1987 at age 85.
III. Person-Centered Theory Rogers carefully crafted his person-centered theory of personality to meet his very own demands for a structural product that could explain and predict outcomes of client-centered therapy. However， the theory has implications far beyond the therapeutic setting. A. Essential Assumptions Person-centered theory rests on two straightforward assumptions: (1) the formative tendency， which states that all matter， both equally organic and inorganic， tends to evolve from simpler to extra complex sorts， and (two) an actualizing tendency， which suggests that all living things， such as humans， tend to move toward completion， or fulfillment of potentials. However， in order for people (or plants and animals) to become actualized， certain identifiable conditions must be current. For a person， these conditions include a relationship with another person who is genuine， or congruent， and who demonstrates total acceptance and empathy for that person. B. The Self and Self-Actualization A perception of self or personal identity begins to emerge during infancy， and， once established， it facilitates a person to strive toward self-actualization， which could be a subsystem of your actualization tendency and refers to the tendency to actualize the self as perceived in awareness. The self has two subsystems: (1) the self-concept， which involves all those aspects of one's identity that are perceived in awareness， and (two) the ideal self， or our look at of our self as we would like to be or aspire to be. Once formed， the self concept tends to resist change， and gaps in between it as well as ideal self result in incongruence and different ranges of psychopathology.
C. Awareness People are aware of both equally their self-concept and their ideal self， although awareness want not be accurate or in a huge degree. Rogers saw people as having experiences on three stages of awareness: (1) those that are symbolized below the threshold of awareness and are either ignored or denied， that is certainly， subceived， or not allowed into the self-concept; (two) those that are distorted or reshaped to fit it into an current self-concept; and (3) those that are consistent with the self-concept and thus are accurately symbolized and freely admitted to the self-structure. Any encounter not consistent with the self-concept-even positive experiences-will be distorted or denied. D. Needs The two general human needs are maintenance and enhancement， but people also have to have positive regard and self-regard. Maintenance needs include those for food， air， and safety， nevertheless they also include our tendency to resist change and to sustain our self-concept as it is. Enhancement needs include needs to grow and to realize one's comprehensive human potential. As awareness of self emerges， an infant begins to acquire positive regard from another person-that is， to be loved or accepted. People naturally value those experiences that satisfy their needs for positive regard， but， unfortunately， this value occasionally becomes a little more powerful than the reward they acquire for meeting their organismic needs. This sets up the condition of incongruence， which is encountered when essential organismic needs are denied or distorted in favor of needs to be loved or accepted. As a result of experiences with positive regard， people acquire the demand for self-regard， which they acquire only after they perceive that someone else cares for them and values them. Once established， however， self-regard becomes autonomous and no longer dependent on another's continuous positive evaluation. E. Conditions of Worth Most people are not unconditionally accepted. Instead， they get conditions of worth; that is certainly， they truly feel that they are loved and accepted only when and if they meet the conditions established by others. F. Psychological Stagnation If the organismic self as well as the self-concept are at variance with an individual another， a person may practical knowledge incongruence， which incorporates vulnerability， threat， defensiveness， and even disorganization. The greater the incongruence among self-concept in addition to the organismic have， the further vulnerable that person becomes. Anxiety exists whenever the person becomes dimly aware of your discrepancy relating to organismic adventure and self-concept， whereas threat is seasoned whenever the person becomes greater clearly aware of this incongruence. To prevent incongruence， people react with defensiveness， typically on the varieties of distortion and denial. With distortion， people misinterpret an adventure so that it fits into their self-concept; with denial， people refuse to help the encounter into awareness. When people's defenses fail to operate properly， their behavior becomes disorganized or psychotic. With disorganization， people many times behave consistently with their organismic practical knowledge and generally in accordance with their shattered self-concept.
IV. Psychotherapy For client-centered psychotherapy to be effective， certain conditions are necessary: A vulnerable client must have contact of some duration accompanied by a counselor who is congruent， and who demonstrates unconditional positive regard and listens with empathy into a client. The client must in turn perceive the congruence， unconditional positive regard， and empathy from the therapist. If these conditions are current， then the practice of therapy will take area and certain predictable outcomes will result. A. Conditions Three conditions are crucial to client-centered therapy， and Rogers called them the necessary and sufficient conditions for therapeutic growth. The earliest is counselor congruence， or a therapist whose organismic experiences are matched by an awareness and by the ability and willingness to openly express these feelings. Congruence is greater common than another two conditions due to the fact it could be a relatively stable characteristic for the therapist， whereas another two conditions are confined to the special therapeutic relationship. Unconditional positive regard exists once the therapist accepts the client without conditions or qualifications. Empathic listening is the therapist's ability to feeling the feelings of the client and also to communicate these perceptions so that the client knows that another person has entered into his or her world of feelings without prejudice， projection， or evaluation. B. Technique Rogers saw the operation of therapeutic change as taking area in seven stages: (1) clients are unwilling to communicate anything about themselves; (two) they discuss only external events and other people; (3) they begin to talk about themselves， but even now as an object; (four) they discuss potent emotions that they have felt on the past; (5) they begin to express current feelings; (6) they freely make it possible for into awareness those experiences that were being previously denied or distorted; and (7) they undergo irreversible change and growth. C. Outcomes When client-centered therapy is successful， clients become considerably more congruent， less defensive， considerably more open to undergo， plus much more realistic. The gap in between their ideal self and their true self narrows and， as a consequence， clients adventure less physiological and psychological tension. Finally， clients' interpersonal relationships improve considering that they are much more accepting of self and others.
V. The Person of Tomorrow Rogers was vitally interested on the psychologically healthy person， called the "fully functioning person" or the "person of tomorrow." Rogers listed seven characteristics with the person of tomorrow. The person of tomorrow (1) is able to adjust to change， (two) is open to know-how， (3) is able to live fully with the moment， (four) is able to have harmonious relations with others， (5) is considerably more integrated with no artificial boundaries concerning conscious and unconscious processes， (6) has a simple trust of human nature， and (7) enjoys a greater richness in life. The factors have implications both of those to the individual and for society.
VI. Philosophy of Science Rogers agreed with Maslow that scientists must care about and be involved on the phenomena they study which psychologists should limit their objectivity and precision to their methodology， not to the development of hypotheses or to the communication of research findings.
VII. The Chicago Study When he taught within the University of Chicago， Rogers， along with colleagues and graduate students， conducted a sophisticated and complex study over the effectiveness of psychotherapy. A. Hypotheses This study tested four broad hypotheses. As a consequence of therapy (1) clients will become a little more aware of their feelings and experiences， (two) the gap relating to the real self plus the ideal self will lessen; (3) clients' behavior will become extra socialized and mature; and (four) clients will become equally way more self-accepting plus more accepting of others. B. Method Participants ended up adults who sought therapy in the University of Chicago counseling center. Experimenters asked fifty percent of these to wait sixty days before receiving therapy whilst beginning therapy with the opposite 50 %. Moreover， they tested a control group of "normals" who have been matched with the therapy group. This control group was also divided into a wait group in addition to a non-wait group. C. Findings Rogers and his associates found that the therapy group-but not the wait group-showed a lessening within the gap involving real self and ideal self. They also found that clients who improved during therapy-but not those rated as least improved-showed changes in social behavior， as noted by friends. D. Summary of Successes Although client-centered therapy was successful in changing clients， it was not successful in bringing them to the amount on the fully functioning persons or even to the degree of "normal" psychological health.
VIII. Related Research A good deal more not long ago， other researchers have investigated Rogers's facilitative conditions both equally outside the house therapy and in therapy. A. Facilitative Conditions Outside the house Therapy On the United Kingdom， Duncan Cramer has conducted a series of studies investigating the therapeutic qualities of Rogers's facilitative conditions in interpersonal relationships outside the house of therapy. Cramer found positive relationships among self-esteem， as measured by the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale， as well as four facilitative conditions that make up the Barrett-Lennard Relationship Inventory-level of regard， unconditionality of regard， congruence， and empathy. Moreover， the direction in the relationship strongly suggested that Rogers's facilitative conditions precede the acquisition of higher stages of self-esteem. B. Facilitative Conditions and Couples Therapy In Belgium， Alfons Vansteenwegen (1996) second hand a revised type from the Barrett-Lennard to determine if Rogers's facilitative conditions related to success during couples therapy. He found that client-centered couples therapy can bring about positive changes in couples， which many of these changes lasted for at least seven years after therapy.
IX. Critique of Rogers Rogers's person-centered theory is a person from the most carefully constructed of all personality theories， and it meets somewhat properly each individual of your six criteria of the useful theory. It rates very substantial on internal consistency and parsimony， great on its ability to be falsified and to generate research， and high-average on its ability to organize knowledge and to serve as a guide to the practitioner.
X. Concept of Humanity Rogers believed that humans have the capacity to change and grow-provided that certain necessary and sufficient conditions are existing. Therefore， his theory rates very large on optimism. Also， it rates substantial on 100 percent free choice， teleology， conscious motivation， social influences， also， the uniqueness in the individual.
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