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Carl Rogers- Humanistic Psychology (History (born in 1902- in Illinois-…
Carl Rogers- Humanistic Psychology
History
born in 1902- in Illinois- the 4th of 6th Children
his parents were strict Protestants
he decided to go to college at the University of Wisconsin- pursue a career in farming, then studied divinity & finally switched to psychology
worked in clinical psychology
published "
client centred therapy
(his most influential work) in 1951
Carl Rogers
best known for his innovative work -
client centred therapy
did not share Freud's view that behaviour is controlled by unconscious factors and personality is determined by early experiences in life
focus on
conscious perception
of the present and
current interpersonal relationships
Core of personality is positive
“One of the most revolutionary concepts to grow out of our clinical experience is the growing recognition that the innermost core of man’s nature, the deepest layers of his personality, the base of his “animal nature,” is positive in nature—is basically socialized, forward-moving, rational and realistic.”
ROGERS VIEW OF THE PERSON
based on the idea that human experience is
subjective
"i do not react to some absolute reality, but to my perception of this reality"
it introduces the concept of
phenomenal field
the space of perceptions making up our experience- our private, subjective world
all the things we can see and comprehend
we live by a perceptual map which is never reality itself- our perceptions of external reality shape our lives
our sense of self- has the most significant influence on how we act
core view of the person is defined by
2 additional concepts:
feelings of authenticity
feelings of authenticity vs feelings of alienation and detachment
“I’ve always try to be what the others thought I should be, but now I’m wondering whether I shouldn’t just see that I am what I am”
Positivity of human motivation
the most fundamental human motivation is towards positive growth
labelled as a naive optimist
ROGERS RESPONSE
I am quite aware that out of defensiveness and inner fear individuals can and do behave in ways which are incredibly cruel, horribly destructive, immature, regressive, antisocial, hurtful
Yet one of the most refreshing and invigorating parts of my experience is to work with such individuals to discover the strongly positive directional tendencies which exist in them, as in all of us, at the deepest levels.
THE STRUCTURE OF SELF
our self is fluid and changing
an organised consistent
gestalt
(an organised whole that is perceived as more than the sum of its parts) constantly in the process of forming and reforming
dynamically changing, reflecting our tendency to grow
the self
who we are at a given moment
influenced by the factors that shape perception
guided by our tendency to self-development
“The self may… reflect the past, but it is not constrained by it; it is always possible for a new pattern to emerge…”
distinction between actual self and ideal self
ACTUAL VS IDEAL SELF
A healthy sense of wellbeing is established if an individual maintains a reasonable consistency between ideal self & actual behaviour =
congruence
Ideal self = who you want to be somewhat
somewhat different in concept to Horney's 'ideal self'
the greater the gap b/w the ideal self and the actual self- the greater the incongruence
Incongruence can lead to low self-worth and maladjustment
INCOGURANCE AND DEFENSIVE PROCESSES
when people experience incongruence between experience and perception of self and become aware of it
increased anxiety and defensive processes occur
2 main defensive processes
distortion
= the meaning of experienced is changed to reduce incongruence
denial
= of the experience - it serves to preserve the self-structure from the threat by denying a conscious expression of the experience
THE NEED FOR POSITIVE REGARD
Development is influenced the nature and quality of
social interaction
positive social contacts may provide a feeling of belonging, being valued and loved
any form of attention is 'positive regard'
important- we may ignore other aspect of the Self in order to obtain it
PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT
Conditions of worth
obtaining 'positive regard'; is a measure of 'self worth'- and can become an end in itself
condition of worth are often created externally by other
eg: parents, family, friends
internalising the values of others into our ideal sense of self
distancing from who we really are
“when pleasing others becomes more important than one’s own actualising tendency, then healthy growth is threatened”
the 'would-should dilemma
the conflict between our personal needs and goals and the expectations of others
creates an 'incongruence' b/w our ideal and actual self
MEASURING SELF-CONCEPT
Q-SORT TECHNIQUE
developed by Stephenson (1953) and it was quickly adopted into Client Centered Therapy by Carl Rogers.
The measurement of a person’ s congruence/ incongruence is measured by a Q-SORT.
A q-sort is a series of cards, each containing a personal statement.
E.g.,
“needs recognition from others” or “is self-defeating” or “is personally charming”. The person sorts this statement into a forced distribution under two sets of conditions:
A) to describe their “real self”, and
B) to describe their “ideal self
Osgood et al’s Semantic Differential (1957)
Initially a measure of attitudes and meanings of concept
participants rate a concept using a 7-point scale defined by polar adjectives such as good-bad, strong0weak
Used to assess personality in the case of multiple personality
SELF ACTUALISATION
The organism has one basic tendency and striving- to actualise, maintain and enhance the experiencing organism
an intrinsic part of life
capacity to guide and direct our behaviour
CLIENT-CENTRED THERAPY
person centred counselling
The therapists' role was to create a facilitative, empathic environment wherein the patient could discover the answers for him or herself.”
6 necessary conditions for producing therapeutic change in clients
(a) therapist–client psychological contact;
(b) client incongruence;
(c) therapist congruence / genuineness;
(d) therapist unconditional positive regard;
(e) therapist’s empathic understanding;
(f) client perception.
STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS
Strengths
focus on the importance of individual freedom and choice for mental health
the overall positivity of the approach
the applications in psychotherapy of the concepts- client-centred therapy
Limitations
some questioned if the focus on freedom is empiracally driven or a reflection of Rogers' own values
criticized for promoting selfishness