Dear swaq-ga,
Good day!
In the next few paragraphs I try to assess the strengths and the
weaknesses of Rogers' Theory of Personality.
Introduction
---------------
Personality theories attempt to offer explanations for behavior and
what constitutes the person. Many focus on the WHY of personality,
such as Freud's idea of psychosexual stages or Erikson's crises that
continue in different forms throughout our lives. Others focus more
on the WHAT, looking only at our present such as the research of trait
theorists such as Cattell or Murray. Still others are more concerned
about the WHO, or the internal state of who we can become. Maslow and
Roger's are prime examples of this, arguing that the past is of least
important and only the present and future can be changed.
Carl Rogers (1902 - 1987) was an American psychologist who, along with
Abraham Maslow (another American psychologist), founded the humanistic
psychology school - a belief in the basic goodness and respect of
humankind - to understand personality and improve the overall
satisfaction of individuals. While Maslow was more of a theorist, Carl
Rogers was more of a therapist. His professional goal was more on
helping people change and improve their lives. He was a true follower
of humanistic ideation and is often considered the person who gave
psychotherapy it's basic humanistic undertones.
Rogers' theory of personality evolved out of his work as a clinical
psychologist and developed as an offshoot of his theory of
client-centered (later called person-centered) therapy. Rogers
believed that the human behavior is equisitively rational and that the
human nature is essentially positive and that the human beings are
trustworthy. These beliefs are reflected in his theory of
personality.This theory is a valuable contribution to the study of
persons, recognizing agency, free will and the importance of the self.
Core Concepts
------------------
Rogers believed that all living organisms have an inherent potential
to actualize and develop ways that maintain or enhance the organism
and move it toward autonomy. Human beings possess an additional
capability to actualize self (themselves) and this process is known as
self-actualization.
The core characteristics of humans are as follows:
i) Concept of self - an individual's conscious sense of who and what
he is and which he perceives to be peculiar to himself; this
perception is based largely on the social evaluations that he has
experienced
ii) Need for Positive Regard - the universal need for acceptance,
love, and approval from others; this need is very important during
infancy
iii) Need for Positive Self-Regard - when acceptance and approval come
from within the individual and forms part of the self-concept
Personality Development
------------------------------
While Rogers does not specify any developmental stages, he does make
some comments. Of basic importance is the fact that one's inherent
potentialities are genetically determined, while the self-concept is
socially determined. Thus, there is the possibility of a difference
between the two. The important influences are:
i) Conditional Positive Regard - this means granting of love and
approval only when an individual behaves according to the wishes of
other persons (e.g., a parent); a logical corollary is that affection
will be withdrawn if inappropriate behavior is observed, e.g., a
parent tells a child, "Mommy will hug you only if you finish your
homework; otherwise, you will go stand in the corner"
ii) Conditions of Worth (similar to Freud's superego) - this follows
directly from the first influence; here the individual believes that
he is worthy of affection only if he expresses desirable behaviors
iii) Unconditional Positive Regard - As opposed to the second
influence, here an individual can experience love and approval
regardless of his behavior; however, the behavior may be controlled by
restraint, e.g., "if you don't do as Mommy says, she will be very
sad".
iv) Incongruence - arises when there is a split between organismic
experience ("you are no good") and self-concept ("I'm good"). This is
a negative influence that not only prevents self-actualization but
also may lead to defensive behavior like denial or distortion
v) Congruence - a positive influence that leads to openness to
experience and a fulling functioning person. Here the self concept is
in agreement with inherent potentialities and there are minimal
conditions of worth
Personality Types
---------------------
Rogers categorised human personalities into two broad categories - one
where the self-actualizing tendency is actively functioning and one
where it is not:
i) Fully-functioning person - the ideal personality found in men who
have received unconditional positive regard, with few conditions of
worth, and a congruence between self & potentialities. Such person are
open to new experiences, live fully in the present, trust their gut
feelings, freely choose among alternatives and are able to think and
act creatively
ii) Maladjusted person - such a man has received conditional positive
regard and, consequently, developed conditions of worth. There is
incongruence between self and potentialities. He lives defensively,
follows the path set by others, is not intuitive, feels manipulated
and tries to conform to the standards
Critique
---------
The strengths of Rogers' theory are as follows:
- empirical studies have supported the hypothesis that congruence
between self and experience leads to better personality adjustment and
less defensiveness
- research has also tended to support the idea of changes in
self-concept occurring as a result of therapy
- Rogers' belief that the characteristics of the person doing therapy
were more important than the therapist's philosophy or technique is
supported by research
Some of the criticisms leveled against this theory are:
- statements of ideals may be socially imposed
- the entire human race can't be categorized under only two extremes
- a scientific method to study free will is not available
- Rogers has not defined the concepts exhaustively
- the humanistic theories are overly simple and naive in their belief
of inherent goodness of all human beings
- Rogers' theory rejects scientific method as means of evaluating
propositions about humans
Conclusions
-----------
The humanistic approach arose during time of war and protests in the
United States . While people were dealing with their own beliefs
about the goodness of man, Maslow and Rogers presented their own
theory on the innate good in all of us. It was a positive approach
allowing us to forget the past and move toward a brighter tomorrow.
Humanism began to fade in the 1980's, perhaps more so because it was
incorporated into other theories than its inherent flaws.
The person-centered approach has had impact on domains such as family
life, education, leadership, conflict resolution, politics and
community health . Rogers greatest contribution may lie in his
encouraging a humane and ethical treatment of persons, approaching
psychology as a human science rather than a natural science.
Additional Links:
An excellent analysis of Carl Rogers' Theory of Personality by Dagmar
Pescitelli
http://www.wynja.com/personality/rogersff.html
A good source of links about Carl Rogers
http://www.psy.pdx.edu/PsiCafe/KeyTheorists/Rogers.htm
An evaluation of the theory available from Francis Marion University
http://www.psy.pdx.edu/PsiCafe/KeyTheorists/Rogers.htm
An analysis by B. Spencer
http://oldsci.eiu.edu/psychology/Spencer/Rogers.html
A good collection of links on the psychology of personality are
available at
http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~mdlee/Teaching/links11.htm
Search strategy:
Roger's Theory of Personality
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=Roger%27s+Theory+of+Personality |
