Carl Rogers: Founder Of
The Humanistic Approach
To Psychology
By
Saul Mcleod, PhD
Updated on
February 8, 2023
Reviewed by
Olivia Guy-Evans
Carl Rogers (1902-1987) was a humanistic psychologist best known
for his views about the therapeutic relationship and his theories of
personality and self-actualization.
Rogers (1959) believed that for a person to “grow”, they need an
environment that provides them with genuineness (openness and self-
disclosure), acceptance (being seen with unconditional positive
regard), and empathy (being listened to and understood).
Without these qualities, relationships and healthy personalities will
not develop as they should, much like a tree will not grow without
sunlight and water.
Rogers believed that every person could achieve their goals, wishes,
and desires in life. When, or rather if they did so, self actualization
took place. This was one of Carl Rogers most important contributions
to psychology, and for a person to reach their potential a number of
factors must be satisfied.
What is Humanism?
Humanistic psychology is a perspective that emphasizes looking at the whole person and the uniqueness of each
individual. Humanistic psychology begins with the existential assumptions that people have free will and are
motivated to achieve their potential and self-actualize.
Person-Centered Therapy
Rogers developed client-centered therapy (later re-named ‘person-
centered’), which was a non-directive therapy, allowing clients to deal
with what they considered important, at their own pace.
This method involves removing obstacles so the client can move
forward, freeing him or her for normal growth and development. By
his use of non-directive techniques, Rogers assisted people in taking
responsibility for themselves.
He believed that the experience of being understood and valued gives
us the freedom to grow, while pathology generally arises from
attempting to earn others’ positive regard rather than following an
‘inner compass’.
Rogers recorded his therapeutic sessions, analyzed transcripts of
them, and examined factors related to the outcome of therapy. He was
the first person to record and publish complete cases of
psychotherapy.
Rogers revolutionized the course of therapy. He took the, then, radical
view that it might be more beneficial for the client to lead the therapy
sessions rather than the therapist; as he says, ‘the client knows what
hurts, what directions to go, what problems are crucial, what
experiences have been buried’ (Rogers, 1961).
Personality Development
Central to Rogers” personality theory is the notion of self or self-
concept. This is defined as “the organized, consistent set of
perceptions and beliefs about oneself.”
The self is the humanistic term for who we really are as a person. The
self is our inner personality, and can be likened to the soul, or Freud’s
psyche. The self is influenced by the experiences a person has in their
life, and out interpretations of those experiences. Two primary
sources that influence our self-concept are childhood experiences and
evaluation by others.
According to Rogers (1959), we want to feel, experience and behave
in ways which are consistent with our self-image and which reflect
what we would like to be like, our ideal-self. The closer our self-image
and ideal-self are to each other, the more consistent or congruent we
are and the higher our sense of self-worth.
A person is said to be in a state of incongruence if some of the totality
of their experience is unacceptable to them and is denied or distorted
in the self-image.
The humanistic approach states that the self is composed of concepts
unique to ourselves. The self-concept includes three components:
Self-worth
Self-worth (or self-esteem) comprises what we think about ourselves.
Rogers believed feelings of self-worth developed in early childhood
and were formed from the interaction of the child with the mother and
father.
Self-image
How we see ourselves, which is important to good psychological
health. Self-image includes the influence of our body image on inner
personality.
At a simple level, we might perceive ourselves as a good or bad
person, beautiful or ugly. Self-image affects how a person thinks, feels
and behaves in the world.
Ideal-self
This is the person who we would like to be. It consists of our goals and
ambitions in life, and is dynamic – i.e., forever changing.
The ideal self in childhood is not the ideal self in our teens or late
twenties etc.
Positive Regard And Self Worth
Carl Rogers (1951) viewed the child as having two basic needs:
positive regard from other people and self-worth.
How we think about ourselves, our feelings of self-worth are of
fundamental importance both to psychological health and to the
likelihood that we can achieve goals and ambitions in life and achieve
self-actualization.
Self-worth may be seen as a continuum from very high to very low.
For Carl Rogers (1959) a person who has high self-worth, that is, has
confidence and positive feelings about him or herself, faces challenges
in life, accepts failure and unhappiness at times, and is open with
people.
A person with low self-worth may avoid challenges in life, not accept
that life can be painful and unhappy at times, and will be defensive
and guarded with other people.
Rogers believed feelings of self-worth developed in early childhood
and were formed from the interaction of the child with the mother and
father. As a child grows older, interactions with significant others will
affect feelings of self-worth.
Rogers believed that we need to be regarded positively by others; we
need to feel valued, respected, treated with affection and loved.
Positive regard is to do with how other people evaluate and judge us
in social interaction. Rogers made a distinction between unconditional
positive regard and conditional positive regard.
Unconditional Positive Regard
Unconditional positive regard is where parents, significant others
(and the humanist therapist) accepts and loves the person for what he
or she is. Positive regard is not withdrawn if the person does
something wrong or makes a mistake.
The consequences of unconditional positive regard are that the person
feels free to try things out and make mistakes, even though this may
lead to getting it worse at times.
People who are able to self-actualize are more likely to have received
unconditional positive regard from others, especially their parents, in
childhood.
Conditional Positive Regard
Conditional positive regard is where positive regard, praise, and
approval, depend upon the child, for example, behaving in ways that
the parents think correct.
Hence the child is not loved for the person he or she is, but on
condition that he or she behaves only in ways approved by the
parent(s).
At the extreme, a person who constantly seeks approval from other
people is likely only to have experienced conditional positive regard
as a child.
Congruence
A person’s ideal self may not be consistent with what actually happens
in life and experiences of the person. Hence, a difference may exist
between a person’s ideal self and actual experience. This is called
incongruence.
Where a person’s ideal self and actual experience are consistent or
very similar, a state of congruence exists. Rarely, if ever, does a total
state of congruence exist; all people experience a certain amount of
incongruence.
The development of congruence is dependent on unconditional
positive regard. Carl Rogers believed that for a person to achieve self-
actualization, they must be in a state of congruence.
According to Rogers, we want to feel, experience and behave in ways
which are consistent with our self-image and which reflect what we
would like to be like, our ideal-self.
The closer our self-image and ideal-self are to each other, the more
consistent or congruent we are and the higher our sense of self-worth.
A person is said to be in a state of incongruence if some of the totality
of their experience is unacceptable to them and is denied or distorted
in the self-image.
Incongruence is “a discrepancy between the actual experience of the
organism and the self-picture of the individual insofar as it represents
that experience.
As we prefer to see ourselves in ways that are consistent with our self-
image, we may use defense mechanisms like denial or repression in
order to feel less threatened by some of what we consider to be our
undesirable feelings.
A person whose self-concept is incongruent with her or his real
feelings and experiences will defend because the truth hurts.
Self Actualization
The organism has one basic tendency and striving – to actualize,
maintain, and enhance the experiencing organism (Rogers, 1951, p.
487).
Rogers rejected the deterministic nature of both psychoanalysis and
behaviorism and maintained that we behave as we do because of the
way we perceive our situation. “As no one else can know how we
perceive, we are the best experts on ourselves.”
Carl Rogers (1959) believed that humans have one basic motive, that
is the tendency to self-actualize – i.e., to fulfill one’s potential and
achieve the highest level of “human-beingness” we can.
According to Rogers, people could only self-actualize if they had a
positive view of themselves (positive self-regard). This can only
happen if they have unconditional positive regard from others – if they
feel that they are valued and respected without reservation by those
around them (especially their parents when they were children).
Self-actualization is only possible if there is congruence between the
way an individual sees themselves and their ideal self (the way they
want to be or think they should be). If there is a large gap between
these two concepts, negative feelings of self-worth will arise that will
make it impossible for self-actualization to take place.
The environment a person is exposed to and interacts with can either
frustrate or assist this natural destiny. If it is oppressive, it will
frustrate; if it is favorable, it will assist.
Like a flower that will grow to its full potential if the conditions are
right, but which is constrained by its environment, so people will
flourish and reach their potential if their environment is good enough.
However, unlike a flower, the potential of the individual human is
unique, and we are meant to develop in different ways according to
our personality. Rogers believed that people are inherently good and
creative.
They become destructive only when a poor self-concept or external
constraints override the valuing process. Carl Rogers believed that
for a person to achieve self-actualization, they must be in a state of
congruence.
This means that self-actualization occurs when a person’s “ideal self”
(i.e., who they would like to be) is congruent with their actual
behavior (self-image).
Rogers describes an individual who is actualizing as a fully
functioning person. The main determinant of whether we will become
self-actualized is childhood experience.
The Fully Functioning Person
Rogers believed that every person could achieve their goal. This
means that the person is in touch with the here and now, his or her
subjective experiences and feelings, continually growing and
changing.
In many ways, Rogers regarded the fully functioning person as an
ideal and one that people do not ultimately achieve. It is wrong to
think of this as an end or completion of life’s journey; rather it is a
process of always becoming and changing.
Rogers identified five characteristics of the fully
functioning person:
1. Open to experience: both positive and negative emotions
accepted. Negative feelings are not denied, but worked through
(rather than resorting to ego defense mechanisms).
2. Existential living: in touch with different experiences as they occur
in life, avoiding prejudging and preconceptions. Being able to live
and fully appreciate the present, not always looking back to the past
or forward to the future (i.e., living for the moment).
3. Trust feelings: feeling, instincts, and gut-reactions are paid
attention to and trusted. People’s own decisions are the right ones,
and we should trust ourselves to make the right choices.
4. Creativity: creative thinking and risk-taking are features of a
person’s life. A person does not play safe all the time. This involves
the ability to adjust and change and seek new experiences.
5. Fulfilled life: a person is happy and satisfied with life, and always
looking for new challenges and experiences.
For Rogers, fully functioning people are well adjusted, well balanced
and interesting to know. Often such people are high achievers in
society.
Critics claim that the fully functioning person is a product of Western
culture. In other cultures, such as Eastern cultures, the achievement
of the group is valued more highly than the achievement of any one
person.
Carl Rogers Quotes
The very essence of the creative is its novelty, and hence we have no
standard by which to judge it.
(Rogers, 1961, p. 351)
I have gradually come to one negative conclusion about the good life.
It seems to me that the good life is not any fixed state.
It is not, in my estimation, a state of virtue, or contentment, or
nirvana, or happiness. It is not a condition in which the individual is
adjusted or fulfilled or actualized.
To use psychological terms, it is not a state of drive-reduction, or
tension-reduction, or homeostasis.
(Rogers, 1967, p. 185-186)
The good life is a process, not a state of being. It is a direction not a
destination.
(Rogers, 1967, p. 187)
References
Rogers, C. (1951). Client-centered therapy: Its current practice,
implications and theory. London: Constable.
Rogers, C. (1959). A theory of therapy, personality and interpersonal
relationships as developed in the client-centered framework. In (ed.)
S. Koch, Psychology: A study of a science. Vol. 3: Formulations of the
person and the social context. New York: McGraw Hill.
Rogers, C. R. (1961). On Becoming a person: A psychotherapists view
of psychotherapy.
Houghton Mifflin.
Rogers, C. R., Stevens, B., Gendlin, E. T., Shlien, J. M., & Van Dusen,
W. (1967). Person to person: The problem of being human: A new
trend in psychology. Lafayette, CA: Real People Press.
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Theory
