What is Carl Rogers’ Theory of Personality Development?

Carl Ransom Rogers (1902 –1987) was a psychologist who developed a theory called Unconditional
Positive Regard. He believed that children learn through unconditional acceptance and understanding.

Rogers’ theory is based on his own experience working with children. His work focused on helping
parents understand their children better and teaching them to accept their children unconditionally.

Rogers was born in 1902 in North Carolina. He attended medical school at Johns Hopkins University and
became a doctor. However, he didn’t feel fulfilled by his career path. So, he left medicine and began
studying psychology.

He eventually moved to California, where he studied with John Dewey and William James. His studies
led him to become interested in human behavior and how we learn. His early work included ‘On
Becoming a Person’, ‘Anatomy of an Illness, and ‘Peaceful Warrior’.

Rogers believed that humans were capable of becoming whole persons through self-discovery. He said
that our thoughts, feelings, and actions influence each other. We’re not separate entities; rather, we’re
connected parts of a greater whole.

This philosophy influenced many psychologists who followed him. They called this process “self-
actualization.” Today, psychologists use the term “personality development” instead of self-
actualization.

He wrote several books, including The Human Side of Child Training, The Way Home, and Beyond the
Age of Childhood.

Rogers died at age 90, but he left behind a legacy of ideas that continue to influence parenting today.

Rogers’ ideas influenced many psychologists and educators during his lifetime, including John Watson,
B.F. Skinner, Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, and Maria Montessori. His theories continue to be cited in
modern psychology today.

According to Carl Rogers’ humanistic theory of personality development, all humans exist in a world
which is loaded with experiences. Their life experiences create their reactions involving external people
and objects. Also, internal emotions and thoughts. This is referred to as their phenomenal field. The
phenomenal field indicates someone’s thoughts, behaviour, objects, reality, as well as people.

Carl R. Rogers acknowledged that a human’s behaviour is a factor stimulated by the tendencies of self-
actualisation to work and accomplish the highest level of their achievement and potential. In this
system, people create a self-concept or structure of self. A negative self-concept is associated with
making people unhappy with who they are, a positive self-concept will make them feel safe and secure.

How do Carl Rogers’ and Abraham Maslow’s theories differ?

The humanistic psychologist Rogers, was a supporter of the founder of positive psychology, Abraham
Maslow’s humanistic theory of personality. One of the eminent psychologists and a positive psychology
expert Abraham Samuel Maslow believed that people gain their full potential by shifting from
fundamental needs towards self-actualization. However, Roger’s personality theory added that people
in their daily lives need an environment with empathy, acceptance and genuineness to grow. According
to Carl Rogers, a person attains the level of self-actualization when they accomplish their desires, wishes
and goals, at each stage of their life.

As a humanistic psychology leader and positive psychology founder, Abraham Samuel Maslow
addressed the study of personality psychology while emphasizing free will and subjective experiences.

Humanistic psychology highlights the role of a person in shaping his external and internal world. Carl
Rogers believed that humans in their daily lives are creative and active people who stay in the present
and are concerned with situations, interpersonal relationships and perceptions, only in the present.
Roger’s theory of personality development gives emphasis to human potential and free will for
goodness.

The main difference between both the eminent psychologists’ Rogers and Abraham Samuel Maslow is in
their humanistic theories of self-actualization. Abraham Samuel Maslow recognizes the functioning of a
person in one’s own self, but Rogers highlights the need for the environment.

Carl Rogers’ Humanistic Theory of Personality Development

By Dr. Saul McLeod, updated 2014

Carl Rogers (1902-1987) was a humanistic psychologist who agreed with the main assumptions of
Abraham Maslow. However, Rogers (1959) added 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, 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.

What is Humanism?

Humanistic psychology is a perspective that emphasizes looking at the 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.

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

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

Two Faces Illustrating High Self Esteem Saying – I am the best

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.

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.

Concluding thoughts on Rogers’ theory

Rogers’ theories were influenced by Sigmund Freud and Alfred Adler. They had similar views on the
importance of understanding yourself. However, Rogers thought that these theories didn’t go far
enough. He wanted to help people understand their feelings and emotions.

Rogers believed that everyone wants to be happy. But many people struggle to achieve happiness
because they’re not aware of who they truly are. To find out who you are, you need to learn about
yourself.

In conclusion, Carl Rogers was a psychologist who believed that everyone had the potential to heal
themselves. He also believed that if someone wanted to improve their mental state, they should first
look within themselves to find out why they were feeling bad.

This approach allowed him to develop his famous client-centered therapy, which he used to treat
patients suffering from depression, anxiety, and phobias. His work continues to influence psychologists
today.

Rogers believed there are four basic needs that drive human behavior. These needs are safety,
belongingness, self-esteem, and freedom. People strive to meet these needs.
People often try to fill their lives with things that give them pleasure. But when they fail to satisfy these
needs, they may experience stress. Stress causes unhappiness.