Self actualization theory: Carl Rogers

Self actualization theory: Carl Rogers

Introduction

Carl Rogers was a leading psychologist and considered as the forefathers of the humanistic approach to psychology. He is widely regarded as the father of the psychotherapy research and was awarded with the award for distinguished scientific contributions by the American psychological association in 1956.

Rogers's work on psychotherapy offers a ground-breaking conceptualization of human potentials for actualization and self directed change (Warner, 2009). His person centered approach found wide application in many dimensions such as counseling and psychotherapy, companies and many other domains. Rogers was also nominated for the Nobel peace award for his contributions to resolve intergroup conflict in Northern Ireland and South Africa. He was also ranked the sixth most influential psychologist of the 20th century, reflecting his remarkable services to the field of psychology.

Discussion

Rogers's theory of self actualization is mainly interested in discovering the conditions under which a person can fully develop his or her potentialities. The entire theory is based on a single “force of life”, which he called the actualizing tendency. He referred to actualizing tendency as the built in motivation that is present in every human being to develop its potential to the fullest extent possible. He maintained that every human being strives to make the very best of his existence. He believed that if provided with a suitable environment, a person can grow and improve in his life. The conditions for suitable environment include that he is treated with:

Genuineness

Acceptance Empathy

Rogers's theory of self actualization is based on the humanistic and phenomenological approach. He believed that one basic motive and that is the tendencies to self actualize. If someone fails to achieve the best he can, it is not his fault rather it is the fault of the environment in which he lives. Every individual has unique potential which develops in various ways depending on the personality. According to Roger, people are inherently good and creative. Only a poor self concept and external hindrances make the people disparaging. He considered the state of congruence a must for the person to attain the self actualization.

Hence self actualization takes place when ideal self of a person is in total match with the actual behavior. Self actualizing individual is considered by Roger as a fully functioning person. The fully functioning person is the peak of psychological development. Among the many features of a fully functioning person are the awareness of all experiences, the ability to live fully in each moment, trust in one's self, a sense of power and freedom and creativity. Rogers had an optimistic approach to human nature which includes a belief in freewill, the preference of environment over heredity. Individuals can grow unhampered by the past events (Schultz, 2005)

Method developed by Carl Rogers

His contributions are remarkable in the field of counseling, education, psychotherapy, conflict resolution and peace. The methods developed by Roger basically originated from the various theories proposed by him. The methods that I found useful and are applied in ...