Question

Discuss Carl Rogers’ theory of Personality.

Answer 1

• Carl Rogers, a major humanistic psychologist, believed that human beings have an inborn tendency to grow, develop, and move towards becoming a fully functioning individual. Such individuals live in the present, trust their feelings, experience life deeply, and act in constructive ways. Although they may experience anger or other negative emotions, over time their actions become more positive and aligned with their true values.
• A key idea in Rogers’ theory is congruence, a close match between one’s self-concept (how one sees oneself) and ideal self (who one wants to be). When these two aspects are consistent, a person shows psychological health. However, when the gap between them is large, the individual experiences tension, anxiety, and emotional distress.
• Rogers argued that many people develop a distorted self-concept due to conditional positive regard. Parents, friends, or society approve of them only when they behave in certain accepted ways. As a result, individuals deny or suppress genuine feelings that are disapproved by others and begin to judge themselves through the values of others. This leads to a false or distorted view of the self.
• When experiences do not match one’s self-concept, individuals feel anxiety. To reduce this, they often use defence mechanisms such as distortion (changing reality to fit the self-concept) or denial (refusing to accept reality). Although these reduce immediate tension, they actually increase the gap between self-concept and reality, leading to greater maladjustment and unhappiness.
• Rogers believed that for healthy personality development, people must be placed in an atmosphere of unconditional positive regard, where they feel accepted, valued, and respected regardless of what they say or do. Such an environment allows individuals to acknowledge their true feelings, reduce the gap between the real and ideal self, and move towards becoming fully functioning, psychologically healthy persons.