Chapter 5

1. Chapter 5 PHENOMENOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE: CARL ROGERS’ PERSON-CENTERED THEORY

2. QUESTIONS TO BE ADDRESSED IN THIS CHAPTER • What is the self and why might someone act inconsistently with his or her true self? • Freud viewed motivation in terms of tension reduction, the pursuit of pleasure and avoidance of pain, and intrapsychic conflict. Is it possible to view human motivation in terms of personal growth, self-actualization, and feelings of congruence? • How important is it to have a stable self-concept? How important is it for our feelings to match our self-concept? What do we do when feelings conflict with our self-perceptions? • What childhood conditions produce a positive sense of self-worth?

3. ROGERS'S VIEW OF THE PERSON PHENOMENOLOGY • The phenomenological approach is one that investigates the individual’s conscious experiences • The precursor to psychologists’ use of this term can be found in the writings of the German philosopher, Emanual Kant • Kant distinguished the “noumenal world” (i.e., objects as they exist in and of themselves, independent of the observer) from the world of phenomena (i.e., conscious experience)

4. ROGERS'S VIEW OF THE SCIENCE OF PERSONALITY HERMENEUTICS • Beginning in the 19th century, particularly in the work of German philosopher Wilhelm Dilthey, scholars questioned whether principles of the natural sciences could be extended to the psychology of human beings

5. ROGERS'S VIEW OF THE SCIENCE OF PERSONALITY HERMENEUTICS • They suggested that a psychology of humans beings requires a hermeneuticapproach: • Consider a style of thinking you use when reading a novel • 3 key steps: • Search for meaning in a character’s action • Deduce meaning by examining the historical and social context in which a character is acting • Evaluate the ethical and moral goodness of a character’s actions

6. ROGERS'S VIEW OF THE SCIENCE OF PERSONALITY HERMENEUTICS • Rogers’ concern with the subjectivity of a person’s experience led him to adopt a hermaneutic approach • In therapy his main goal was to gain an accurate understanding of how clients experience their world

7. ROGERS'S VIEW OF THE PERSON EXPERIENCE IS SUBJECTIVE • The “reality” we observe is really a “private world of experience . . . the phenomenal field” (Rogers, 1951/1977, p. 206) • Phenomenal field = the domain of subjective perceptions that makes up the totality of our experience • Emotions (e.g., anger, joy) are the reality that is experienced • Observation is not an objective recording of reality, but rather a construction of meaning that reflects each person’s worldview

8. ROGERS'S VIEW OF THE PERSON EXPERIENCE IS SUBJECTIVE • Feelings of authenticity • People often feel as though their actions and experiences do not reflect their true, authentic selves • Individuals can achieve a state in which their conscious experiences and goals are congruent with their inner, viscerally felt values

9. ROGERS'S VIEW OF THE PERSON EXPERIENCE IS SUBJECTIVE • The Positive Nature of Human Motivation • The most basic motivation is toward positive growth • This view is contrary to • Religion, which often teaches that we are sinful • Psychoanalysis, which teaches that our instincts are selfish (i.e., sexual and aggressive) • People can and do act in ways that are destructive, but when functioning freely, are able to move toward their unique potentials as positive, healthy beings

10. PERSON-CENTERED THEORY STRUCTURE • The individual perceives external objects and experiences, and attaches meaning to them • Total system of perceptions and meanings make up the individual's phenomenal field • Self= the most important component of phenomenal field

11. PERSON-CENTERED THEORY STRUCTURE • Self = a subset of the phenomenal field that is recognized by the individual as related to "me" or "I” • The self represents an organized and consistent pattern of perceptions • Although the self changes, an integrated, organized pattern of self-perceptions endures • The self is available to awareness

12. PERSON-CENTERED THEORY STRUCTURE • Actual self = the self that we believe we are now • Ideal self = the self that we aspire to become in the future • The ideal self is the self-concept that an individual would most like to possess

13. PERSON-CENTERED THEORY STRUCTURE • Measuring self-concept:Q-Sort • An examiner gives a respondent a set of cards, each having a personality characteristic: "Makes friends easily," "Has trouble expressing anger," etc. • The respondent sorts the cards: Most characteristic of me on one extreme and Least characteristic of me on the other • Forced distribution = most cards are placed in the middle with relatively few at either extreme • The Q-sort is an innovative hybrid of fixed and flexible measures • The Q-sort can be administered to an individual more than once to assess actual self and ideal self in order to determine the level of consistency as well as change

14. PERSON-CENTERED THEORY PROCESS • Self-actualization = the most basic personality process; a forward-looking tendency toward personal growth • Actualization = • An organism’s tendency to grow from a simple entity to a more complex one • Movement from dependence toward independence • Evolution from fixedness and rigidity to a process of adaptive change and freedom of expression • Includes the tendency to reduce needs or tension, but emphasizes fulfillment through activities that enhance the organism (i.e., tension induction)

15. PERSON-CENTERED THEORY PROCESS • Self-consistency and Congruence • According to Rogers, human beings function to • Maintain consistency among self-perceptions (e.g., actual self and idea self) • Achieve congruence between perceptions of self and actions and experiences • Rogers emphasized the importance to healthy functioning of consistency among self-perceptions and congruence between self-perceptions and experience

16. PERSON-CENTERED THEORY PROCESS • Incongruence and Defensive Processes • Anxiety is the result of a incongruence between a perception of self and actual experience • Defensive methods are used to prevent the loss of a consistent, integrated sense of self • Through subception, a person becomes aware of experience that is incongruent with the self before it reaches consciousness

17. PERSON-CENTERED THEORY PROCESS • Incongruence and Defensive Processes • 2 defensive processes: • Denial of experience, which preserves the self from threat by blocking experience from consciousness • Distortion of the meaning of experience, which allows experience into awareness, but renders it consistent with the self

18. PERSON-CENTERED THEORY PROCESS • Research on Self-consistency • Cartwright (1956) predicted that individuals would have better recall for stimuli that are consistent with the self than for stimuli that are inconsistent • Participants were better able to recall adjectives they felt were descriptive of themselves than they were able to recall adjectives that were unlike themselves • This tendency should be greater for maladjusted participants than for adjusted participants

19. PERSON-CENTERED THEORY PROCESS • Research on Self-consistency • Cartwright (1956) also found considerable distortion in recall for inconsistent adjectives • Participants who viewed themselves as hopeful misrecalled the word "hopeless" as "hopeful" • Participants who viewed themselves as friendly misrecalled the word "hostile" as "hospitable" • These errors in recall were specific to maladjusted participants

20. PERSON-CENTERED THEORY PROCESS • Research on Congruence • Aronson & Mettee (1968) hypothesized that people who are tempted to cheat will more likely do so if their self-esteem is low than high • Cheating is not incongruent with low self-esteem, but is incongruent with high self-esteem • Results suggested that the decision to cheat is influenced by the direction of self-concept • Participants with high self-esteem acted in ways that were congruent with the self (did not cheat) • Participants low in self-esteem acted in ways that were congruent with the self (cheated)

21. PERSON-CENTERED THEORY PROCESS • Research on Congruence • Heimpel et al. (2002) - people with low self-esteem should be less motivated to change their negative moods than people with high self-esteem • Sad mood-induction was followed by an opportunity to select a video to watch • The selection included comedies (i.e., an incongruent choice)

22. PERSON-CENTERED THEORY PROCESS • Research on Congruence • Heimpel et al. (2002) found that a majority of high self-esteem participants chose to watch the comedy video when in a negative mood • A minority of low self-esteem participants chose to watch the comedy video when in a negative mood; most failed to make a choice that would alter their negative mood

23. PERSON-CENTERED THEORY PROCESS • Need for positive regard = a basic need to be accepted and respected by others • So powerful that people can lose touch with their true feelings and values in order to obtain positive regard from others

24. PERSON-CENTERED THEORY PROCESS • Need for Positive Regard • The need for positive regard is central to child development • Children need love and guidance • Parents provide nurturance and information/feedback about what is “proper” • If the child receives unconditional positive regard, s/he has no need to deny or distort experience • If the child receives conditions of worth, s/he may cope by denying or distorting experience in order to maintain parentally approved features of the self and, therefore, parental love

25. PERSON-CENTERED THEORY GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT • Rogers’ work suggested that developmental factors must be examined at 2 levels: • Parent–child interactions: do parents provide an environment that is optimal for the psychological growth of their children? • Internal psychological structures: are children in a state of congruence or incongruence with respect to the self and experience? • The major concern for Rogers is whether the child is free to self-actualize or whether conditions of worth cause the child to become defensive, function from a state of incongruence, and fail to self-actualize

26. PERSON-CENTERED THEORY GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT • Research on Parent-child Relationships • Studies suggest that parental attitudes determine their children’s personal growth • Coopersmith’s (1967) research on the origins of self-esteem • Children completed a self-report measure of self-esteem • Children described their perceptions of their parents • Mothers provided information about their child-rearing attitudes, practices, and lifestyles

27. PERSON-CENTERED THEORY GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT • Research on Parent-child Relationships • Coopersmith (1967) found that 3 parental attitudes and behaviors were important to the formation of self-esteem: • Degree of acceptance, affection, interest, and warmth expressed toward the child • Permissiveness versus punishment • Whether parent–child relations were democratic or dictatorial

28. PERSON-CENTERED THEORY GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT • Research on Parent-child Relationships • Harrington et al. (1987) • Child-rearing practices and parent-child interactional patterns were measured in children 3-5 years old • Researchers later obtained independent ratings of the creative potential in these children as teenagers

29. PERSON-CENTERED THEORY GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT • Research on Parent-child Relationships • Harrington et al. (1987) found that childhood conditions of psychological safety and freedom were correlated with creative potential in adolescence • The degree to which parent–child interactions were “Rogerian” (unconditional positive regard) appeared to be an important environmental factor contributing to healthy personality development (self-actualization)

30. PERSON-CENTERED THEORY GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT • Self-Actualization and Well-being Later in Life • Roberts & Chapman’s (2002) showed that • Women who experienced high distress in their marriages and work roles reported lower psychological well-being • Women who experienced more satisfying social roles showed positive changes in personal growth and psychological well-being • These findings are consistent with the Rogerian belief that • states of inconsistency and incongruence can be corrected at any point in the lifespan • the degree of unconditional positive regard one receives from significant others can lead to positive change by liberating the process self-actualization