Carl Rogers and George Kelly's Views on Nature and Development

There are four major personality theories: psychodynamic, trait, humanistic, and social-cognitive. The psychodynamic theory focuses on the role of the unconscious mind in the development of personality. The humanistic theory focuses on the role of each person’s conscious life experiences and choices in personality development. The social-cognitive theory emphasizes the importance of both learning and cognitive processes play an important role in personality. Whereas, the trait theory is more concerned with the end result of personality as well as the characteristics themselves.

Carl R. Rogers constructed the person-centered theory by his influences of Elizabeth Davis and Frederick Allen who studied under Jessie Taft as well as Otto Rank and John Dewey (Patterson, 2007; Walsh, 2010). Influenced by Jessie Taft, Rogers adopted an optimistic view of people, individuals are capable of recreating themselves and are not the end products of their past (Patterson, 2007; Walsh, 2010). Otto Rank advocated that treatment of a client be centered around that client and that therapist be more emotionally involved within the process. Third Rogers was influenced by John Dewey who helped him understand and develop his position that self-actualized people live in harmony rather then conflict (Patterson, 2007; Walsh,

Personality and how we behave have been of much interest to psychologists for a long time now and because of this there have been many theories and theorists that have been developed. Personality is defined as consistent behavior patterns and intrapersonal processes originating within and individual (Fritzley, 2012, p. 10). There are six main approaches to personality psychology they include: biological approach, humanistic approach, behaviorist approach, trait approach, psychoanalytic approach and cognitive approach. Each approach shines a little light onto why we behave the way we do and how our personalities are formed, the approaches contain many different theories from

Freud’s psychoanalytic approach to therapy had more of a negative view of human nature that Carl Rogers’ view. Freud thought human dysfunction developed as a result of poor genetic make-up, as well as deficits (fixations) caused by missed psychosexual developmental stages. In short, human conflict came about as a result of struggles between the id (primal, instinctual urges), ego (role of self in reality) and superego (conscience/critic), manifested in the

Carl R. Rogers constructed the person-centered theory by his influences of Elizabeth Davis and Frederick Allen who studied under Jessie Taft as well as Otto Rank and John Dewey (Patterson, 2007; Walsh, 2010). Influenced by Jessie Taft, Rogers adopted an optimistic view of people, individuals are capable of recreating themselves and are not the end products of their past (Patterson, 2007; Walsh, 2010). Otto Rank advocated that treatment of a client be centered around that client and that therapist be more emotionally involved within the process. Third Rogers was influenced by John Dewey who helped him understand and develop his position that self-actualized people live in harmony rather then conflict

Burger (2008), says that there are many theories of personality and psychologists try to explain it with their own approaches. Discussed here will be the psychoanalytic approach, the trait approach, the biological approach the humanistic approach, the behavioural/social learning approach and the cognitive approach. They were devised to search for specific patterns in behaviour and ways of thinking about these

It is inevitable that in psychotherapy there are numerous theories. Theories arise out of scholarly investigations of ideas on human behavior. Human behavior is an extraordinarily interesting subject and therefore produces a plethora of ideas from a variety of theorists. These theorists are influenced by their education, culture, and time period. One influential theorist is Carl Rogers. His contributions to human behavior have changed many of the theories that preceded him, and his theory contributed to many theories that followed.

In life, there is nothing more important than knowing oneself. Carl Rogers, a famous psychologist in the 1900s, compiled a theory that went past the Freudian and behaviorist approaches and delved into the secrets of the individual. Relatively, Rogers explored the importance of taking a humanistic approach to understanding personality and with regard parents may seek the most proficient way to guide their children.

Person-centered therapy is very much embodied in the work of Carl Rogers. He is mainly responsible for the development of person-centered therapy. His focus on the importance of the client-counselor relationship has had an influence on both theorists and practitioners. The following chart describes the personal and professional development of Carl Rogers. As he changed and developed, so did person-centered therapy.

Sigmund Freud and Carl Rogers are two psychologists who developed theories on personalities. Sigmund Freud was known as the “Father of Psychoanalysis” and his well known theory stated that nearly all psychological issues went back to a sexual problem. Carl Rogers was a humanistic psychologist who researched the personality theory in the notion of the self or the self concept.

George Kelly’s theory of personality was predicated upon one thought – “Man is a scientist” meaning each of us tries to make sense of the world we live in by forming hypothesis. Once we enter into adulthood, according to Kelly, we will have developed a very complex model of the world and our place in it. Kelly believed a person’s conscious thoughts, feelings and personal experiences defined their

Humanist Carl Rogers developed a theory that saw behavior motivated by what he called the actualizing tendency, the desire to preserve and enhance oneself through self-actualization. While persuing self- actualization we engage in the valuing process, where we go through various experiences that either enhance oneself and are valued as good, or, bad experiences not enhancing oneself which are avoided. Hence, how we handle this process relies on two interacting factors: the organism, our total perception of our experiences, and, the self, our image of ourselves. A major decisive factor is childhood experience and the positive regard that is engrossed. Rogers also developed a technique called client-centered therapy. In an accepting atmosthere the patient confronts inconsistent feelings and experiences, where self and organism are brought back into congruence. Now free from their troubles they can proceed with

There are numerous personality theories one could choose from in pursuit of an explanation on human behavior. Some theories focus on stages of development, complete unconscious control, or the concept that personality is governed by a pre-disposition directly related to genetic tendencies. Carl Rogers, however, focused his theory, the Person-Centered Theory, on the basis that individuals are self-actualizing and learn and develop in response to current circumstances. According to Hergenhahn and Olson (2007), “Rogers postulated one master motive that he called self-actualization, the organism has one basic tendency and striving—to actualize, maintain, and enhance the experiencing organism. Rogers further postulated that

It is also interesting to note that the basis for his theory of constructive alternativism questions the reality of the self in a manner similar to Eastern/Buddhist concepts of consciousness and self. Carl Jung was dramatically influenced by the ancient Vedic traditions of India, and Carl Rogers, the founder of humanistic psychology, was influenced by the spiritual traditions of China. And now we have Kelly, whose theory represents the culmination of behavioral-cognitive theories, sharing a fundamental similarity with Buddhist psychology. Clearly, throughout the history of personality theory, there have been important theorists who looked beyond the constraints of their own training and their own culture. Kelly begins by questioning the role that psychologists have assigned to themselves. Psychologists consider themselves to be scientists, engaged in the systematic study of human behavior and thought. Kelly questions why we, as psychologists, don’t extend the same perspective to all people. According to Kelly, doesn’t every person seek to predict and control the course of events in their lives? Doesn’t every person have their own theories about situations in life; don’t they test their own hypotheses, and weigh the experimental evidence gained through experience? It is as though the psychologist

Humanistic psychology has led to the development of several different psychotherapies. All are based on the idea that people possess the resources for growth and healing and that the goal of therapy is to help remove the barriers that block this growth and achievement. Although, several theorists have contributed to Humanistic Psychology, one of the most renowned is, Abraham Maslow. Humanistic psychology is defined as: