View source for Carl Rogers

{{Short description|American psychologist (1902–1987)}}
{{other people}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Carl Rogers
| image             = Carl Ransom Rogers.jpg
| birth_date        = {{birth date|1902|1|8|mf=y}}
| birth_place       = [[Oak Park, Illinois]], U.S.
| death_date        = {{death date and age|1987|2|4|1902|1|8|mf=y}}
| death_place       = [[San Diego, California]], U.S.
| field             = [[Psychology]]
| work_institutions = [[Ohio State University]]<br />[[University of Chicago]]<br /> [[University of Wisconsin–Madison]]<br />[[Western Behavioral Sciences Institute]]<br />Center for Studies of the Person
| alma_mater        = [[University of Wisconsin–Madison]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])<br />[[Union Theological Seminary (New York City)|Union Theological Seminary]]<br>[[Teachers College, Columbia University|Columbia University]] ([[Master of Arts|MA]], [[PhD]])
| known_for         = The person-centered approach (e.g., [[Client-centered therapy]], [[Student-centered learning]], [[Rogerian argument]])
| children          = [[Natalie Rogers]]
| prizes            = Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions to Psychology (1956, [[American Psychological Association|APA]]); Award for Distinguished Contributions to Applied Psychology as a Professional Practice (1972, [[American Psychological Association|APA]]); 1964 Humanist of the Year ([[American Humanist Association]])
}}
'''Carl Ransom Rogers''' (January 8, 1902 – February 4, 1987) was an American psychologist who was one of the founders of [[humanistic psychology]] and was known especially for his [[person-centered psychotherapy]]. Rogers is widely considered one of the founding fathers of [[psychotherapy]] research and was honored for his research with the [[APA Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions to Psychology|Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions]] by the [[American Psychological Association]] (APA) in 1956.

The [[Person-centered therapy|person-centered approach]], Rogers's approach to understanding personality and human relationships, found wide application in various domains, such as psychotherapy and counseling ([[Person-centered psychotherapy|client-centered therapy]]), [[education]] ([[student-centered learning]]), organizations, and other group settings.<ref>{{cite book | last=Rogers | first=Carl | title=Counseling and Psychotherapy: Newer Concepts in Practice | publisher=Houghton Mifflin | publication-place=Boston, Massachusetts/New York | year=1942 | isbn=978-1-4067-6087-3 | oclc=165705 | page=}}</ref> For his professional work he received the Award for Distinguished Professional Contributions to Psychology from the [[American Psychological Association|APA]] in 1972. In a study by Steven J. Haggbloom and colleagues using six criteria such as citations and recognition, Rogers was found to be the sixth most eminent psychologist of the 20th century and second, among clinical psychologists,<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Haggbloom|first1=Steven J.|last2=Warnick|first2=Renee|last3=Warnick|first3=Jason E.|last4=Jones|first4=Vinessa K.|last5=Yarbrough|first5=Gary L.|last6=Russell|first6=Tenea M.|last7=Borecky|first7=Chris M.|last8=McGahhey|first8=Reagan|last9=Powell|first9=John L.|date=March 2003|title='The 100 most eminent psychologists of the 20th century': Correction to Haggbloom et al (2002)|journal=[[Review of General Psychology]]|language=en|volume=7|issue=1|pages=37|doi=10.1037/1089-2680.7.1.37|s2cid=151853298|doi-access=free}}</ref> only to [[Sigmund Freud]].<ref>{{cite journal |author=Haggbloom, S.J.|display-authors=etal |year=2002 |title=The 100 most eminent psychologists of the 20th century |journal=[[Review of General Psychology]] |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=139–152 |doi=10.1037/1089-2680.6.2.139|url=http://creativity.ipras.ru/texts/top100.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141225174251/http://creativity.ipras.ru/texts/top100.pdf |archive-date=2014-12-25 |url-status=live |citeseerx=10.1.1.586.1913 |s2cid=145668721 }} Haggbloom et al. combined three quantitative variables: citations in professional journals, citations in textbooks, and nominations in a survey given to members of the [[Association for Psychological Science]], with three qualitative variables (converted to quantitative scores): [[National Academy of Sciences]] (NAS) membership, [[American Psychological Association]] (APA) President and/or recipient of the APA Distinguished Scientific Contributions Award, and surname used as an eponym. Then the list was rank ordered.</ref> Based on a 1982 survey of 422 respondents of U.S. and Canadian psychologists, he was considered the most influential psychotherapist in history (Freud ranked third).<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Smith | first1 = D. | title = Trends in counseling and psychotherapy | doi = 10.1037/0003-066X.37.7.802 | journal = American Psychologist | volume = 37 | issue = 7 | pages = 802–809 | year = 1982 | pmid =  7137698}}</ref>

== Biography ==
Rogers was born on January 8, 1902, in [[Oak Park, Illinois]], a suburb of [[Chicago]]. His father, Walter A. Rogers, was a [[civil engineer]] and a [[Congregational church|Congregationalist]] by religious denomination. His mother, Julia M. Cushing,<ref name="Cushing">{{cite book|last=Cushing|first=James Stevenson|title=The genealogy of the Cushing family, an account of the ancestors and descendants of Matthew Cushing, who came to America in 1638|url=https://archive.org/details/genealogyofcushi1905cush|publisher=The Perrault printing co.|location=Montreal|year=1905|page=[https://archive.org/details/genealogyofcushi1905cush/page/380 380]|lccn=06032460}}</ref><ref name="CalDeath">{{cite web|url=http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=CAdeath1940|title=California Death Index, 1940–1997|publisher=Ancestry.com|access-date=19 April 2010 }} Rogers' mother's maiden name is Cushing.</ref> was a homemaker and devout [[Baptists|Baptist]]. Carl was the fourth of their six children.<ref name="1910Census">{{cite web|url=http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=1910USCenIndex&indiv=try&h=107466638|title=1910 United States Federal Census|publisher=Ancestry.com|access-date=19 April 2010}} Oak Park, Cook, Illinois; Roll T624_239; Page: 2B; Enumeration District: 70; Image: 703. Carl is fourth of six children of Walter A. and Julia M. Rogers.</ref>

Rogers could read well before kindergarten. After being raised in a strict religious environment as an [[altar boy]] at the [[Clergy house|vicarage]] of Jimpley, he became isolated, independent, and disciplined, gaining knowledge and an appreciation for the [[scientific method]] in a practical world. At the [[University of Wisconsin–Madison]], he joined the fraternity [[Alpha Kappa Lambda]] and initially planned to study [[agriculture]] before switching to history and finally settling on [[Religious studies|religion]].

At age 20, following his 1922 trip to [[Beijing]], [[Republic of China (1912-1949)|China]], for an international [[Christianity|Christian]] conference, Rogers started to doubt his religious convictions. To help him clarify his career choice, he attended a seminar entitled "Why Am I Entering the Ministry?" after which he decided to change careers. In 1924, he graduated from the University of Wisconsin, married fellow Wisconsin student and Oak Park resident Helen Elliott, and enrolled at [[Union Theological Seminary (New York City)|Union Theological Seminary]] in New York City. Sometime later, he reportedly became an [[Atheism|atheist]].<ref>Michael Martin (2007). The Cambridge Companion to Atheism. Cambridge University Press. p. 310. {{ISBN|9780521842709}}. "Among celebrity atheists with much biographical data, we find leading psychologists and psychoanalysts. We could provide a long list, including...Carl R. Rogers..."</ref> Although referred to as an atheist early in his career, Rogers was eventually described as an [[Agnosticism|agnostic]]. He reportedly spoke about [[spirituality]] quite often in his later years. Brian Thorne, who knew and collaborated with Rogers throughout the latter's final decade of life, writes:  "In his later years his openness to experience compelled him to acknowledge the existence of a dimension to which he attached such adjectives as mystical, spiritual, and transcendental".<ref>Thorne, Brian (2003). ''Carl Rogers''. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, pg IX.</ref> Rogers concluded that there is a realm "beyond" scientific psychology—a realm he came to prize as "the indescribable, the spiritual."<ref name=Kramer1995>{{cite journal |last1=Kramer |first1=Robert |title=The Birth of Client-Centered Therapy: Carl Rogers, Otto Rank, and 'The Beyond' |journal=Journal of Humanistic Psychology |date=October 1995 |volume=35 |issue=4 |pages=54–110 |doi=10.1177/00221678950354005 |s2cid=145059656 }}</ref>

After two years at Union, Rogers left to attend [[Teachers College, Columbia University]], obtaining an M.A. in 1927 and a Ph.D. in 1931.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Fierro |first1=Catriel |title='A backdrop for psychotherapy': Carl R. Rogers, psychological testing, and the psycho-educational clinic at Columbia University's Teachers College (1924–1935). |journal=History of Psychology |date=November 2021 |volume=24 |issue=4 |pages=323–349 |doi=10.1037/hop0000201 |pmid=34516193 |s2cid=237507108 }}</ref> While completing his doctoral work, he engaged in scientific studies of children. As an intern in 1927–1928 at the now-defunct Institute for Child Guidance in New York, Rogers studied with psychologist [[Alfred Adler]].<ref name=Ansbacher>{{cite journal |last=Ansbacher |first=Heinz L. |title=Alfred Adler's influence on the three leading cofounders of humanistic psychology |journal=[[Journal of Humanistic Psychology]] |date=Fall 1990 |volume=30 |issue=4 |pages=45–53 |doi=10.1177/002216789003000404}}</ref> Later in life, Rogers recalled: {{blockquote|Accustomed as I was to the rather rigid Freudian approach of the Institute—seventy-five-page case histories, and exhaustive batteries of tests before even thinking of "treating" a child—I was shocked by Dr. Adler's very direct and deceptively simple manner of immediately relating to the child and the parent. It took me some time to realize how much I had learned from him.<ref name=Ansbacher/>}} In 1930, Rogers served as director of the [[New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children|Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children]] in Rochester, New York. From 1935 to 1940, he lectured at the [[University of Rochester]] and wrote ''The Clinical Treatment of the Problem Child'' (1939), based on his experience in working with troubled children. He was strongly influenced in constructing his client-centered approach by the post-Freudian psychotherapeutic practice of [[Otto Rank]],<ref name=Kramer1995/> especially as embodied in the work of Rank's disciple: noted clinician and [[social work]] educator [[Jessie Taft]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kirschenbaum|first1=Howard|title=On Becoming Carl Rogers|publisher=Delacorte Press|isbn=978-0-440-06707-8|pages=92–93|year=1979}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=deCarvalho|first1=Roy J.|title=Otto Rank, the Rankian Circle in Philadelphia, and the Origins of Carl Rogers' Person-Centered Psychotherapy|journal=History of Psychology|date=1999|volume=2|issue=2|pages=132–148|doi=10.1037/1093-4510.2.2.132|pmid=11623737}}</ref>  In 1940, Rogers became professor of clinical psychology at [[Ohio State University]], where he wrote his second book, ''Counseling and Psychotherapy'' (1942). In it, Rogers suggests that by establishing a relationship with an understanding, accepting therapist, a client can resolve difficulties and gain the insight necessary to restructure their life.

In 1945, Rogers was invited to set up a counseling center at the [[University of Chicago]]. While a professor of psychology at the University of Chicago (1945–1957), Rogers helped establish a counseling center connected with the university and conducted studies to determine his methods' effectiveness. His findings and theories appeared in ''Client-Centered Therapy'' (1951) and ''Psychotherapy and Personality Change'' (1954). One of his graduate students at the University of Chicago, [[Thomas Gordon (psychologist)|Thomas Gordon]], established the [[Parent Effectiveness Training]] movement. Another student, [[Eugene T. Gendlin]], who was getting his Ph.D. in philosophy, developed the psychotherapeutic method of [[Focusing (psychotherapy)|focusing]] based on Rogerian listening.{{Technical inline|date=December 2024|reason=The average Wiki reader will not know the difference between focusing as a psychotherapeutic device and neuropsychological process. Further, as there is no Wiki on "Rogerian listening," the term needs to be defined clearly or replaced with something more generic.}}

In 1947, he was elected president of the [[American Psychological Association]].<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.apa.org/about/governance/president/past-presidents.aspx| title = Former APA Presidents}}</ref> In 1956, Rogers became the first president of the American Academy of Psychotherapists.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.aapweb.com/history.html |title=American Academy of Psychotherapists History of the Academy<!--Bot-generated title--> |access-date=2008-01-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120710234948/http://www.aapweb.com/history.html |archive-date=2012-07-10 |url-status=dead }}</ref> He taught psychology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison (1957–1963). During this time, he wrote one of his best-known books, ''On Becoming a Person'' (1961). A student of his there, [[Marshall Rosenberg]], went on to develop [[Nonviolent Communication]].<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.nonviolentcommunication.com/meet_marshall_rosenberg/vision.htm| title = About Dr. Marshall Rosenberg}}</ref> Rogers and [[Abraham Maslow]] pioneered a movement called [[humanistic psychology]], which reached its peak in the 1960s. In 1961, he was elected a Fellow of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]].<ref name=AAAS>{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter R|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterR.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060618090045/http://amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterR.pdf |archive-date=2006-06-18 |url-status=live|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=7 April 2011}}</ref> Rogers was also one of the people who questioned the rise of [[McCarthyism]] in the 1950s. In articles, he criticized society for its backward-looking affinities.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Demanchick |first1=S. |last2=Kirschenbaum |first2=H. |year=2008 |title=Carl Rogers and the CIA |journal=Journal of Humanistic Psychology |volume=48 |issue=1 |pages=6–31 |doi=10.1177/0022167807303005|s2cid=145499631 }}</ref>

Rogers continued teaching at the University of Wisconsin until 1963 when he became a resident at the new [[Western Behavioral Sciences Institute]] (WBSI) in [[La Jolla]], California. Rogers left the WBSI to help found the Center for Studies of the Person in 1968. His later books include ''Carl Rogers on Personal Power'' (1977) and ''Freedom to Learn for the '80s'' (1983). He remained a La Jolla resident for the rest of his life, doing therapy, giving speeches, and writing.

In his later years, Rogers focused on applying his theories to address political oppression and social conflict globally. He facilitated dialogue between [[The Troubles|Protestants and Catholics]] in [[Belfast]], [[Ethnic groups in South Africa|Blacks]] and [[White South Africans|Whites]] in South Africa, and people transitioning to [[Redemocratization in Brazil|democracy in Brazil]]. In the U.S., he worked with health consumers and providers. At 85, his final trip was to the [[Soviet Union]], where he conducted workshops that promoted communication and creativity, impressed by the awareness of his work among [[Russians]].

Between 1974 and 1984, Rogers, his daughter [[Natalie Rogers]], and psychologists Maria Bowen, Maureen O'Hara, and John K. Wood convened a series of residential programs in the U.S., Europe, Brazil, and Japan: the Person-Centered Approach Workshops. The workshops focused on cross-cultural communications, personal growth, self-empowerment, and learning for social change.

In 1987, Rogers suffered a fall that resulted in a fractured [[pelvis]]; he had [[Life Alert Emergency Response|life alert]] and was able to contact paramedics. He had a successful operation, but his [[pancreas]] failed the next night, and he died a few days later after a heart attack.<ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/02/06/obituaries/carl-r-rogers-85-leader-in-psychotherapy-dies.html?pagewanted=all | title=Carl R. Rogers, 85, Leader in Psychotherapy, Dies| newspaper=The New York Times| date=1987-02-06| last1=Goleman| first1=Daniel}}</ref>

== Theory ==
Rogers's theory of the self is considered [[humanistic psychology|humanistic]], [[Existential psychology|existential]], and [[phenomenology (psychology)|phenomenological]].<ref>Dagmar Pescitelli, [http://pandc.ca/?cat=carl_rogers&page=rogerian_theory ''An Analysis of Carl Rogers' Theory of Personality''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170113223639/http://pandc.ca/?cat=carl_rogers&page=rogerian_theory |date=2017-01-13 }}</ref> It is based directly on the "[[phenomenal field theory|phenomenal field]]" personality theory of Combs and Snygg (1949).<ref>Snygg, Donald and Combs, Arthur W. (1949), ''Individual Behavior: A New Frame of Reference for Psychology''. New York, Harper & Brothers. [http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/snygg&combs.html Article on Snygg and Combs' "Phenomenal Field" Theory]</ref> Rogers's elaboration of his theory is extensive. He wrote 16 books and many more journal articles about it. Prochaska and Norcross (2003) states Rogers "consistently stood for an empirical evaluation of psychotherapy. He and his followers have demonstrated a humanistic approach to conducting therapy and a scientific approach to evaluating therapy need not be incompatible."

=== Nineteen propositions ===
Rogers's theory (as of 1951) was based on 19 propositions:<ref name="r53">{{cite book |title=Client-centered therapy: Its current practice, implications and theory.|first=Carl |last=Rogers |year=1951 |publisher=Constable |location=London |isbn=978-1-84119-840-8}}</ref>
# All individuals (organisms) exist in a continually changing world of experience (phenomenal field) of which they are the center.
# The organism reacts to the field as it is experienced and perceived. This perceptual field is "reality" for the individual.
# The organism reacts as an organized whole to this phenomenal field.
# A portion of the total perceptual field gradually becomes differentiated as the self.
# As a result of interaction with the environment, and particularly as a result of evaluative interaction with others, the structure of the self is formed—an organized, fluid but consistent conceptual pattern of perceptions of characteristics and relationships of the "I" or the "me", together with values attached to these concepts.
# The organism has one basic tendency and striving—to actualize, maintain and enhance the experiencing organism.
# The best vantage point for understanding behavior is from the internal frame of reference of the individual.
# Behavior is basically the goal-directed attempt of the organism to satisfy its needs as experienced, in the field as perceived.
# Emotion accompanies, and in general facilitates, such goal directed behavior, the kind of emotion being related to the perceived significance of the behavior for the maintenance and enhancement of the organism.
# The values attached to experiences, and the values that are a part of the self-structure, in some instances, are values experienced directly by the organism, and in some instances are values introjected or taken over from others, but perceived in distorted fashion, as if they had been experienced directly.
# As experiences occur in the life of the individual, they are either (a) symbolized, perceived and organized into some relation to the self, (b) ignored because there is no perceived relationship to the self structure, or (c) denied symbolization or given distorted symbolization because the experience is inconsistent with the structure of the self.
# Most of the ways of behaving that the organism adopts are those that are consistent with the concept of self.
# In some instances, behavior may be brought about by organic experiences and needs that have not been symbolized. Such behavior may be inconsistent with the structure of the self, but in such instances the individual does not "own" the behavior.
# Psychological adjustment exists when the concept of the self is such that all the sensory and visceral experiences of the organism are, or may be, assimilated on a symbolic level into a consistent relationship with the concept of self.
# Psychological maladjustment exists when the organism denies awareness of significant sensory and visceral experiences, which consequently are not symbolized and organized into the gestalt of the self structure. When this situation exists, there is a basic or potential psychological tension.
# Any experience that is inconsistent with the organization of the structure of the self may be perceived as a threat, and the more of these perceptions there are, the more rigidly the self structure is organized to maintain itself.
# Under certain conditions, involving primarily complete absence of threat to the self structure, experiences inconsistent with it may be perceived and examined, and the structure of self revised to assimilate and include such experiences.
# When the individual perceives and accepts into one consistent and integrated system all his sensory and visceral experiences, he is necessarily more understanding of others and more accepting of others as separate individuals.
# As the individual perceives and accepts into his self structure more of his organic experiences, he finds that he is replacing his present value system—based extensively on introjections which have been distortedly symbolized—with a continuing organismic valuing process.

In relation to No. 17, Rogers is known for practicing "[[unconditional positive regard]]", which is defined as accepting a person "without negative judgment of .... [a person's] basic worth".<ref>Barry, P. (2002). Mental Health and Mental Illness. (7th ed.) New York: Lippincott.</ref>

=== Development of the personality ===
With regard to development, Rogers described principles rather than stages. The main issue is the development of a self-concept and the progress from an undifferentiated self to being fully differentiated.

{{blockquote|'''Self Concept''' ... the organized consistent conceptual gestalt composed of perceptions of the characteristics of 'I' or 'me' and the perceptions of the relationships of the 'I' or 'me' to others and to various aspects of life, together with the values attached to these perceptions. It is a gestalt which is available to awareness though not necessarily in awareness. It is a fluid and changing gestalt, a process, but at any given moment it is a specific entity. (Rogers, 1959)<ref name="r59">{{cite book|last=Rogers|first=Carl.|editor=S. Koch|title= Psychology: A study of a science. Vol. 3: Formulations of the person and the social context.|year=1959|publisher=McGraw Hill|location=New York|chapter=A theory of therapy, personality relationships as developed in the client-centered framework.}}</ref>}}

In the development of the self-concept, he saw conditional and unconditional positive regard as key. Those raised in an environment of unconditional positive regard have the opportunity to fully actualize themselves. Those raised in an environment of conditional positive regard feel worthy only if they match conditions (what Rogers describes as ''conditions of worth'') that others have laid down for them.

=== Fully functioning person ===
Optimal development, as referred to in proposition 14, results in a certain process rather than static state. Rogers calls this ''the good life'', where the organism continually aims to fulfill its potential. He listed the characteristics of a fully functioning person (Rogers 1961):<ref name="r61">{{cite book |title=On becoming a person: A therapist's view of psychotherapy |first=Carl |last=Rogers |year=1961 |publisher=Constable |location=London |isbn=978-1-84529-057-3}}</ref>
# A growing openness to experience: they move away from defensiveness and have no need for subception (a perceptual defense that involves unconsciously applying strategies to prevent a troubling stimulus from entering consciousness).
# An increasingly existential lifestyle: living each moment fully, not distorting the moment to fit personality or self-concept but allowing personality and self-concept to emanate from the experience. This results in excitement, daring, adaptability, tolerance, spontaneity, and lack of rigidity, and suggests a foundation of trust. "To open one's spirit to what is going on now, and discover in that present process whatever structure it appears to have" (Rogers 1961).<ref name="r61" />
# Increasing organismic trust: they trust their own judgment and ability to choose behavior appropriate for each moment. They do not rely on existing codes and social norms but trust that as they are open to experiences they will be able to trust their own sense of right and wrong.
# Freedom of choice: not being shackled by the restrictions that influence an incongruent individual, they are able to make a wider range of choices more fluently. They believe they play a role in determining their own behavior and so feel responsible for it.
# Creativity: it follows that they will feel freer to be creative. They will also be more creative in the way they adapt to their circumstances without feeling a need to conform.
# Reliability and constructiveness: they can be trusted to act constructively. An individual who is open to all their needs will be able to maintain a balance between them. Even aggressive needs will be matched and balanced by intrinsic goodness in congruent individuals.
# A rich full life: Rogers describes the life of the fully functioning individual as rich, full and exciting, and suggests that they experience joy and pain, love and heartbreak, fear and courage more intensely. His description of ''the good life'':{{blockquote|This process of the good life is not, I am convinced, a life for the faint-hearted. It involves the stretching and growing of becoming more and more of one's potentialities. It involves the courage to be. It means launching oneself fully into the stream of life. (Rogers 1961)<ref name="r61" />}}

=== Incongruity ===
Rogers identified the "[[real self]]" as the aspect of a person that is founded in the actualizing tendency, follows organismic values and needs, and receives positive regard from others and self. On the other hand, to the extent that society is out of sync with the actualizing tendency and people are forced to live with conditions of worth that are out of step with organismic valuing, receiving only conditional positive regard and self-regard, Rogers said that people develop instead an "ideal self". By ''ideal'', he was suggesting something not real, something always out of reach, a standard people cannot meet. This gap between the real self and the ideal self, the "I am" and the "I should", Rogers called ''incongruity''.

=== Psychopathology ===
Rogers described the concepts of ''congruence'' and ''incongruence'' as important in his theory. In proposition #6, he refers to the actualizing tendency. At the same time, he recognized the need for ''positive regard''. In a fully congruent person, realizing their potential is not at the expense of experiencing positive regard. They are able to lead authentic and genuine lives. Incongruent individuals, in their pursuit of positive regard, lead lives that include falsity and do not realize their potential. Conditions put on them by those around them make it necessary for them to forgo their genuine, authentic lives to meet with others' approval. They live lives that are not true to themselves.

Rogers suggested that the incongruent individual, who is always on the defensive and cannot be open to all experiences, is not functioning ideally and may even be malfunctioning. They work hard at maintaining and protecting their self-concept{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}}. Because their lives are not authentic, this is difficult, and they are under constant threat. They deploy ''defense mechanisms'' to achieve this. He describes two mechanisms: ''distortion'' and ''denial''. Distortion occurs when the individual perceives a threat to their self-concept. They distort the perception until it fits their self-concept. This defensive behavior reduces the consciousness of the threat but not the threat itself. And so, as the threats mount, the work of protecting the self-concept becomes more difficult and the individual becomes more defensive and rigid in their self-structure. If the incongruity is immoderate this process may lead the individual to a state that would typically be described as neurotic. Their functioning becomes precarious and psychologically vulnerable. If the situation worsens it is possible that the defenses cease to function altogether and the individual becomes aware of the incongruity of their situation. Their personality becomes disorganised and bizarre; irrational behavior, associated with earlier denied aspects of self, may erupt uncontrollably.

== Applications ==
{{Main|Person-centered therapy|Student-centered learning}}

=== Person-centered therapy ===
{{Main|Person-centered therapy}}
Rogers originally developed his theory as the foundation for a system of therapy. He initially called it "non-directive therapy" but later replaced the term "non-directive" with "client-centered", and still later "person-centered". Even before the publication of ''Client-Centered Therapy'' in 1951, Rogers believed the principles he was describing could be applied in a variety of contexts, not just in therapy. As a result, he started to use the term ''person-centered approach'' to describe his overall theory. [[Person-centered therapy]] is the application of the person-centered approach to therapy. Other applications include a theory of personality, interpersonal relations, education, nursing, [[cross-cultural]] relations and other "helping" professions and situations. In 1946 Rogers co-authored "Counseling with Returned Servicemen" with John L. Wallen (the creator of the behavioral model known as ''[[The Interpersonal Gap]]''),<ref>Rogers, C. & Wallen, J.L. (1946) Counseling with Returned Servicemen. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.</ref> documenting the application of a person-centered approach to counseling military personnel returning from World War II.

The first empirical evidence of the client-centered approach's effectiveness was published in 1941 at the Ohio State University by [[Elias Porter]], using the recordings of therapeutic sessions between Rogers and his clients.<ref>Porter, E.H. (1941) The development and evaluation of a measure of counseling interview procedure. Ph. D. Dissertation, Ohio State University.</ref> Porter used Rogers's transcripts to devise a system to measure the degree of directiveness or non-directiveness a counselor employed.<ref>Kirschenbaum, Howard (1979). ''On Becoming Carl Rogers'', pp. 206–207.</ref> The counselor's attitude and orientation were shown to be instrumental in the decisions the client made.<ref>[[Elias Porter|Porter, E.H.]] (1950) ''An Introduction to Therapeutic Counseling''. Boston: [[Houghton Mifflin]]</ref><ref>Rogers, Carl. (1951). ''Client-Centered Therapy.'' p. 64</ref>

=== Learner-centered teaching ===
The application to education has a large robust research tradition similar to that of therapy, with studies having begun in the late 1930s and continuing today (Cornelius-White, 2007). Rogers described the approach to education in ''Client-Centered Therapy'' and wrote ''Freedom to Learn'' devoted exclusively to the subject in 1969. ''Freedom to Learn'' was revised twice. The new Learner-Centered Model is similar in many regards to this classical person-centered approach to education.
Before Rogers's death, he and Harold Lyon began a book, ''On Becoming an Effective Teacher—Person-centered Teaching, Psychology, Philosophy, and Dialogues with Carl R. Rogers and Harold Lyon'', that Lyon and Reinhard Tausch completed and published in 2013. It contains Rogers's last unpublished writings on person-centered teaching.<ref>Rogers, Carl R, Lyon, Harold C., Tausch, Reinhard: (2013) On Becoming an Effective Teacher—Person-centered Teaching, Psychology, Philosophy, and Dialogues with Carl R. Rogers and Harold Lyon. London: Routledge</ref> Rogers had the following five hypotheses regarding learner-centered education:<references group="Rogers, Carl R, Lyon, Harold C., Tausch, Reinhard: (2013) On Becoming an Effective Teacher—Person-centered Teaching, Psychology, Philosophy, and Dialogues with Carl R. Rogers and Harold Lyon. London: Routledge:" />
# "A person cannot teach another person directly; a person can only facilitate another's learning" (Rogers, 1951). This is a result of his personality theory, which states that everyone exists in a constantly changing world of experience in which they are the center. Each person reacts and responds based on perception and experience. The belief is that what the student does is more important than what the teacher does. The focus is on the student (Rogers, 1951). Therefore, the background and experiences of the learner are essential to how and what is learned. Each student will process what they learn differently depending on what they bring to the classroom.
# "A person learns significantly only those things that are perceived as being involved in the maintenance of or enhancement of the structure of self" (Rogers, 1951). Therefore, relevancy to the student is essential for learning. The students' experiences become the core of the course.
# "Experience which, if assimilated, would involve a change in the organization of self, tends to be resisted through denial or distortion of symbolism" (Rogers, 1951). If the content or presentation of a course is inconsistent with preconceived information, the student will learn if they are open to varying concepts. Being open to concepts that vary from one's own is vital to learning. Therefore, gently encouraging open-mindedness is helpful in engaging the student in learning. Also, it is important, for this reason, that new information be relevant and related to existing experience.
# "The structure and organization of self appears to become more rigid under threats and to relax its boundaries when completely free from threat" (Rogers, 1951). If students believe that concepts are being forced upon them, they might become uncomfortable and fearful. A barrier is created by a tone of threat in the classroom. Therefore, an open, friendly environment in which trust is developed is essential in the classroom. Fear of retribution for not agreeing with a concept should be eliminated. A supportive classroom tone helps to alleviate fears and encourages students to have the courage to explore concepts and beliefs that vary from those they bring to the classroom. Also, new information might threaten the student's concept of themself; therefore, the less vulnerable the student feels, the more likely they will be able to open up to the learning process.
# "The educational situation which most effectively promotes significant learning is one in which (a) threat to the self of the learner is reduced to a minimum and (b) differentiated perception of the field is facilitated" (Rogers, 1951). The instructor should be open to learning from the students and working to connect the students to the subject matter. Frequent interaction with the students will help achieve this goal. The instructor's acceptance of being a mentor who guides rather than the expert who tells is instrumental to student-centered, nonthreatening, and unforced learning.

=== Rogerian rhetorical approach ===
{{Main|Rogerian rhetoric}}
In 1970, Richard Young, [[Alton L. Becker]], and [[Kenneth Pike]] published ''Rhetoric: Discovery and Change'', a widely influential college writing textbook that used a [[Rogerian argument|Rogerian approach]] to communication to revise the traditional Aristotelian framework for rhetoric.<ref name=YBP>{{cite book |last1=Young |first1=Richard Emerson |last2=Becker |first2=Alton L. |author-link2=Alton L. Becker |last3=Pike |first3=Kenneth L. |author-link3=Kenneth Lee Pike |date=1970 |title=Rhetoric: Discovery and Change |location=New York |publisher=[[Harcourt, Brace & World]] |pages=[https://archive.org/details/rhetoricdiscover0000youn/page/n26 1–10], [https://archive.org/details/rhetoricdiscover0000youn/page/273 273–290] |isbn=978-0-15-576895-6 |oclc=76890 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/rhetoricdiscover0000youn}}</ref> The Rogerian method of argument involves each side restating the other's position to the satisfaction of the other, among other principles.<ref name=YBP /> In a paper, it can be expressed by carefully acknowledging and understanding the opposition, rather than dismissing them.<ref name=YBP /><ref>A paper by Rogers that greatly influenced [[Rogerian rhetoric]] was: {{cite journal |last=Rogers |first=Carl R. |author-link=Carl Rogers |date=Winter 1952 |orig-year=1951 |title=Communication: its blocking and its facilitation |journal=ETC: A Review of General Semantics |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=83–88 |jstor=42581028}} This paper was written for [[Northwestern University]]'s Centennial Conference on Communications held on 11 October 1951. It was later reprinted as a book chapter with a different title: {{cite book |last=Rogers |first=Carl R. |author-link=Carl Rogers |date=1961 |chapter=Dealing with breakdowns in communication—interpersonal and intergroup |title=On Becoming a Person: A Therapist's View of Psychotherapy |location=Boston |publisher=[[Houghton Mifflin]] |pages=[https://archive.org/details/onbecomingperson00roge/page/329 329–337] |oclc=172718 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/onbecomingperson00roge/page/329 |chapter-url-access=registration}} It was also reprinted in Young, Becker, and Pike's textbook that popularized Rogerian rhetoric.</ref>

=== Cross-cultural relations ===
The application to cross-cultural relations has involved workshops in highly stressful situations and global locations, including conflicts and challenges in South Africa, Central America, and Ireland.<ref name="StrasserRandolph2004">{{cite book|author1=Freddie Strasser|author2=Paul Randolph|title=Mediation: A Psychological Insight Into Conflict Resolution|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bHiUxPcizvUC&pg=PA13|date=30 December 2004|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-0-8264-7503-9|pages=13}}</ref> Rogers, Alberto Zucconi, and Charles Devonshire co-founded the Istituto dell'Approccio Centrato sulla Persona (Person-Centered Approach Institute) in Rome, Italy.

Rogers's international work for peace culminated in the Rust Peace Workshop, which took place in November 1985 in [[Rust, Austria]]. Leaders from 17 nations convened to discuss the topic "The Central America Challenge". The meeting was notable for several reasons: it brought national figures together as people (not as their positions), it was a private event, and was an overwhelming positive experience where members heard one another and established real personal ties, as opposed to stiffly formal and regulated diplomatic meetings.<ref>{{cite book|last=Rogers|first=Carl|title=The Carl Rogers Reader|year=1989|publisher=Houghton Mifflin|location=Google Books|url=https://archive.org/details/carlrogersreader0000roge|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/carlrogersreader0000roge/page/457 457]|quote=1985 the rust peace workshop.|isbn=978-0-395-48357-2}}</ref>

=== Person-centered, dialogic politics ===
Some scholars believe there is a politics implicit in Rogers's approach to psychotherapy.<ref name=Thorne>Thorne, Brian, with Sanders, Pete (2012). ''Carl Rogers''. SAGE Publications, 3rd ed., pp. 119–120. {{ISBN|978-1-4462-5223-9}}.</ref><ref name=Proctor>Proctor, Gillian; Cooper, Mick; Sanders, Pete; and Malcolm, Beryl, eds. (2006). ''Politicizing the Person-Centered Approach: An Agenda for Social Change''. PCCS Books. {{ISBN|978-1-898059-72-1}}.</ref> Toward the end of his life, Rogers came to that view himself.<ref>Totton, Nick (2000). ''Psychotherapy and Politics''. SAGE Publications, p. 68. {{ISBN|978-0-7619-5849-9}}.</ref> The central tenet of Rogerian, person-centered politics is that public life need not consist of an endless series of winner-take-all battles among sworn opponents; rather, it can and should consist of an ongoing dialogue among all parties. Such dialogue is characterized by respect among the parties, authentic speaking by each, and—ultimately—empathic understanding among all parties. Out of such understanding, mutually acceptable solutions will (or at least can) flow.<ref name=Thorne /><ref name=Kirschenbaum>Kirschenbaum, Howard, and Henderson, Valerie Land. "A More Human World." In Kirschenbaum and Hendersion, eds. (1989). ''The Carl Rogers Reader''. Houghton Mifflin Company, pp. 433–435. {{ISBN|978-0-395-48357-2}}.</ref>

During his last decade, Rogers facilitated or participated in a wide variety of dialogic activities among politicians, activists, and other social leaders, often outside the U.S.<ref name=Kirschenbaum /> He also lent his support to several non-traditional U.S. political initiatives, including the "12-Hour Political Party" of the [[Association for Humanistic Psychology]]<ref>Multiple authors (May 1980). "[http://www.ahpweb.org/images/stories/archive_pdfs/1980/May1980.pdf A Report on AHP's 12-Hour Political Party] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191029021813/https://www.ahpweb.org/images/stories/archive_pdfs/1980/May1980.pdf |date=2019-10-29 }}". ''AHP Newsletter'', cover and pp. 4 ("Presenters"), 28–31, 41–43. A publication of the Association for Humanistic Psychology. Retrieved August 1, 2016.</ref> and the founding of a "transformational" political organization, the [[New World Alliance]].<ref>Stein, Arthur (1985). ''Seeds of the Seventies: Values, Work, and Commitment in Post-Vietnam America''. University Press of New England, p. 136 (on Rogers as "founding sponsor" of the Alliance's newsletter) and pp. 134–139 (on the Alliance generally). {{ISBN|978-0-87451-343-1}}.</ref> By the 21st century, interest in dialogic approaches to political engagement and change had become widespread, especially among academics and activists.<ref>Isenhart, Myra Warren, and Spangle, Michael L. (2000). ''Collaborative Approaches to Resolving Conflict''. SAGE Publications. {{ISBN|978-0-7619-1930-8}}.</ref> Theorists of a specifically Rogerian, person-centered approach to politics as dialogue have made substantial contributions to that project.<ref name=Proctor /><ref>Proctor, Gillian, and Napier, Mary Beth, eds. (2004). ''Encountering Feminism: Intersections Between Feminism and the Person-Centered Approach''. PCCS Books. {{ISBN|978-1-898059-65-3}}.</ref>

== Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) ==
{{More citations needed section|date=October 2017}}
From the late 1950s into the '60s, Rogers served on the board of the [[Human Ecology Fund]], a [[CIA]]-funded organization that provided grants to researchers looking into personality. In addition, he and other people in the field of personality and psychotherapy were given a lot of information about [[Nikita Khrushchev|Khrushchev]]. "We were asked to figure out what we thought of him and what would be the best way of dealing with him. And that seemed to be an entirely principled and legitimate aspect. I don't think we contributed very much, but, anyway, we tried."<ref>{{cite book| last1= Tagatz| first1= Glenn E. |title= ENIGMA: A Veteran's Quest for Truth |year= 2013 |page= 141| publisher= Xlibris Corporation | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=sC0SAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT141 | isbn= 978-1-4836-7942-6 }}</ref>

== Selected works ==
* Rogers, Carl, and Carmichael, Leonard (1939). ''The Clinical Treatment of the Problem Child''. Boston; New York: Houghton Mifflin Company.
* Rogers, Carl. (1942). ''Counseling and Psychotherapy: Newer Concepts in Practice''. Boston; New York: Houghton Mifflin Company.
* Rogers, Carl. (1951). ''Client-Centered Therapy: Its Current Practice, Implications and Theory''. London: Constable. {{ISBN|1-84119-840-4}}.
* Rogers, C.R. (1957). The necessary and sufficient conditions of therapeutic personality change. ''Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology'', 21: 95–103.
* Rogers, Carl. (1959). A Theory of Therapy, Personality and Interpersonal Relationships as Developed in the Client-centered Framework. In (ed.) S. Koch, ''Psychology: A Study of a Science. Vol. 3: Formulations of the Person and the Social Context.'' New York: McGraw Hill.
* Rogers, Carl. (1961). ''On Becoming a Person: A Therapist's View of Psychotherapy''. London: Constable. {{ISBN|1-84529-057-7}}.[http://www.panarchy.org/rogers/person.html Excerpts]
* Rogers, Carl. (1969). ''Freedom to Learn: A View of What Education Might Become''. (1st ed.) Columbus, Ohio: Charles Merill. [http://www.panarchy.org/rogers/learning.html Excerpts]
* Rogers, Carl. (1970). ''On Encounter Groups''. New York: Harrow Books, [[Harper and Row]], {{ISBN|0-06-087045-1}}
* Rogers, Carl. (1977). ''On Personal Power: Inner Strength and Its Revolutionary Impact''.
* Rogers, Carl. (nd, @1978). A personal message from Carl Rogers. In: N. J. Raskin. (2004). ''Contributions to Client-Centered Therapy and the Person-Centered Approach''. (pp. v-vi). Herefordshire, United Kingdom: PCCS Books, Ross-on-the-Wye. {{ISBN|1-898059-57-8}}
* Rogers, Carl. (1980). ''A Way of Being''. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
* Rogers, Carl. and [[Barry Stevens (therapist)|Stevens, B.]] (1967). ''Person to Person: The Problem of Being Human''. Lafayette, CA: Real People Press.
* Rogers, Carl, Lyon, Harold C., & Tausch, Reinhard (2013) ''On Becoming an Effective Teacher—Person-centered Teaching, Psychology, Philosophy, and Dialogues with Carl R. Rogers and Harold Lyon''. London: Routledge, {{ISBN|978-0-415-81698-4}}
* Rogers, C.R., Raskin, N.J., et al. (1949). A coordinated research in psychotherapy. ''Journal of Consulting Psychology'', 13, 149–200. Cited in: N.J. Raskin, The first 50 years and the next 10. ''Person-Centered Review'', 5(4), November 1990, 364–372.

==Research on his work ==
[[Howard Kirschenbaum]] has conducted extensive research on the work of Carl Rogers and the person-centered/client centered approach. Kirschenbaum published the first thorough book in English on Rogers’ life and work, titled, ''On Becoming Carl Rogers'' in 1979, followed by the biography, ''The Life and Work of Carl Rogers'' in 2007.<ref>{{cite book|title=Life and Work of Carl Rogers|isbn=978-1556202919|last1=Kirschenbaum|first1=Howard|year=2009|publisher=American Counseling Association }}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Hidden personality]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Sources ==
* {{cite journal |last1=Cornelius-White |first1=Jeffrey |title=Learner-Centered Teacher-Student Relationships Are Effective: A Meta-Analysis |journal=Review of Educational Research |date=March 2007 |volume=77 |issue=1 |pages=113–143 |doi=10.3102/003465430298563 }}
* Raskin, N. (2004). ''Contributions to Client-Centered Therapy and the Person-Centered Approach''. Herefordshire, Ross-on-the-Rye, UK: PCCS Books.

== Further reading ==
{{Library resources box|by=yes|onlinebooks=no|about=yes|wikititle=Carl Rogers}}
{{Wikiquote}}
* Farber, Barry A. ''The psychotherapy of Carl Rogers: cases and commentary'' (Guilford Press 1998).
* Hall, C.S. & Linzey, G. (1957). Rogers self-theory. "Theories of Personality". (pp.&nbsp;515–551). NY; John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
* Thorne, Brian. ''Carl Rogers—Key Figures in Counselling and Psychotherapy series'' (Sage publications, 1992).
* Rogers, Carl, Lyon, Harold C., & Tausch, Reinhard (2013) On Becoming an Effective Teacher—Person-centered Teaching, Psychology, Philosophy, and Dialogues with Carl R. Rogers and Harold Lyon. London: Routledge, {{ISBN|978-0-415-81698-4}}
* Mearns and Thorne, Person Centred Counselling in Action (Sage 1999)

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