Ch. 10 Person-Centered Theory Flashcards
person-centered theory
(Carl Rogers) outgrowth of his client-centered psychotherapy
- called for empirical research to support personality theory
Carl Rogers
developed person-centered theory
- disliked the idea of a “theory”
- never systematically reformulated theory of personality
- did not find labeling w/ diagnosis helpful (too much focus on categorizing, not enough treating)
Rogers important BIO
- interested in agriculture as a child
- briefly attends seminary w/ intension of becoming minister but turned to psychology
- wrote book on behavioral problems in children
basic assumptions
formative tendency
actualizing tendency
**everyone possesses these
formative tendency
tendency to increase in complexity
- present in all organisms
actualizing tendency
tendency to reach potential or completion
self-actualization
a subset of the actualization tendency
- not synonymous w/ actualization tendency
- psych development
self-concept
organized set of characteristics that the individual perceives as peculiar to self
- once formed, difficult to change
- largely based on evaluation from others
- not the ideal-self
- may lead to psych probs in personality
**the motivator
ideal self
how one wishes two be
- our best/ideal self
- healthy if ideal self similar to self-concept
awareness
how we interpret our experiences
- symbolic representation (not necessarily in verbal symbols) of some portion of our experience
level of awareness
ignored
denied (b/c does not fit self-concept)
accurately symbolized
distorted
**similar to defense mechanisms
becoming a person
process necessary to becoming a person:
- need social contact
- positive regard necessary in relationships
denial of positive experiences
deny certain experience b/c it does not fit self-concept
- judgments
(ie) low self-esteem
(ie) deny compliments when given - think compliment has implied judgment (cynical)
positive regard
the need to be loved, like, or accepted by another
- necessary in relationships
- prerequisite for positive self-regard
- becoming a person
positive self-regard
the experience of valuing one’s self
- goal
- becoming a person
conditions of worth
restrictions or qualifications attached to one person’s regard for another
- applicable to all types of relationships
(ie) I am only loved if I live up to other people’s expectations and approvals
incongruence
when self-concept differs from organismic valuing experience (OVP)
- vulnerability due to inconsistency
- anxiety + threat
vulnerability
a condition that exists when ppl are unaware of the discrepancy btwn their organismic self y their significant experiences
- often behave in ways incomprehensive to themselves y otros
- increase vulnerability if increase incongruence
anxiety
a state of uneasiness or tension whose cause is unknown
- increase awareness of incongruence, anxiety becomes threat
threat
feelings that results from perception of an experience that is inconsistent w/ one’s organismic self
- awareness that our self is no longer whole or congruent
- can represent steps toward psych health
- signal us that organismic experience is inconsistent w/ self-concept
- pleasant, uncomfy feelings
organismic self
refers to the entire person, including those aspects of existence beyond awareness
- a more general term than self-concept
defensiveness
protection of the self-concept against anxiety/threat by denial or distortion of experiences inconsistent w/ it
**similar to defense mechanism
distortion
misinterpretation of an experience in order to fit it into some aspect of our self-concept
- aware of experience but deny its true meaning
denial
refuse to perceive an experience in awareness
- keep some aspect of it from reaching symbolization
- not as common as distortion
