Carl Rogers believed that humans are constantly reacting to the stimuli they encounter within their reality. This stimuli changes constantly, which requires each person to develop their concept of self, based on the feedback they receive from their reality. Rogers, a humanistic psychology, believed that his theory of personality would help to understand why there is such an emphasis on the importance of self-fulfilling tendencies and prophesies during the personality shaping.
This means it is up to each individual to shape their own personality, based on the type of feedback that they receive from their external and internal worlds. It also means that the personality of an individual can change over time because the stimuli they encounter, either real or perceived, may vary.
Rogers believed that humans are always active. They are always experiencing life as it occurs in creative ways. This causes them to form perceptions, which will evolve into relationships, and then this creates encounters where the personality can be developed. In other words, if a person wants to have a humorous personality, they will create life situations that will help them to develop such a personality.
Does This Mean a Person’s Personality Is Based on Free Will?
When Rogers formed the humanistic theory of personality, he emphasized the concept of free will in the theory’s foundation. He also made a general assumption about what the human potential for doing good on a regular basis happens to be.
This allowed him to developed what he called the “Phenomenal Field.” At the center of this field is the “self,” or the core of who each individual happens to be. Then each person will surround themselves with five specific influential factors that interact with them inside of the phenomenal field.
- People.
- Thoughts.
- Objects.
- Behaviors.
- Images.
Although the self does not change, it can be constantly influenced within the phenomenal field by these five influential factors. This is why there are internal and external factors involved with personality development and why a person’s personality can change over time.
Yet the phenomenal field is not the only influential factor involved in personality development. The environment can act upon a person’s phenomenal field, creating unanticipated changes and interactions with the influential personality factors. The personal motivations an individual may have, like the pursuit of a dream or specific goal, can also have an influence on the phenomenal field.
This, in turn, creates a situation where a battle for dominance begins to take place. It is a battle between the real self and the ideal self.
What Is the Real Self and Why Is It Different from the Ideal Self?
Rogers looked at his humanistic theory of personality and realized that the “concept of self” needed to be divided into two distinct categories: the “real” self and the “ideal” self. The real self is the person you happen to be right now, whereas the ideal self is the person that you would like to be one day.
Rogers decided that there needed to be a certain level of consistency between these two concepts of self. This is what the battle between the real self and the ideal self is intended to do. As balance is created and achieved, it influences the personality of that individual.
If balance can be achieved, then it creates a personality that is based on high levels of self-worth. People with a good balance, according to Rogers, have the best opportunities to create a life for themselves that is both healthy and productive.
For those who are unable to achieve a balance, which means their ideal life is a great deal different than their real life, then is creates a state of maladjustment. It forms a personality that is based of discontent and other forms of personalized negative energy.
Rogers called this state of imbalance “incongruence.”
How Can We Have the Good Life?
In the humanistic theory of personality, Rogers believed that there was no greater influence on a person than unconditional love. When there is such a positive influence, it limits the amount of incongruence that can be created. This, in turn, helps to define a positive self-worth, allowing the individual to create an even better balance.
When this balance could be achieved, then individuals could begin to pursue what Rogers called the “Good Life.” It is a pursuit that is based on the traits that only balance could provide, such as being open, trusting personal judgment, and embracing freedom of choice.
Personalities can be quite varied. They can also change over time. A personality may also have several permanent elements to it. With the humanistic theory of personality, Carl Rogers helps us all be able to understand why we are the people we happen to be today.