The Psychology Book

134 CARL ROGERS

range of options as wrong or

inappropriate. The defensive

feelings and thoughts that rise

up in us when reality conflicts

with our preconceptions create

a limited, artificial interpretation

of experience. In order to really

participate in what Rogers calls

the “ongoing process of organismic

experience,” we need to be fully

open to new experience, and be

completely without defensiveness.

A full range of emotions

By tuning in to our full range of

emotions, Rogers argues, we

allow ourselves a deeper, richer

experience in every part of our

lives. We may think we can

selectively block emotion, and

dampen down disturbing or

uncomfortable feelings, but when

we repress some of our emotions,

we inevitably turn down the

volume of all our emotions,

denying ourselves access to the

whole of our nature. If on the other

hand, we allow ourselves to be

A fixed view of the world

often leads to unhappiness;

we can feel like “a square peg

in a round hole,” constantly

frustrated that our life is not

how we expected it to be.

Rogers urges us to abandon

our preconceived ideas and

see the world as it really is.

more comfortable with our

emotions, including those we have

deemed to be negative, the flow

of positive feelings emerges more

strongly; it is as if by permitting

ourselves to feel pain, we allow for

a more intense experience of joy.

By always remaining open to

everything that occurs, Rogers

says that we allow our fullest

is for experience to be the starting
point for the construction of our
personalities, rather than trying
to fit our experiences into a
preconceived notion of our sense
of self. If we hold on to our ideas of
how things should be, rather than
accepting how they really are, we
are likely to perceive our needs as
“incongruent” or mismatched to
what is available.
When the world does not “do
what we want,” and we feel unable
to change our ideas, conflict arises
in the form of defensiveness.
Rogers explains defensiveness
as the tendency to unconsciously
apply strategies to prevent a
troubling stimulus from entering
consciousness. We either deny
(block out) or distort (reinterpret)
what is really happening,
essentially refusing to accept
reality in order to stick with our
preconceived ideas. In so doing,
we deny ourselves the full range
of potential reactions, feelings,
and ideas, and we dismiss a wide

Self and personality

emerge from experience,

rather than experience

being translated... to fit

preconceived self-structure.

Carl Rogers

Spending time working in a
developing country can be a rewarding
way to open up to new experiences,
challenge fixed ideas about the world,
and find out more about ourselves.