Feist−Feist: Theories of
Personality, Seventh
EditionIII. Humanistic/Existential
Theories- Rogers:
Person−Centered Theory
© The McGraw−Hill^339
Companies, 2009clients showed little change in their notion of what the average person was like, they
manifested marked change in their perceptions of self. In other words, intellectual
insight does not result in psychological growth (Rudikoff, 1954).
Does therapy bring about noticeable changes in clients’ behavior as perceived
by close friends? Participants in both the therapy and the control groups were asked
to supply the experimenters with names of two intimate friends who would be in a
position to judge overt behavioral changes.
In general, the friends reported no significant behavioral changes in the clients
from the pretherapy period to posttherapy. However, this global rating of no change
was due to a counterbalancing effect. Clients judged by their therapists as being most
improved received higher posttherapy maturity scores from their friends, whereas
those rated as least improved received lower scores from their friends. Interestingly,
before therapy, clients typically rated themselves less mature than their friends rated
them, but as therapy progressed, they began to rate themselves higher and, therefore,
more in agreement with their friends’ ratings. Participants in the control group
showed no changes throughout the study in emotional maturity as judged by friends
(Rogers & Dymond, 1954).
Summary of Results
The Chicago Studies demonstrated that people receiving client-centered therapy
generally showed some growth or improvement. However, improvement fell short of
the optimum. The therapy group began treatment as less healthy than the control
group, showed growth during therapy, and retained most of that improvement
throughout the follow-up period. However, they never attained the level of psycho-
logical health demonstrated by “normal” people in the control group.
Looking at these outcomes another way, the typical person receiving client-
centered therapy probably never approaches Stage 7 hypothesized by Rogers and dis-
cussed earlier. A more realistic expectation might be for clients to advance to Stage
3 or 4. Client-centered therapy is effective, but it does not result in the fully func-
tioning person.
Related Research
Compared to Maslow’s theory, Rogers’s ideas on the power of unconditional positive
regard generated quite a bit of empirical research. Indeed, Rogers’s own research on
the three necessary and sufficient conditions for psychological growth were precur-
sors to positive psychology and have been further supported by modern research
(Cramer, 1994, 2002, 2003a). Moreover, Rogers’s notion of incongruence between
real and ideal self and motivation to pursue goals have sparked continued interest
from researchers.
Self-Discrepancy Theory
Rogers also proposed that the cornerstone of mental health was the congruency be-
tween how we really view ourselves and how we ideally would like to be. If these two
self-evaluations are congruent, then one is relatively adjusted and healthy. If not, then
Chapter 11 Rogers: Person-Centered Theory 333