Chapter 10 Rogers: Person-Centered Theory 297Although people share the actualizing tendency with plants and other animals, only
humans have a concept of self and thus a potential for self-actualization.
The Self and Self-Actualization
According to Rogers (1959), infants begin to develop a vague concept of self
when a portion of their experience becomes personalized and differentiated in
awareness as “I” or “me” experiences. Infants gradually become aware of their
own identity as they learn what tastes good and what tastes bad, what feels pleas-
ant and what does not. They then begin to evaluate experiences as positive or
negative, using as a criterion the actualizing tendency. Because nourishment is a
requirement for actualization, infants value food and devalue hunger. They also
value sleep, fresh air, physical contact, and health because each of these is needed
for actualization.
Once infants establish a rudimentary self structure, their tendency to actu-
alize the self begins to evolve. Self-actualization is a subset of the actualization
tendency and is therefore not synonymous with it. The actualization tendency
refers to organismic experiences of the individual; that is, it refers to the whole
person—conscious and unconscious, physiological and cognitive. On the other
hand, self-actualization is the tendency to actualize the self as perceived in
awareness. When the organism and the perceived self are in harmony, the two
actualization tendencies are nearly identical; but when people’s organismic expe-
riences are not in harmony with their view of self, a discrepancy exists between
the actualization tendency and the self-actualization tendency. For example, if a
man’s organismic experience is one of anger toward his wife, and if anger toward
spouse is contrary to his perception of self, then his actualization tendency and
his self-actualization are incongruent and he will experience conflict and inner
tension. Rogers (1959) postulated two self subsystems, the self-concept and the
ideal self.
The Self-Concept
The self-concept includes all those aspects of one’s being and one’s experi-
ences that are perceived in awareness (though not always accurately) by the
individual. The self-concept is not identical with the organismic self. Portions
of the organismic self may be beyond a person’s awareness or simply not
owned by that person. For example, the stomach is part of the organismic self,
but unless it malfunctions and causes concern, it is not likely to be part of
one’s self-concept. Similarly, people can disown certain aspects of their selves,
such as experiences of dishonesty, when such experiences are not consistent
with their self-concept.
Thus, once people form their self-concept, they find change and significant
learnings quite difficult. Experiences that are inconsistent with their self-concept
usually are either denied or accepted only in distorted forms.
An established self-concept does not make change impossible, merely dif-
ficult. Change most readily occurs in an atmosphere of acceptance by others, which
allows a person to reduce anxiety and threat and to take ownership of previously
rejected experiences.