Feist−Feist: Theories of
Personality, Seventh
EditionIII. Humanistic/Existential
Theories- Rogers:
Person−Centered Theory
(^320) © The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2009
Tendencies to maintain and to enhance the organism are subsumed within the
actualizing tendency. The need for maintenanceis similar to the lower steps on
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (see Chapter 10). It includes such basic needs as food,
air, and safety; but it also includes the tendency to resist change and to seek the sta-
tus quo. The conservative nature of maintenance needs is expressed in people’s de-
sire to protect their current, comfortable self-concept. People fight against new ideas;
they distort experiences that do not quite fit; they find change painful and growth
frightening.
Even though people have a strong desire to maintain the status quo, they are
willing to learn and to change. This need to become more, to develop, and to achieve
growth is called enhancement.The need for enhancing the self is seen in people’s
willingness to learn things that are not immediately rewarding. Other than enhance-
ment, what motivates a child to walk? Crawling can satisfy the need for mobility,
whereas walking is associated with falling and with pain. Rogers’s position is that
people are willing to face threat and pain because of a biologically based tendency
for the organism to fulfill its basic nature.
Enhancement needs are expressed in a variety of forms, including curiosity,
playfulness, self-exploration, friendship, and confidence that one can achieve psy-
chological growth. People have within themselves the creative power to solve prob-
lems, to alter their self-concepts, and to become increasingly self-directed. Individ-
uals perceive their experiences as reality, and they know their reality better than
anyone else. They do not need to be directed, controlled, exhorted, or manipulated in
order to spur them toward actualization.
The actualization tendency is not limited to humans. Other animals and even
plants have an inherent tendency to grow toward reaching their genetic potential—
provided certain conditions are present. For example, in order for a bell pepper plant
to reach its full productive potential, it must have water, sunlight, and a nutrient soil.
Similarly, a human’s actualization tendency is realized only under certain conditions.
Specifically, people must be involved in a relationship with a partner who is con-
gruent,or authentic,and who demonstrates empathyand unconditional positive re-
gard.Rogers (1961) emphasized that having a partner who possesses these three
qualities does not causepeople to move toward constructive personal change. It
does, however, permit them to actualize their innate tendency toward self-fulfillment.
Rogers contended that whenever congruence, unconditional positive regard,
and empathy are present in a relationship, psychological growth will invariably
occur. For this reason, he regarded these three conditions as both necessaryand suf-
ficientconditions for becoming a fully functioning or self-actualizing person. Al-
though people share the actualizing tendency with plants and other animals, only hu-
mans 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 pleasant and what does
not. They then begin to evaluate experiences as positive or negative, using as a cri-
314 Part III Humanistic/Existential Theories