Feist−Feist: Theories of
Personality, Seventh
EditionIII. Humanistic/Existential
Theories- Rogers:
Person−Centered Theory
(^334) © The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2009
take ownership of an increasing number of their experiences and comfortable
enough with themselves to lessen their need for denial and distortion.
Their relationships with others are also changed. They become more accepting
of others, make fewer demands, and simply allow others to be themselves. Because
they have less need to distort reality, they have less desire to force others to meet
their expectations. They are also perceived by others as being more mature, more lik-
able, and more socialized. Their genuineness, positive self-regard, and empathic un-
derstanding are extended beyond therapy, and they become better able to participate
in other growth-facilitating relationships (Rogers, 1959, 1961). Table 11.1 illustrates
Rogers’s theory of therapy.
The Person of Tomorrow
The interest shown by Rogers in the psychologically healthy individual is rivaled
only by that of Maslow (see Chapter 10). Whereas Maslow was primarily a re-
searcher, Rogers was first of all a psychotherapist whose concern with psychologi-
cally healthy people grew out of his general theory of therapy. In 1951, Rogers first
briefly put forward his “characteristics of the altered personality”; then he enlarged
on the concept of the fully functioning personin an unpublished paper (Rogers,
1953). In 1959, his theory of the healthy personality was expounded in the Koch se-
ries, and he returned to this topic frequently during the early 1960s (Rogers, 1961,
1962, 1963). Somewhat later, he described both the world of tomorrow and the per-
son of tomorrow(Rogers, 1980).
If the three necessary and sufficient therapeutic conditions of congruence, un-
conditional positive regard, and empathy are optimal, then what kind of person
would emerge? Rogers (1961, 1962, 1980) listed several possible characteristics.
First, psychologically healthy people would be more adaptable.Thus, from an
evolutionary viewpoint, they would be more likely to survive—hence the title “per-
sons of tomorrow.” They would not merely adjust to a static environment but would
realize that conformity and adjustment to a fixed condition have little long-term sur-
vival value.
Second, persons of tomorrow would be open to their experiences,accurately
symbolizing them in awareness rather than denying or distorting them. This simple
statement is pregnant with meaning. For people who are open to experience, all stim-
uli, whether stemming from within the organism or from the external environment,
are freely received by the self. Persons of tomorrow would listen to themselves and
hear their joy, anger, discouragement, fear, and tenderness.
A related characteristic of persons of tomorrow would be a trust in their or-
ganismic selves.These fully functioning people would not depend on others for
guidance because they would realize that their own experiences are the best criteria
for making choices; they would do what feels right for them because they would trust
their own inner feelings more than the pontifications of parents or the rigid rules of
society. However, they would also perceive clearly the rights and feelings of other
people, which they would take into consideration when making decisions.
A third characteristic of persons of tomorrow would be a tendency to live fully
in the moment.Because these people would be open to their experiences, they would
328 Part III Humanistic/Existential Theories