PSY 181 Lecture 12: Week of 10/19 Module 1

• School: University of Rochester
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSY 181
• Professor: C H R I S T O P H E R N I E M I E C

Document Summary

Carl rogers believed the understanding of personality begins with the phenomenal field, which is the world as it exists to the individual. We can only be aware of our own phenomenal field and our own reality, so reality is subjective and this subjective reality determines our behavior. Only a portion of the phenomenal field is accessible at any given time, and the part that is accessible depends on the pressing needs of the individual. When we"re hungry, the phenomenal field tends to include references to food. Consciousness=the parts of the phenomenal field that are differentiated and adequately symbolized. One of the functions of consciousness is to bring the individual"s pressing needs to the forefront of being. The external world influences our behavior only when aspects of the environment are in our phenomenal field. All behavior is telicit has a purpose (toward our goals and values, satisfaction of current.