PSYC 2600 Chapter Notes - Chapter 10-11a: Existentialism, Definition Of Free Cultural Works, Umwelt
19 Jun 2018
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Week 7 Readings
Chapter 10: Rogers: Person-Centred Therapy
Person-Centered Therapy
- If the therapist is congruent and communicates unconditional positive regard and
accurate empathy to the client, then the client will experience more self-acceptance and
greater trust of self
Basic Assumptions
1. Formative Tendency: the tendency for all matter to evolve from simpler to complex
forms
2. Actualizing Tendency: the tendency within all humans to move toward completion of
fulfillment of potentials
- This tendency is the only motive people possess
- There is a need to maintain and enhance the organism
- Enhancement: a need to become more, develop, and grow
Enhancement needs are expressed in: curiosity, playfulness, friendship
There needs to be congruence, unconditional positive regard, and empathy for someone to
become self-actualized
The Self and Self-Actualization
Actualization Tendency: organismic experiences of the individual, the whole person (conscious
and unconscious, physiological and cognitive)
Self-Actualization: the tendency to self-actualize the self as perceived in awareness
- The self-concept and the ideal self
- When the two are not congruent with each other, tension is created
The Self-Concept:
- Includes all those aspects of one’s being and one’s experiences that are perceived in
awareness by the individual
- It is not identical with the organismic self
- Experiences that are inconsistent with self-concept are usually denied, change is difficult
The Ideal Self:
- One’s view of self as one wishes to be
- Positive attributions that people desire to possess
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- A wide gap between the self-concept and ideal self indicates incongruence
Awareness
- The symbolic representation of some portion of our existence
Levels of Awareness:
1. Events experiences outside of awareness are ignored or denied
2. Accurately symbolized experiences that are non-threatening and consistent with the
self-concept
3. Experiences perceived in a distorted form
When our experience is inconsistent with our view of self, we reshape or distort the
experience so that it fits into our self-concept
Denial of Positive Experiences:
- Many people have accepting compliments or positive feedback
- The giver may be distrusted, or the recipient doesn’t feel deserving
Becoming a Person
- An individual must make contact with another person
Positive Regard: the need to be loved and accepted
Positive Self-Regard: the experience of valuing one’s self
- Positive regard is first necessary to have positive self-regard
Barriers to Psychological Health
Conditions of Worth: perceiving that others will love and accept them only if they meet those
people’s expectations and approval
- Become the criterion by which we accept or reject our experiences
- This can lead people to lose their sense of self
External Evaluations: our perceptions of other people’s view of us
- These prevent us from being fully open to our experiences
- Creates incongruence
Incongruence:
- Incongruence between the self-concept and ideal self
- This creates psychological disorders
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- Variability: people are vulnerable when they are unaware of the discrepancy between
their self-concept and their experiences
- Anxiety and threat: occurs when we gain awareness of the incongruence
Anxiety: a state of uneasiness or tension whose cause is unknown
Threat: an awareness that our self is no longer congruent
Defensiveness:
- The protection of the self-concept against anxiety and threat by the denial or distortion
of experiences inconsistent with it
- Two main defenses:
1. Distortion: we misinterpret an experience in order to fit it into our self-concept
2. Denial: we refuse to perceive an experience in awareness
Disorganization:
- Happens when defense mechanisms fail to function
- Happens when the incongruence is too obvious, or happens too suddenly
- People behave sometimes in accordance to their self-concept, or their shattered self-
concept
Psychotherapy
Conditions
1. The client must come into contact with a therapist who shows unconditional positive
regard and empathy
2. The client must perceive those characteristics in the therapist
3. The contact between the client and the therapist must be for a long period of time
Counselor Congruence:
- Congruence: exists when a person’s organismic experiences are matched by an
awareness of them and by an ability and willingness to openly express these feelings
To be real and genuine
The therapist must be a complete human being with emotions that are denied or
distorted
Congruence involves:
1. Feelings
2. Awareness
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
If the therapist is congruent and communicates unconditional positive regard and accurate empathy to the client, then the client will experience more self-acceptance and greater trust of self. Basic assumptions: formative tendency: the tendency for all matter to evolve from simpler to complex forms, actualizing tendency: the tendency within all humans to move toward completion of fulfillment of potentials. This tendency is the only motive people possess. There is a need to maintain and enhance the organism. Enhancement: a need to become more, develop, and grow. Enhancement needs are expressed in: curiosity, playfulness, friendship. There needs to be congruence, unconditional positive regard, and empathy for someone to become self-actualized. Actualization tendency: organismic experiences of the individual, the whole person (conscious and unconscious, physiological and cognitive) Self-actualization: the tendency to self-actualize the self as perceived in awareness. When the two are not congruent with each other, tension is created.
