Rogerian
...and explain the Rogerian approach to counseling theory I will first look at how Rogers came to research. his approach. with reference to his background and interests; I will then go on to trace the development of his theory from the motivational drives in man through to the cause of psychological tension, covering his theory of personality development, and on to how he researched and developed a therapeutic environment in which this tension can be dissolved.
Carl Rogers was a psychologist in America. He was part of the Human Potential Movement that happened around the middle of this century, and the founder of humanistic psychology. The Human Potential Movement was greatly influenced by the Existential approach believing that "Man's wholeness is to be sought through direct experience rather than analytical reflection" (Kovel 199.1:154), and so was in opposition to the psychoanalytical view that man was at the mercy of his unconscious drives and instincts; and also in opposition to the view of the behaviorists, which suggested that man was at the mercy of his environment and learned behaviors. Their belief was that man has his own potential for growth and thereby an ability to use what is, available to his consciousness as a way to the truth. Rogers also believed "that the innermost core of a man's nature, is positive in nature", and that man "is basically socialized, forward moving, rational and realistic" (Rogers 1974), and, therefore not destructive as suggested by Freud.
Throughout his development of humanistic psychology Rogers was not only influenced by existentialism but also by others in the Human Potential Movement, including Maslow, Combs and Snygg, and it is important to note that he came from an academic background in which he had been concerned with research; this was why he-was not only keen to develop his theory, but was also able to test it...
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