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Carl Rogers: Self Actualization and Self Concept

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Carl Rogers: Self Actualization and Self Concept
Carl Ransom Rogers (January 8, 1902 – February 4, 1987) was an influential American psychologist and among the founders of the humanistic approach to psychology. Rogers is widely considered to be one of the founding fathers of psychotherapy research and was honored for his pioneering research with the Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions by the American Psychological Association in 1956.
Carl Rogers was one of the most influential psychologists of the 20th-century. He was a humanist thinker and believed that people are fundamentally good. He also believed that people have an actualizing tendency, or a desire to fulfill their potential and become the best people they can be.

Self Actualization

Carl Rogers (1959) believed that humans have one basic motive, that is the tendency to self-actualize - i.e. to fulfill one 's potential and achieve the highest level of 'human-beingness ' we can. Like a flower that will grow to its full potential if the conditions are right, but which is constrained by its environment, so people will flourish and reach their potential if their environment is good enough.

the potential of the individual human is unique, and we are meant to develop in different ways according to our personality. Rogers believed that people are inherently good and creative. They become destructive only when a poor self-concept or external constraints override the valuing process.

SELF CONCEPT

defined as "the organized, consistent set of perceptions and beliefs about oneself".

The self is influenced by the experiences a person has in their life, and out interpretations of those experiences. Two primary sources that influence our self-concept are childhood experiences and evaluation by others.

According to Rogers (1959), we want to feel, experience and behave in ways which are consistent with our self-image and which reflect what we would like to be like, our ideal-self

The self-concept includes three components:

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