CARL ROGERS
The Person Centered Approach
“When I look at the world I'm pessimistic, but when I look at people I am optimistic”
Carl “Ransom” Rogers is a well renowned, influential humanistic psychologist born on the 8th of January 1902 and died on the 4th of February 1987.
Roger believed that every human is born naturally good and that it was their environment that potentially changed and shaped them. He is known to be one of the founding fathers of psychotherapy research. Roger’s father was Walter A. Rogers and his mother was, Julia M. Cushing. He had six sibling including himself. At an early age he showed a high level of IQ way beyond that of a kindergartner.
Career
Early Life
His first career choice was agriculture, though he began to questions himself and shortly after changed his course to history, before finally taking classes in psychology. He obtained his MA in 1928 and a PhD in 1931. He led a successful life having several different careers, he opened a counselling center, and taught as a professor in many different universities. In 1957 he was the head of both the departments of Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin. Roger wrote 16 books throughout his whole life, one of the books sold over half a million copies over 50 years.
Way Of Life
The way Roger approached his career, was that the client is the one who is in charge of their happiness and what they want. Roger believed that he was a guide, who would help his clients in their times of need and turn them in the right direction. He strongly believed in the relationship between him and his clients and in order for their relationship to develop that he had be empathetic with them. Roger helped those to achieve their full potential in life, therefore become a “fully-functioning person”. The name of the end process which he stated in his book is “Self Actualization” which he describes as “The organism has one basic tendency and striving – to actualize, maintain, and enhance the experiencing organism.” He believed that an individuals behavior is connected to self concept.