PSY405 Final Term Short Notes

Lesson 23 · ROGERS PERSON CENTERED APPROACH · Personality Disorganization and Psychopathology

Thus, personality disorganization and psychopathology occur when the self is unable to defend against threatening experiences. Persons undergoing such disorganization are commonly tagged “psychotic.” They manifest behaviors which are to an objective observer strange, irrational, or “crazy.” Rogers posits that psychotic behavior is often corresponding with the denied aspects of experience, rather than with the self-concept. For example, a person who has kept his sexual impulses under rigid control, denying that they were a part of his self-image, may make obvious sexual moves toward those whom he encounters. Rogers’ person-centered therapy attempts to reestablish a more harmonious relationship between the self-concept and the total organism and to facilitate a greater degree of congruence between the self-concept and the phenomenal field of experience.

Evolution of Rogerian-- Therapy : From Techniques to Relationships

With the publication in 1951 of his book Client-Centered Therapy, Rogers’ approach progressed further and came to be known primarily by this label, as it still is today in some circles. While still retaining his nondirective techniques, Rogers at this time was emphasizing the importance of the clients’ perceptions, of therapeutically entering the clients’ world of subjective experience and focusing upon the clients’ perceptions of themselves, their lives, and their problems. Hence, the term “client-centered”. Since that time, however, Rogers’ approach has evolved to still another level. He has become more concerned with the issue of precisely what conditions must be met before the client can begin to resolve his or her problems. As stated earlier, he discovered that the relationship between therapist and client is the most important aspect underlying personality change; consequently, he funneled all his efforts on this in the late 1950s (Rogers, 1957b, 1958, 1959) and continues to do so today. again, it shou1d be stressed that Rogers’ changes in thinking in this regard represent a progressive evolution to a more comprehensive and meaningful level rather than an abandonment of old, outmoded concepts. At present, the “label” which best captures the essence of the newer developments is “personcentered therapy (Rogers, 1977). This newer term more accurately reflects the evolution of Rogers’ thought-from techniques to relationships. Rogers ideas related to personality came from his clinical practice just like that of Freud’s and Kelly’s. So for Rogers therapy has always been very important to him and his personality theory developed as he tried to understand the principles that were operating during the therapeutic process and secondly as tried to be an effective therapist and counselor. Roger’s description of the therapeutic process has changed throughout his clinical practice. First, he referred to it as the nondirective approach which focused on clients’ ability to solve their own problems if they were given the proper atmosphere for doing so. The next, label that he gave to therapy was Client Centered Therapy. Now instead of providing an atmosphere where client can solve his problems. Now, therapy was a joint venture where the client and the therapist were both involved. In this stage the therapist actively tried to understand the client’s phenomenological field or the internal frame of reference of the client. It was labeled as the experiential phase. currently the Rogers thinking has labeled as the person centered approach, the emphasis is on the total person rather than looking at person as merely as a student or as client. Conditions that Rogers feels are necessary for therapy:

1. The client and the therapist are in a psychological contact.
2. The client is in state of incongruence so he is anxious.
3. The therapist must show empathetic understanding of the client using client’s frame of reference.
4. The therapist must give unconditional positive regard to the client.
5. The client must perceive that the therapist is giving him unconditional positive regard. If therapy moves in right direction then following changes in the client can be observed.

1Clients will express their feelings related to life with freedom. 2Clients become accurate in description of their experiences. 3Clients detect the incongruity of their concept of self and experiences. 4Unconditional positive regard will allow them to experience incongruity without distorting or denying them. 5Clients will be aware of the feeling which have been denied or distorted in past. 6Clients concepts of self become reorganized and are able to include experiences previously denied. 7Clients are less threatened by experiences which were they are less defensive. 8Clients experience themselves more and more. 9Therapy is successful when clients do not take into account the conditions of worth. 10Clients perceive therapist’s unconditional positive regard

Skinner and Rogers Debate

On September 4th 1955, the members of American Psychological Association saw at their annual meeting in Chicago, a debate between Rogers and Skinner. Rogers representing the subjective approach and belief that humans are innately good, free to choose their destiny in life. Skinner representing the objective approach and behavior could be explained in terms of stimulus and response. Both men agreed that behavioral science was growing as field which was a good sign. Skinner emphasized on control of behavior from outside whereas Rogers was of the opinion that such an environment should be created where humans feel free to self-actualize.

Psychotherapy and Gardening

So Rogers’ person-centered therapy (supported by empirical research) reflects his image of human nature in general and the role of the therapist in particular. Upon reflection, one is tempted to draw an analogy between person-centered therapy and gardening. When one recalls Rogers’ background in agriculture, the analogy becomes even more compelling. Concluding his acceptance speech for the 1973 APA Distinguished Professional Contribution Award, Rogers drew the analogy for us: And then I garden. Those mornings when I cannot find time to inspect my flowers, water the young shoots I am propagating, pull a few weeds, spray some destructive insects, and pour just the proper fertilizer on some budding plants, I feel cheated. My garden supplies the same intriguing question I have been trying tomeet all my professional life: What are the effective conditions for growth? But in my garden, though the frustrations are just as immediate, the results, whether success or failure, are more quickly obvious. And when, through patient, intelligent, and understanding care I have provided the conditions that result in the production of a rare or glorious bloom, I feel the same kind of satisfaction that I have felt in the facilitation of growth in a person or in a group of persons.

Student Centered Teaching

Rogers feels that education system is in a poor shape and he criticized the American education system harshly. It treats the student as an object and the teacher as an authority figure. All information is given to the student in a highly structured environment. All students are eager to learn and they can learn and will learn when they are placed in a non-threatening environment which is characterized by unconditional positive regard. Learning will become faster and will be retained better if the material to be learned has personal relevance and significance for the student. Teacher is a facilitator of education who creates an atmosphere conducive to learning. Rogers is of the view that education system is based on faulty assumptions about the learner: o who must be given huge information, o without any active participation on part of the learner

Lesson 24 · KELLY’S COGNITIVE THEORY OF PERSONALITY THEORY · George Kelly: A Cognitive Theory of Personality

Kelly’s theory is phenomenological it focuses on the internal frame of reference of the individual. It is cognitive because it studies mental events. It is existential because it emphasized the future and individual’s freedom to choose, and humanistic since it focuses on creative powers and optimistic about people’s ability to solve their problems. For Kelly an individual’s behavior and thoughts are guided by a set of personal constructs that are used in predicting future events. A person’s processes (behavior and thinking) are channelized by ways that he anticipates reality.

1-The Psychology of Personal Construct

It is a fundamental fact of life that human beings are thinking animals. Indeed, man’s intellectual processes are so self-evident that all personality theories in some way acknowledge their effects on behavior. George Kelly, a practicing clinical psychologist, was the first personologist to emphasize the cognitive or knowing aspects of human existence as the dominant feature of personality. According to his theoretical system, the Psychology of Personal Constructs, a person is basically a scientist, striving to understand, interpret, anticipate, and control the personal world of experience for the purpose of dealing effectively with it. Kelly admonished his fellow psychologists not to proceed as if their subjects were passive “reactors” to external stimuli. He reminded them that their subjects also behave like scientists, inferring on the basis of the past and hypothesizing about the future. His own thinking, highly original and different from the dominant forms of psychological thought prevalent in America in his day, has greatly contributed to recent major innovations in cognitive personality theory.

3- Cornorstones of Cognitive Theory

The central theme of this volume is that any personality theory necessarily involves certain philosophical assumptions about human nature. That is, the way a personologist chooses to view his or her subject matter, the human organism, will largely determine his or her model of the person. Unlike most personologists, George Kelly explicitly acknowledged that all conceptions of human nature, including his own, are founded on basic assumptions. Kelly developed his personal constructs theory on the basis of a single philosophical assumption-constructive constructive alternativism.

i-Constructive Alternativism

events accurately. A construct resembles a theory in that it encompasses a particular domain of events. Individuals interpret, explain, or predict, the events in their lives by utilizing his constructs. A construct is a category of thought that describes how events are similar to each other and yet different from other events. All individuals are free to choose, create whatever constructs they choose in their attempts to give meaning to their experiences. This freedom to choose constructs is called constructive alternativism. So we are free to choose constructs but once chosen or selected we are bound to them. Now that people of all ages are exploring alternative life-styles and ways of understanding things, George