Carl Rogers: the psychologist who gave birth to a new theory of personality – Online Psychologists

Carl Rogers was an American psychologist who became one of the leading exponents of humanistic psychologyone of the most important schools of thought in psychology. In addition, He was in charge of introducing a new vision on such an interesting issue as the human personality.

Carl Rogers stood out, among other things, for being one of the main exponents of the humanist movementHe was born in 1902 in Chicago, Illinois, into a traditional and religious family. In fact, he started school late because his parents decided to educate him at home. Marked by his intelligence from his early years of lifelearned to read at a very early age.

Son of Walter Rogers and Julia Cushing, he was the fourth of six siblings and maintained a very close relationship with his family throughout his childhood.

After beginning studies in agriculture and theology, which he never completed, Rogers began studying history in 1922 and was selected to participate in an international conference of the World Student Christian Federation in China.

His trip to Beijing was a very important experience for him. It made him realize that Eastern culture was more intuitive than Western culture and he discovered that the interest in the unknown enriches us and boost our developmenthelps us get rid of prejudices.

Later in the year 1924 Carl attended the Union Theological Seminarythe most liberal theological seminary of its time. His interest in psychology began to develop during this time..

He graduated in psychology clinic from Columbia University in 1931 and began his career as a university professor in Ohio, Chicago and Wisconsin.

The rigidity that characterizes the academic system led him to become disillusioned and end his days as an independent researcher, eventually founding a Center for the Study of the Person and an Institute for Peace.

Throughout his career, Carl Rogers He published various works, but the most notable are Treatment of problem children (1939), The process of becoming a person (1956) or The power of the person (1977).

One of Carl Rogers' most important contributions to the world of psychology was his Theory of Personality.

Rogers believed that each person's personality develops according to the way in which he or she manages to approach or move away from his or her life goals. According to Carl Rogers, biological or environmental factors are not determinants of human behavior.

The theory he proposed is a great example of optimism brought to psychology, his intention was to convey that We are all capable of becoming the kind of people we want to be. be.

Although there are many currents of psychology that have been linked to a pessimistic view of the human being, humanistic psychologists such as Carl Rogers brought to light a series of ideas in which the following stand out: freedom of individuals to determine the direction of their lives.

According to Carl Rogers, it is through personal development as The human being forms his character and his way of being.

For Carl Rogers, personality development is related to the creation of the following traits:

That is to say, there is no need to defend oneself from ideas that are contrary to one's own; one does not adopt a defensive attitude towards the unknown.

It is about emphasizing the need to enjoy the moment without manipulating it, which means that our daily life is spontaneous and full.

It is essential to foster the ability to trust in our own abilities and our judgment.

It is based on the ability to develop high levels of creativity, as well as adaptation.

That is to say, the ability to make decisions freely and accept the responsibility that these entail, can also mean abandoning conformity and obedience to traditions.

Ability to act according to our own decisions, without fearing the possible consequences.

It consists of leading a full life in which all our emotions are involved, in order to have a full and happy life.

In addition, Carl Rogers proposed the idea that the patient could benefit much more from the therapy If I could establish a cordial and respectful relationship with your therapistconducted several investigations to demonstrate the effectiveness of his ideas.

Rogers realized that he had a point of view that was far from the ideas established until then and published Counseling and Psychotherapya book in which he introduced a more effective method for doing therapy.

In fact, years later, the World Health Organization recommended the Counseling as the most appropriate method of help and support.

Rogers argued that therapy should be a meeting between two human beings who are on equal terms; the psychologist should not be a «superior» or authority figure, but rather an agent who wants to help the other person, listen to them and support them.

The psychologist should not interrogate or adopt an attitude of superiority towards the patient, but rather should help him, without judging him.

Carl Rogers became a very important figure for the world of psychology and his legacy reaches to our days.

His ideas and values ​​marked a before and after in the way therapy was done, as he prioritized above all the need for the therapist to be empathetic with his patient.

His Personality Theory It is another of his great contributions, it offers us a positive vision of the human being, according to Rogers we are the ones in charge of developing our personality and taking the course of our life.