Carl Roger's Self-Actualization Theory

Being born and raised in the USA, Carl Roger’s was an All-American boy growing up, except for being raised in a strict, fundamentalist religious home. Consequently, he grew up with many conditions placed on his existence; he would be only as good as he acted or behaved and the love he received would be determined by how others perceived his actions. Admittedly, he was a hardworking and faithful young man, his environment was his reality and was all he knew. As a result, he became interested in the science of agriculture while working on the family farm. So then, while attending university, he went on a Christian mission trip to China, which pulled at the strings of his early religious teachings. For this reason, Carl decided to change his …show more content…
Carl Rogers through his life and career learned that individuals are primarily good and continuously strive for enhancement; and if their environmental conditions are favorable, they can meet their maximum potential. Carl states, that an individual has the capacity to know what is wrong with them, what causes them to feel unhappy and ultimately, only they know how to achieve the happiness they desire (Nye, 1996). With that being said, there cannot be only one way of therapy, or a therapy that acts upon a person. Rogers realizes that each person has their own life purpose, and it varies from person to person and his clients underneath all the parental and social forces, and the individual’s inner conflict due to their constant confrontation with the “givens” of their existence. The client knows what they need, actually they are the only one that knows what they need, and the goal here is to create a relationship and an environment that will allow the client to feel unconditional positive regard (UPR), they will feel accepted and understood for who they are at this moment; this type of environment is conducive to real positive change in a person’s life. They are in control and have choices and can be fully responsible for their change. They are able to express themselves openly and honestly and through UPR they will over time learn of what is in their way of being their best self (Nye, 1996, p.107). Unfortunately, this model has had many accuse Roger’s of being naïve and having to many assumptions regarding his view of humans’ natural tendencies. The obvious question that arises here, is if humans are here to strive to be the best they can be, why is it that