Personality Examination Relfection Paper

Carl Rogers was a well-known psychologist who furthered the findings of Abraham Maslow on the idea of personality theories in self-actualization. Humans have been observing other human’s behavior and personalities for as long as mankind has been alive (Feist & Feist, 2009). Rogers coined the idea of ‘growth’ in a person. An individual’s environment (self-disclosure and openness), acceptance (unconditional positive regard), and empathy (understanding and communication) provide genuine self-actualization. A variety of factors come into play to determine a person’s persona.

Human interaction is key to determining one’s behavior. People learn from each other whether it’s for the negative or positive affirmation it varies and is crucial. This paper will involve the analysis of the psychodynamic theory of Carl Rogers in explaining an individual’s behavior through self-actualization.

Rogers believed a person is capable of achieving their goals, wishes, desires, and expectations through life if the drive is there or motivation. If the person directed the motivation on the upward path then self-actualization would occur.

‘The organism has one basic tendency and striving to actualize, maintain, and enhance the experiencing organism.’ (Rogers, 1951, p.487). This was considered one of Roger’s most influential contributions to the psychology field. A person reaches their potential only if or when many factors are completely satisfied. (Feist, Feist, & Roberts, 2013). For example, how I act and am perceived through social media platforms is directly associated with my upbringing and environment both cultural and familial/religious affiliation. Not only in that correlation but with how we perceive ourselves and deem gratification entirely.

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We have an inherent need to be seen positively by others. Valera Carmichael, writer states,

‘There is no denying that posting a picture online and receiving likes and comments is one of the most instant and measurable forms of external validation and gives us quite the buzz. In that respect, social media has made it all too easy to choose the path of instant, short-term gratification, with the ideal or online self often taking precedence over the actual self. While social media provides a quick-fix, the ever-widening gap between the actual and ideal selves can leave us feeling empty and unfulfilled in the long term.’

I believe this takes out the ‘ideal self’ portion of his theory because people are focused on what others perceive them as or how many interactions they get instead of becoming fully functioning adults.

Self-concept is another stage that is altered due to social media these days. The self-concept is an essential term for both social and humanistic psychology. Lewis (1990) suggests that the development of a concept of self has two aspects: existential self and categorial self. Teenagers especially are hindered by this due to wanting to be like the norm in society instead of grounding their sense of self and belonging.

Rogers saw people as having experiences on three levels of awareness: (1) experiences that are subscribed; that is, experiences symbolized below the threshold of awareness that is either ignored or denied and not allowed into the self-concept; (2) distorted perceptions of events, as when a person reshapes an experience to fit it into an existing self-concept; and (3) accurately symbolized experiences that are consistent with the self-concept and hence freely admitted into the self-structure. I feel with social media we view the second level of awareness more frequently due to the upcoming filters, photoshop, fake news, and so much more it’s all distorted information that reshapes a person’s ideas and visuals.

Self-worth was deemed as fundamental importance in Rogerian theory. How we perceive ourselves can allow or degrade our ambitions and achievements in life. This plays a huge role in achieving self-actualization. Self-worth may be seen as a continuum from very high to very low. For Carl Rogers (1959) a person who has high self-worth, that is, has confidence and positive feelings about him or herself faces challenges in life, accepts failure and unhappiness at times, and is open with people. A person with low self-worth may avoid challenges in life, not accept that life can be painful and unhappy at times, and will be defensive and guarded with other people. He sought out that self-worth developed as a child through interactions with his parents. Rogers regarded a positive aspect of this by saying we require the need to be valued and respected by our peers and families. Social interaction is a distinction between unconditional and conditional positive regard. This is why people use the filters to come off clean-cut, unaltered, and fake to be aesthetically pleasing to those around us.

As we prefer to see ourselves in ways that are consistent with our self-image, we may use defense mechanisms like denial or repression to feel less threatened by some of what we consider to be our undesirable feelings. A person whose self-concept is incongruent with her or his real feelings and experiences will defend herself because the truth hurts.

References

1. Feist, J., & Feist, G. J. (2009). Theories of personality (9th ed.). New York.