Summary
1.2 Differences between People Summary Problem 3
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This is a summary of the literature for problem 3 of the course Differences between People.
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1Problem 3
1
• What is the effect of self-actualizing at a young age?
• What is self-actualization?
• Which factors affect the development of personality (Roger)?
Personality Theory of Rogers
In general
• Humanistic theory: core feature is to emphasize people’s potential to grow
• Interpersonal experiences encountered across the course of life
• Focused on unique human cognitive capacities & uniqueness of the individual
• Humans are confident that we view the world objectively
• Phenomenal field: space of perceptions that make up our experiences → subjective construction
o Construction reflects inner personal needs, goals & beliefs
• Phenomenological approach:
o Investigates people’s conscious experiences
o How an individual experiences the world
• Personal needs contribute to our perception of the world
o Humans fail to recognize that
• Our perception / experience is our reality
Feelings of Authenticity
• People are prone to psychological stress → feeling of alienation or detachment (do not feel like
ourselves)
• Need approval of others → tell ourselves other’s desires & values are our own
o E.g. child convinces himself that it is bad to hit his sister because parents told him so,
although it feels good
§ Individuals thinks but does not feel an attachment to his values
• Contrary to Freud, Rogers sees individuals who experience full range of emotions (good or bad) as
psychological well adjusted
o Instinctive emotional reactions are potential source of wisdom
Human Motivation
• Core of our nature is positive
• Fundamental motivation → innate desire to grow & improve
• Also recognized that people can be evil & destructive, but we move toward being positive, mature
beings
Structure
The Self /Self-concept
• How a person sees him/herself
• Individual perceives external experiences & attaches meaning to them
• Represents organizes & consistent pattern of perceptions
• Is a personality structure → quality endures over time & characterizes the individual
• Set of perceptions are responsible for actions of individual
• People are consciously aware of their self-perception (although a few experiences are unaware)
• Two aspect to self:
, 2
o Perceived self: person they think they are now (present)
o Ideal self: person they would like to be (future)
§ Qualities that are highly valued by person
o True self: the person they actually are
Process
Self-Actualization
• Fundamental personality process → explains our behaviour
• Innate desire to grow & improve
o Actualize, maintain & enhance experiencing organism
• Grow from simple to complex (dependence → independence, inflexibility → change & freedom)
• Measure by 15 item scale
o Measure ability of independence, self-acceptance & self-esteem, acceptance of emotions &
trust in interpersonal relations
Self- Consistency & Congruence
• People seek to maintain consistency (absence of conflict) among self-perceptions
• Congruence: perceived self, true self & ideal self in line
• Self-consistency (Lecky)
o Maintain own self-structure
o Develop value system (individual’s valuation of self)
o Behave in a way that is consistent with self-concept, although its unrewarding for them
§ E.g. see yourself as poor speller → behave as if you are a poor speller
• People try to achieve congruence between their sense of self & daily experience
o What people feel & how the view themselves
o E.g. consider yourself as a kind person → in one situation you think of yourself as cold &
unemphatic
§ Experience incongruence between your sense of self & your experience
• Study by Block & Robbins (1993) showed differences in change self-esteem from adolescence into
adulthood (14-23) in gender
o Self-esteem increases for males & decreases for females
o Self-esteem: degree of similarity between perceived self & ideal self
§ Make different experiences
o High self-esteem women → value close relationships
o High self-esteem men → distant & controlled in relationships
§ Can be explained by societal gender roles
States of Incongruences & Defensive Processes
• Incongruence: perceived self, ideal self & true self are not line
o results in anxiety
• Person is motivated to defend the self & engages in defence mechanisms
• Experience is threatening to self-concept
• Subception: experience is responded to without bringing it to awareness & the mind applies defence
mechanisms to protect one self-concept
o Distortion of meaning of experience
§ Allows experience into awareness but in a form consistent with self
§ E.g. “I am a poor student” → receives good grade → “It was just luck”
o Denial of existence of experience
• Study by Mette (1968)
o If individuals cheat is influenced by nature of self-concept
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