Postulated Characteristics of the Human Infant

Rogers believed that infants perceive their experience as reality. Thus, their perception forms the basis of the reality with which they engage since they have only this perspective to relate to, as opposed to some “actual” reality. Infants have an inherent motivational system, an actualizing tendency that propels them to maintain themselves and develop their potential. The infant’s behavior can be understood as his or her attempt to satisfy needs for actualization in his or her perceived reality. The infant’s organismic valuing process orients him or her to value and pursue experiences that maintain and enhance his or her development and functioning. Thus, the infant is likely to move toward experiences that help him or her thrive while avoiding those that seem adverse to his or her well-being.

As the infant develops, the child becomes more differentiated and complex and begins to become aware of being a separate self as he or she interacts with significant others (e.g., mother) in his or her environment. A rudimentary concept of self is developed that will be elaborated, refined, and clarified over time. As awareness of self emerges, the infant develops a need for positive regard, which is seen as universal and continuous throughout life. His or her satisfaction depends on how the infant perceives others’ attitudes and behaviors toward himself or herself. The infant experiences positive regard when he or she perceives that he or she is valued by others and when perceiving himself or herself as satisfying another’s need for self-regard. For example, when the infant smiles and receives a hug from her mother, she experiences positive regard. When an infant satisfies his mother’s need for self-regard (e.g., the infant hugs his mother when picked up), he also experiences positive regard. In other words, there is a reciprocal positive effect of affectionate behavior on the infant’s and mother’s feelings of worth. At times, the need for positive regard from significant others may be more compelling than the organismic valuing process and experiences that actualize the individual. For example, the infant may acquiesce to her mother’s command to “stop banging on the piano,” an activity she finds stimulating and pleasurable, deciding that it is more important to please her mother than to satisfy her own desires. Projected into childhood and adulthood, sometimes the desire for approval and positive regard from others becomes more compelling than the person’s natural inclination to actualize himself or herself. Over time, self-experiences of the person may come to be experienced independently of the positive regard of others as self-regard. Thus, persons learn to regard themselves in a negative or positive manner based on their own assessments of others’ responses to them, their experiences, and behavior. Consequently, persons may view themselves with more or less regard than others observing the same behavior. For example, a college sprinter coming in second in a field of 10 runners in a 100-meter race may experience “failure” while that person’s coach holds the runner in higher regard for his or her performance. Persons with low self-esteem often have lower regard for themselves than most of their peers, while persons who tend to be narcissistic hold themselves in higher esteem than their peers.

As persons develop, they learn that significant others in their lives value some of their behaviors and experiences while disapproving of others. That is, others become conditional in their regard. For example, a father disapproves of his son when he fails to eat all of the food on his plate but approves of him when he eats every bite. The son experiences conditions of worth from his father and learns over time that others, in general, will value or approve of him or not depending on whether he meets their standards for behavior. Clients in therapy are often plagued as adults by powerful needs for approval from their parents or other important persons in their lives. Consequently, they seek that approval at the expense of their self-regard. When person-centered therapy is effective, such clients learn to regard themselves in a positive manner despite the disapproval that may come from others.

Individuals develop their own conditions of worth for self-regard as they develop. Thus, it is inevitable that some behaviors will be viewed as reflecting positively on the person while others will be viewed as reflectively negatively on him or her. Because all persons have a need for self-regard, they may engage in a form of self-deception in which some behaviors (e.g., deception) are justified (e.g., “he would be upset by the truth”) in order to maintain positive self-regard. However, at some level of awareness, the person recognizes that some behaviors do not fit with a positive view of self. At such times the person experiences a sense of discomfort and threat to the self as perceived (e.g., honest and trustworthy) and experiences a state of incongruence since the perceived self is at variance with the person’s behavior. Consequently, the person is faced with revising the view of self (e.g., “I am sometimes deceptive”) or distorting experiences in a manner that results in his or her becoming estranged by self-deception in an attempt to maintain self-regard (e.g., “my deception is justified”).

Threats to the self can be extremely disruptive and anxiety provoking, casting people into a state of uncertainty and confusion about who they are. When some aspects of behavior are accurately perceived (e.g., “I sometimes deceive others for personal ends”), the current view of self (as honest) can no longer be preserved and the person is faced with reconciling the discrepancy between his or her behavior and view of self. Therefore, self-regard is diminished or compromised since the person’s conditions for self-worth have been violated. However, the person may engage his or her defenses to prevent aspects of behavior from being perceived accurately in an attempt to preserve the self as conceived. The consequence is that the person’s ability to perceive accurately is reduced. If this perceptual distortion becomes substantial, it is likely that the person will experience increasing discomfort, confusion, and doubt about who he or she is, with a result that intrapersonal and interpersonal relations will be strained and impaired.

Therapy often helps the client become aware of such perceptual distortions (e.g., “I’m not the person I thought I was”) and to revise the view of self in a manner compatible with the client’s behavior. Revising the view of self is often an arduous process that requires courage on the part of the client. The therapist’s empathic exploration and accepting attitude assists the client in re-evaluating and clarifying his or her view of self. Over time the client comes to accept previously distorted aspects of the self and integrates them into a more accurate view of the self (e.g., primarily honest but sometimes deceptive).

In the next section I will review the evolution of person-centered theory in psychotherapy, beginning with its initial forms in the 1940s and proceeding to the varieties of contemporary versions.

STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT OF PERSON-CENTERED PSYCHOTHERAPIES