Test Your Knowledge on Carl Rogers' Person-Centered Theory

Person-Centered Theory: Understanding the Actualizing Tendency and the Self

• Person-centered theory was developed by Carl Rogers and is also known as client-centered, student-centered, group-centered, and person-to-person.
• There are two broad assumptions in person-centered theory: the formative tendency and the actualizing tendency.
• The formative tendency suggests that all matter tends to evolve from simpler to more complex forms, and the universe operates through a creative process.
• The actualizing tendency is the only motive that humans possess and involves the whole person, including physiological, intellectual, rational, and emotional aspects.
• The need for maintenance is similar to the lower steps on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, and it includes the tendency to resist change and seek the status quo.
• Enhancement needs are expressed in curiosity, playfulness, self-exploration, friendship, and confidence that one can achieve psychological growth.
• Rogers believed that congruence, unconditional positive regard, and empathy are necessary and sufficient conditions for becoming a fully functioning or self-actualizing person.
• Infants begin to develop a vague concept of self as they learn what tastes good and what doesn't and evaluate experiences as positive or negative.
• Self-actualization is a subset of the actualization tendency and involves actualizing the self as perceived in awareness.
• The self-concept includes all aspects of one’s being and experiences that are perceived in awareness, but it is not identical to the organismic self.
• The ideal self is one’s view of self as one wishes to be and contains all the attributes that people aspire to possess.
• Psychologically healthy individuals perceive little discrepancy between their self-concept and what they ideally would like to be.

Test your knowledge on Carl Rogers’ person-centered theory and gain a deeper understanding of the actualizing tendency and the self. This quiz will cover topics such as the formative and actualizing tendency, maintenance and enhancement needs, self-concept, and ideal self. See how much you know about becoming a fully functioning or self-actualizing person and the conditions necessary for achieving psychological growth. Get ready to challenge yourself and learn more about person-centered theory with this informative quiz.