Carl Rogers, a humanistic psychologist influenced by the work of Goldstein and Maslow, further distinguished the theory of actualization tendency.
Primarily based on the observed behaviors of organisms, Rogers (1959) enforced the assumption that actualizing is an inherent tendency for all organisms and stated:
“The inherent tendency of the organism to develop all its capacities in ways which serve to maintain or enhance the organism .... [The tendency involves] development toward autonomy and away from heteronomy, or control by external forces. (Rogers, 1959, p. 196, cited in Patterson & Joseph, 2007, p. 120,)
Carl Rogers described self-actualization in the following way
“the continuous lifelong process whereby an individual's self-concept is maintained and enhanced via reflection and the reinterpretation of various experiences which enable the individual to recover, change and develop” (Rogers, 1951).
Rogers defined Self Actualization in the following way
"the curative force in psychotherapy – man's tendency to actualize himself, to become his potentialities ... to express and activate all the capacities of the organism."
The Self Actualized Person is a Fully Functional Person according to Rogers
Carl Rogers did not use the term Self Actualization a lot. He focused more on Self Awareness and Self Acceptance
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Rogers believed that every person could achieve their goal. This means that the person is in touch with the here and now, his or her subjective experiences and feelings, continually growing and changing.
In many ways, Rogers regarded the fully functioning person as an ideal and one that people do not ultimately achieve. It is wrong to think of this as an end or completion of life’s journey; rather it is a process of always becoming and changing.
Rogers identified five characteristics of the fully functioning person:
1. Open to experience: both positive and negative emotions accepted. Negative feelings are not denied, but worked through (rather than resorting to ego defense mechanisms).
2. Existential living: in touch with different experiences as they occur in life, avoiding prejudging and preconceptions. Being able to live and fully appreciate the present, not always looking back to the past or forward to the future (i.e., living for the moment).
3. Trust feelings: feeling, instincts, and gut-reactions are paid attention to and trusted. People’s own decisions are the right ones, and we should trust ourselves to make the right choices.
4. Creativity: creative thinking and risk-taking are features of a person’s life. A person does not play safe all the time. This involves the ability to adjust and change and seek new experiences.
5. Fulfilled life: a person is happy and satisfied with life, and always looking for new challenges and experiences.
For Rogers, fully functioning people are well adjusted, well balanced and interesting to know. Often such people are high achievers in society.
Critics claim that the fully functioning person is a product of Western culture. In other cultures, such as Eastern cultures, the achievement of the group is valued more highly than the achievement of any one person.
Becoming aware of one's whole and complete inner self is a critical and necessary aspect of self-actualization, as presented in Rogers's theory of congruency (1959).
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