However, after several internal conflicts with the Wisconsin psychology department, Rogers became disillusioned with academia and left the field. In 1964, after being selected "Humanist of the Year" by the American Humanist Association, Rogers moved to La Jolla, California where he joined the Western Behavioral Sciences Institute as a researcher. In 1968 Rogers went on to found the Center for Studies of the Person. Rogers devoted the later part of his life to applying his theories in the areas of international and national social conflict, focusing on the Northern Ireland and South African conflicts. Along with his daughter, Rogers also conducted a series of residential programs on the Person-Centered Approach throughout the United States, Europe, and Japan. These workshops focused on such things as cross-cultural communications, personal growth, self-empowerment and social change.

Carl Rogers' primary contribution to society was his development of the person-centered approach to psychotherapy. Rogers and his theory are considered to be both humanistic and phenomenological. According to Rogers, the person-centered theory is based on nineteen essential propositions. Included within these nineteen propositions are the belief that all individuals exist in a constantly evolving world of experience and at the center of this ever-changing world is the person. Further, it is the individual that reacts to these experiences based on their perceptions of the experience. This perception is what makes the individual's particular reality. More so, as a result of the individual's interaction with the environment, particularly as a result of evaluation interaction with others, the structure of the individual's self is formed. Finally, behavior is the goal directed attempt by the individual to satisfy its needs as experienced in their reality, whereas emotion is something that both accompanies and facilitates the goal directed behavior of the individual.

Rogers' person-centered approach focused on the development of the individual personality. According to Rogers, the personality is something that developed in principles rather...

According to Rogers, a fully functioning individual would exhibit such characteristics as a growing openness to experience (or a move away from defensiveness), along with an increasingly existential lifestyle where the individual lives each moment fully and does not distort the moment in order to fit their personality or self-concept but instead lets their personality emanate from their experiences.
Rogers' person-centered approach to psychotherapy has had a profound effect on society. Not only is Rogers' theory still applied to the person-centered approach to therapy, but also to such theories relating to personality, interpersonal relations, education, nursing, cross-cultural relationships, and numerous other professions and situations involving helping others.

Bibliography

Hjelle, L.A., and D.J. Ziegler. (1981). Personality Theories: Basic Assumptions, Research and Applications. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Pitts, Carl E., Rogers, Carl. (1973): "Twelve Years Later: A Reply to Carl Rogers." Journal of Humanistic Psychology. Vol. 13(1), p.p. 75-84.

Rogers, Car. (1939): Clinical Treatment of the Problem Child. London: Constable.

Rogers, Carl. (1942): Counseling and Psychotherapy: New Concepts in Practice. London: Constable.

Rogers, Carl. (1942): "The Practice of Clinical Psychology." Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology. Vol. 37(2), p.p. 286-287.

Rogers, Carl. (1951): Client-Centered Therapy: Its Current Practice, Implications and Theory. London: Constable.

Rogers, Carl. (1959): "A Theory of Therapy, Personality and Interpersonal Relationships as Developed in the Client-Centered Framework." Psychology: A Study of Science. New York.

Rogers, Carl. (1961): On Becoming a Person: A Therapist's View of Psychotherapy. London: Constable.

Rogers, Carl. (1969): Freedom to Learn. London: Constable.

Rogers, Carl. (1980): A Way of…