What does congruent mean in psychology

Congruence exists on a continuum ratherthan on an all-or-nothing basis Corey, The therapist may not approve of some of theclient's actions but the therapist does approve of the client.

In short, thetherapist needs an attitude of "I'll accept you as you are. According to Rogers , research indicates that, the greater the degreeof caring, prizing, accepting, and valuing the client in a nonpossessive way,the greater the chance that therapy will be successful BUT, it is not possiblefor therapists to genuinely feel acceptance and unconditional caring at alltimes Corey, Accurate Empathic Understanding: This refers to the therapist's abilityto understand sensitively and accurately [but not sympathetically] the client'sexperience and feelings in the here-and-now.

Empathic understanding implies thatthe therapist will sense the client's feelings as if they were his or her ownwithout becoming lost in those feelings Corey, Carl Rogers viewed the child as having two basic needs: positive regard from other people and self-worth. How we think about ourselves, our feelings of self-worth are of fundamental importance both to psychological health and to the likelihood that we can achieve goals and ambitions in life and achieve self-actualization.

Self-worth may be seen as a continuum from very high to very low. For Carl Rogers a person who has high self-worth, that is, has confidence and positive feelings about him or herself, faces challenges in life, accepts failure and unhappiness at times, and is open with people.

A person with low self-worth may avoid challenges in life, not accept that life can be painful and unhappy at times, and will be defensive and guarded with other people. As a child grows older, interactions with significant others will affect feelings of self-worth.

Rogers believed that we need to be regarded positively by others; we need to feel valued, respected, treated with affection and loved. Positive regard is to do with how other people evaluate and judge us in social interaction.

Rogers made a distinction between unconditional positive regard and conditional positive regard. Unconditional positive regard is where parents, significant others and the humanist therapist accepts and loves the person for what he or she is.

Positive regard is not withdrawn if the person does something wrong or makes a mistake. The consequences of unconditional positive regard are that the person feels free to try things out and make mistakes, even though this may lead to getting it worse at times. People who are able to self-actualize are more likely to have received unconditional positive regard from others, especially their parents in childhood. Conditional positive regard is where positive regard, praise, and approval, depend upon the child, for example, behaving in ways that the parents think correct.

Hence the child is not loved for the person he or she is, but on condition that he or she behaves only in ways approved by the parent s. At the extreme, a person who constantly seeks approval from other people is likely only to have experienced conditional positive regard as a child. This is called incongruence. Rarely, if ever, does a total state of congruence exist; all people experience a certain amount of incongruence.

The development of congruence is dependent on unconditional positive regard. According to Rogers, we want to feel, experience and behave in ways which are consistent with our self-image and which reflect what we would like to be like, our ideal-self. Incongruence is "a discrepancy between the actual experience of the organism and the self-picture of the individual insofar as it represents that experience.

As we prefer to see ourselves in ways that are consistent with our self-image, we may use defense mechanisms like denial or repression in order to feel less threatened by some of what we consider to be our undesirable feelings.

A person whose self-concept is incongruent with her or his real feelings and experiences will defend because the truth hurts. Rogers, , p. It seems to me that the good life is not any fixed state. It is not, in my estimation, a state of virtue, or contentment, or nirvana, or happiness.

It is not a condition in which the individual is adjusted or fulfilled or actualized. To use psychological terms, it is not a state of drive-reduction, or tension-reduction, or homeostasis". It is a direction not a destination". McLeod, S. Carl Rogers. Simply Psychology. Rogers, C. Exam Technique Worked examples of best-practice exam technique and supporting activities designed to build those techniques.

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