FULLY FUNCTIONING PERSON

Roger’s theory of personality centers on the concept of the self, a flexible and changing perception of personal identity that emerges from the phenomenal field. The phenomenal field is the person’s total subjective experience of reality. For Rogers self means an organized cognitive structure based on our experience or our own being. The term self has two distinct sets of meanings. One set has to do with people’s attitudes about themselves; their picture of the way they took and act; the impact they believe they have on others; and their perceived traits, abilities, foibles and weakness. The collection constitutes what is known as the self concept or self image. Apart for this, there is an ideal self for each person. Ideal self means a dynamic changing construct which represents a person’s goals and aspirations. It is the self the person would like to be. The real self or true self of the person is what the person really is. A fit between one’s self concept, ideal self and true self is known as congruence.
Congruence will make a person to be fully functioning. The fully functioning person is one who has achieved openness to feelings and experiences and has learned to trust inner urges and intuitions. Rogers believed that this attitude is most likely to occur when a person receives ample amounts of love and acceptance from others.Information or feelings inconsistent with the self image are said to be incongruent. Experiences that are seriously incongruent with the self image can be threatening. Blocking, denying, or distorting experiences prevents the self from changing and creates a gulf between self image and reality. As the self image grows more unrealistic, the incongruent person becomes confused, vulnerable, dissatisfied, or seriously maladjusted.

MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS

Abraham Maslow’s concept of needs hierarchy is one of the most influential theories in humanistic school of thought. Maslow asserted that behaviour is motivated by the conscious desire for personal growth. He believed that we are separated from lower animals by our capacity for self-actualization.
Maslow (1970) organized human needs into a hierarchy, from physiological needs such as hunger and thirst through self-actualization. His theory regarding the hierarchy of needs consists of the following.
1. Physiological needs: hunger, thirst, elimination, warmth, fatigue, pain avoidance, sexual release.
2. Safety needs: protection from the environment through housing and clothing, security from crime and financial hardship.
3. Love and belongingness needs: love and acceptance through intimate relationships, social groups and friends.
4. Esteem needs: achievements, competence, approval, recognition, prestige, status.5. Self actualization: fulfillment of our unique potentials. It involves needs for cognitive understanding (novelty, exploration, knowledge) and aesthetic needs (music, art, poetry, beauty, order).