Carl Rogers And Jean Piaget And Their Influence On The Psychology Community
During the Cold War when tensions were so high two great psychologists came through the cracks, Carl Rogers and Jean Piaget. Carl Rogers was a psychologist who developed client-centered therapy and was a founder of humanistic psychology and Jean Piaget centered his work on child development and their cognitive development. Both of these men were extremely influential and helped the psychology community.
Carl Rogers was an American humanistic psychologist who concentrated on the adulthood years. Rogers is best known for, client-centered therapy, and introduced it in1940’s (Clark). Client-centered therapy is a form of psychotherapy that is person-centered and puts significant focus on the client.
Rogers explained how while utilizing this method the therapist refrains from guiding the session with questions, providing reassurance, assigning blame, and making diagnoses (Rogers). In order to implement this type of approach the therapists have to create a safe space. In this space the client should feel comfortable expressing themselves and without fear of judgment. Rogers explains in his literature that client-centered therapy is driven by the client, and that they play an active role in their recovery (Rogers). He believed that humans had one basic motive to self-actualize, and to achieve the highest level of human beingness. He believed the empathy was the driving force, “one of the most potent tools we have, and I’m impressed at how rarely we see it in real life situations in any full fledged form. Very early in my work as a therapist, I discovered that simply listening to my client. . when I was in doubt of what I should do in some active way I simply listened” (Rogers).
Carl Rogers discusses the importance of empathy, and when listening to a client do so intently, listen for emotions and feelings. He believed that there is so much that is hidden behind people’s words (Clark). The best response when working with someone is to help “reflect” these feelings with the client. This is where a humanistic approach comes to play. Rogers was one of the founding figures in humanistic psychology (Frick). The humanistic movement was extremely influential in the psychology community, it brought forth a new way at looking at human behavior and motivations. Which in turn lead to a much-needed change in psychotherapy.
There were certain concepts that were the foundation for the humanistic movement, including: the concept that everyone had free will, everyone in inherently good, and people are motivated to self actualize (“Humanistic Psychotherapy”). This type of therapy can work alongside other psychotherapy techniques; it can be used as a tool to help certain individuals. For example, people who have a very low self-esteem or lack purpose can benefit greatly from this type of therapy (Frick). It forces this individual to look deeper and guide the session. This can help someone feel more confident. Humanistic therapy can also be used for individuals with depression, panic disorders, addiction, personality disorders, and anxiety.
Jean Piaget was a Swiss psychologist who focused on the development of children. He developed the theory of cognitive development, which focuses on how a child sees the world (Kohler). He believed that intelligence wasn’t a fixed trait and that it was a complex interaction between ones environment and biological maturation. His inspiration came from seeing children not being able to complete questions and task that required logical thinking (Bringuier). Piaget explains how children answer certain questions wrong and it correlated with their age. Through these observations he constructed a stage theory of cognitive child development. Each of these stages explained the mental development of children (Piaget).
These stages include: sensorimotor stage: birth to 2 years, preoperational stage: ages 2 to 7, concrete operational stage: ages 7 to 11, and lastly the formal operational stage: ages 12 and up (Flavell). During the sensorimotor stage babies and toddlers learn from using their senses to explore and interact with the physical world around them. Through this exploration they grow cognitively, they understand object permanence. They also grow physically, they start to crawl and walk (Piaget). Essentially this is the time period for exploration and learning through the use of senses. The second stage preoperational is when the child begins to think symbolically; they’re able to start connecting pictures to real life examples. They lack theory of mind, and are egocentric. Their way of thinking is solely concrete. Thirdly, during the concrete operational stage the child starts to think logically, understand space proximity, and concept of conversation. Lastly during the formal operational stage they finally begin think abstractly. This way of thinking begins by the child starting to absorb the world around them, thinking about ethical and social issues (Flavell).
Even though there was great geopolitical strife during the Cold War, Carl Rogers and Jean Piaget were able to make an impact on the psychology community. Carl Rogers changed the way therapists approach their clients with client-center approach. As a result it caused therapist to be more emphatic and they saw growth with their clients. He also helped found humanistic psychology. Jean Piaget made his contribution to the community by his groundbreaking work in child development and the cognitive development of children.
