ABSTRACT
In contrast to Sigmund Freud’s rather gloomy view of human nature as a cauldron of sexuality and aggressive tendencies, manifested in the id and the ego, which the super-ego struggled to keep under control, Carl Rogers took a very different view of humanity. Rogers took the view that only the person concerned had the key to what was inhibiting the process he called “self-actualization”; it was only the individual who had the inner resources to effect the necessary actions to achieve it. Rogers was also concerned with detecting incongruity, a lack of rapport within parts of the individual. There are many people around the world who, by some standards, are living in extraordinarily straitened circumstances. They may find it difficult to satisfy the needs of even the lowest level, but in terms of relationships and having status within their communities, they may be much further up the scale and, despite their disadvantaged state, may move on to self-fulfilment.
