Carl Rogers believed that human nature has a tendency to grow and develop, just as the seed of a plant has a tendency to grow and develop. All that is needed for the growth and development of the natural potential inherent in man is only to create the appropriate conditions.
“Just as a plant strives to be a healthy plant, just as a seed contains the desire to become a tree, so a person is driven by an impulse to become a whole, complete, self-actualizing person”
“At the heart of a person is the desire for positive change. In deep contact with individuals during psychotherapy, even those whose disorders are most severe, whose behavior is most antisocial, whose feelings seem to be the most extreme, I have come to the conclusion that this is true. When I was able to subtly understand the feelings they express, to accept them as individuals, I was able to detect in them a tendency to develop in a special direction. What is the direction in which they are developing? Most correctly, this direction can be defined in the following words: positive, constructive, directed towards self-actualization, maturity, socialization” K. Rogers.
“Fundamentally, the biological being, the ‘nature’ of a freely functioning human being, is creative and trustworthy. If we are able to free the individual from defensive reactions, to open his perception both to a wide range of his own needs and to the demands of those around him and society as a whole, we can be sure that his subsequent actions will be positive, creative, moving him forward. C. Rogers.
How does science look at the views of C. Rogers? — Critically. Healthy children are usually curious, although there is no evidence to suggest that children have a natural tendency to self-development. Rather, the evidence suggests that children only develop when their parents develop them.