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Part III    Humanistic/Existential Theories330
Fifth, persons oftomorrow would bemore integrated, more whole, withnoartifi-
cialboundary between conscious processes andunconscious ones. Because theywould 
beabletoaccurately symbolize alltheirexperiences inawareness, theywould seeclearly 
thedifference between whatisandwhatshould be;because theywould usetheirorgan -
ismic feelings ascriteria forevaluating theirexperiences, theywould bridge thegap
between theirrealselfandtheiridealself;because theywould havenoneed todefend 
theirself-importance, theywould present nofacades toother people; andbecause 
theywould haveconfidence inwhotheyare,theycould openly express whatever feel-
ingstheyareexperiencing.
Sixth, persons oftomorrow would haveabasic trust of human nature. They 
would notharm others merely forpersonal gain; theywould careabout others andbe
ready tohelpwhen needed; theywould experience anger butcould betrusted notto
strike outunreasonably against others; theywould feelaggression butwould channel 
itinappropriate directions.
Finally, because persons oftomorrow areopen toalltheirexperiences, they
would enjoy agreater richness in life thandoother people. They would neither distort 
internal stimuli norbuffer theiremotions. Consequently, theywould feelmore deeply 
thanothers. They would liveinthepresent andthusparticipate more richly inthe
ongoing moment.
Philosophy of Science
Rogers wasfirstascientist; second, atherapist; andthird, apersonality theorist. 
Because hisscientific attitude permeates bothhistherapy andhistheory ofpersonal -
ity,welookbriefly athisphilosophy ofscience.
According toRogers (1968), science begins andendswiththesubjective expe-
rience, although everything inbetween must beobjective andempirical. Scientists 
must havemany ofthecharacteristics oftheperson oftomorrow; thatis,theymust be
inclined tolookwithin, tobeintunewithinternal feelings andvalues, tobeintuitive 
andcreative, tobeopen toexperiences, towelcome change, tohaveafresh outlook, 
andtopossess asolid trustinthemselves.
Rogers (1968) believed thatscientists should becompletely involved inthe
phenomena being studied. Forexample, people whoconduct research onpsycho -
therapy must firsthavehadlongcareers astherapists. Scientists must careabout and
carefornewly bornideas andnurture them lovingly through theirfragile infancy.
Science begins when anintuitive scientist starts toperceive patterns among 
phenomena. Atfirst,these dimly seenrelationships maybetoovague tobecommuni -
cated toothers, buttheyarenourished byacaring scientist untileventually theycan
beformulated intotestable hypotheses. These hypotheses, then, aretheconsequence 
ofanopen-minded scientist andnottheresult ofpreexisting stereotypical thought.
Atthispoint, methodology enters thepicture. Although thecreativity ofasci-
entist mayyield innovative methods ofresearch, these procedures themselves must be
rigorously controlled, empirical, andobjective. Precise methods prevent thescientist 
from self-deception andfrom intentionally orunintentionally manipulating theobser -
vations. Butthisprecision should notbeconfused withscience. Itisonlythemethod 
ofscience thatisprecise andobjective.Final PDF to printer