fei75766_ch10_309-344.indd 320  02/06/20 12:29 PM
Part III    Humanistic/Existential Theories320
Ourperceptions ofother people’s viewofusarecalled external evaluations. 
These evaluations, whether positive ornegative, donotfoster psychological health 
but,rather, prevent usfrom being completely open toourownexperiences. Forexam -
ple,wemayreject pleasurable experiences because webelieve thatother people do
notapprove ofthem. When ourownexperiences aredistrusted, wedistort ouraware -
nessofthem, thussolidifying thediscrepancy between ourorganismic evaluation and
thevalues wehaveintrojected from others. Asaresult, weexperience incongruence 
(Rogers, 1959).
Incongruence
Wehaveseenthattheorganism andtheselfaretwoseparate entities thatmayormay
notbecongruent withoneanother. Alsorecall thatactualization refers totheorgan -
ism’s tendency tomove toward fulfillment, whereas self-actualization isthedesire of
theperceived selftoreach fulfillment. These twotendencies aresometimes atvari-
ancewithoneanother.
Psychological disequilibrium begins when wefailtorecognize ourorganismic 
experiences asself-experiences: thatis,when wedonotaccurately symbolize organ -
ismic experiences intoawareness because theyappear tobeinconsistent withour
emerging self-concept. Thisincongruence between ourself-concept andourorganis -
micexperience isthesource ofpsychological disorders. Conditions ofworth thatwe
received during early childhood leadtoasomewhat falseself-concept, onebased on
distortions anddenials. Theself-concept thatemerges includes vague perceptions that
arenotinharmony withourorganismic experiences, andthisincongruence between 
selfandexperience leads todiscrepant andseemingly inconsistent behaviors. Some -
times webehave inways thatmaintain orenhance ouractualizing tendency, and
atother times, wemaybehave inamanner designed tomaintain orenhance aself-
concept founded onother people’s expectations andevaluations ofus.
Vulnerability  Thegreater theincongruence between ourperceived self(self- 
concept) andourorganismic experience, themore vulnerable weare.Rogers (1959) 
believed thatpeople arevulnerable when theyareunaware ofthediscrepancy 
between theirorganismic selfandtheirsignificant experience. Lacking awareness 
oftheirincongruence, vulnerable people often behave inways thatareincompre -
hensible notonlytoothers butalsotothemselves.
Anxiety and Threat  Whereas vulnerability exists when wehavenoawareness ofthe
incongruence within ourself,anxiety andthreat areexperienced aswegainaware -
nessofsuchanincongruence. When webecome dimly aware thatthediscrepancy 
between ourorganismic experience andourself-concept maybecome conscious, we
feelanxious. Rogers (1959) defined anxiety as“astateofuneasiness ortension 
whose cause isunknown” (p.204). Aswebecome more aware oftheincongruence 
between ourorganismic experience andourperception ofself,ouranxiety begins 
toevolve intothreat: thatis,anawareness thatourselfisnolonger whole orcon-
gruent. Anxiety andthreat canrepresent steps toward psychological health because 
theysignal tousthatourorganismic experience isinconsistent withourself-concept. 
Nevertheless, theyarenotpleasant orcomfortable feelings.Final PDF to printer