fei75766_ch10_309-344.indd 331  02/06/20 12:29 PM
Chapter 10    Rogers: Person-Centered Theory 331
Thescientist thencommunicates findings from thatmethod toothers, butthe
communication itself issubjective. Thepeople receiving thecommunication bring 
theirowndegrees ofopen-mindedness ordefensiveness intothisprocess. They have
varying levels ofreadiness toreceive thefindings, depending ontheprevailing climate 
ofscientific thought andthepersonal subjective experiences ofeachindividual.
The Chicago Studies
Consistent withhisphilosophy ofscience, Rogers didnotpermit methodology to
dictate thenature ofhisresearch. Inhisinvestigations oftheoutcomes ofclient-
centered psychotherapy, firstattheCounseling Center oftheUniversity ofChicago 
(Rogers &Dymond, 1954) andthenwithschizophrenic patients attheUniversity of
Wisconsin (Rogers, Gendlin, Kiesler, &Truax, 1967), heandhiscolleagues allowed 
theproblem totakeprecedence overmethodology andmeasurement. They didnot
formulate hypotheses simply because thetools fortesting them werereadily avail-
able.Instead, theybegan bysensing vague impressions from clinical experience and
gradually forming these intotestable hypotheses. ItwasonlythenthatRogers and
hiscolleagues dealt withthetaskoffinding orinventing instruments bywhich these 
hypotheses could betested.
Thepurpose oftheChicago Studies wastoinvestigate boththeprocess and
theoutcomes ofclient-centered therapy. Thetherapists wereofa“journeyman” level. 
They included Rogers andother faculty members, butgraduate students alsoserved 
astherapists. Though theyranged widely inexperience andability, allwerebasically 
client centered inapproach (Rogers, 1961; Rogers &Dymond, 1954).
Hypotheses
Research attheUniversity ofChicago Counseling Center wasbuiltaround thebasic 
client-centered hypothesis, which states thatallpersons havewithin themselves the
capacity, either active orlatent, forself-understanding aswellasthecapacity and
tendency tomove inthedirection ofself-actualization andmaturity. Thistendency 
willbecome realized provided thetherapist creates theproper psychological atmo-
sphere. More specifically, Rogers (1954) hypothesized thatduring therapy, clients 
would assimilate intotheirself-concepts those feelings andexperiences previously 
denied toawareness. Healsopredicted thatduring andaftertherapy thediscrepancy 
between realselfandideal selfwould diminish andthattheobserved behavior of
clients would become more socialized, more self-accepting, andmore accepting of
others. These hypotheses, inturn, became thefoundation forseveral more specific 
hypotheses, which wereoperationally stated andthentested.
Method
Because thehypotheses ofthestudy dictated thatsubtle subjective personality 
changes bemeasured inanobjective fashion, theselection ofmeasuring instruments 
wasadifficult one.Toassess change from anexternal viewpoint, theresearchers used
theThematic Apperception Test(TAT), theSelf-Other Attitude Scale (S-OScale), 
andtheWilloughby Emotional Maturity Scale (E-M Scale). TheTAT, aprojective Final PDF to printer