A Qualitative Content Analysis of Carl Rogers’ Personality Theory Based on Anthropological and Psychological Dualities

Abstract

This study aims to systematically examine Carl Rogers’ theoretical stance on sixteen anthropological and psychological dualities through an in-depth analysis of his works. This research employed a directed qualitative content analysis within an interpretive-hermeneutic paradigm. The corpus included Rogers’ complete body of written work from 1942 to 1987, from which 50 core sources (16 books and 34 articles) were purposively selected until theoretical saturation was achieved. Data were coded and analyzed using MAXQDA software, yielding 2,597 codes. Reliability was assessed using Cohen’s kappa (0.72) and content validity ratio (85.9%), indicating acceptable agreement. The findings reveal that Rogers’ theoretical framework reflects a dynamic and dialectical worldview in which classical dualities are resolved through integrative processes rather than unilateral reduction. The actualizing tendency emerged as the core category organizing the entire system, with strong co-occurrence among concepts such as self, experiential field, organismic valuing, and process orientation. Historical analysis further indicated a progressive increase in emphasis on spirituality, freedom, and process in later periods of Rogers’ work. Rogers’ theory can be conceptualized as a form of humanistic existentialism that integrates phenomenology, dynamic essentialism, and cosmic optimism into a coherent framework for understanding human nature.