Incongruence

Incongruence is a humanistic psychology concept developed by Carl Rogers which suggests that unpleasant feelings can result from a discrepancy between our perceived and ideal self. The perceived self is how an individual views themselves and the ideal self is how an individual wishes they were. When these overlap then congruence occurs. It is impossible for a person to be completely overlapped- we always have something with ourselves that we wish was different. Individuals seek congruence and when the distance between the perceived self and ideal self is too far it is called incongruence and it can lead to discomfort, anxiety, stress, and frustration.