Rogers, Carl

Rogers, Carl, 1902–87, American psychologist, b. Oak Park, Ill. In 1930, Rogers served as director of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children in Rochester, New York. He lectured at the Univ. of Rochester (1935–40), Ohio State Univ. (1940–44), and the Univ. of Chicago (1945–57), where he helped to found a therapeutic counseling center. After teaching at Univ. of Wisconsin until 1963, he became a resident at the new Center for Studies of the Person in La Jolla. A prominent figure in the humanistic school of psychology, Rogers is best known for his client-centered therapy, which suggested that the client should have as much impact on the direction of the therapy as the psychologist. His works include Client-Centered Therapy (1951) and On Becoming a Person (1961).

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Rogers, Carl (Ransom) (1902–87) psychotherapist; born in Oak Park, Ill. He took his doctorate in psychology at Columbia University (1931) and published his first book, Clinical Treatment of Problem Children, in 1939. He taught at the University of Chicago (1945–57), where his research on the one-to-one relationship in therapy resulted in the book Client-Centered Therapy (1951). This nondirective approach rejected doctrinaire interpretations of the patient's symptoms and fostered the development of encounter groups in which the therapist acted primarily as a moderator. By the 1960s his method was being widely adopted, from drug treatment centers to business organizations, and he himself became one of the best-known professionals in his field. His other publications include Psychotherapy and Personality Change (1954) and On Becoming a Person (1961).