Some Interesting Facts from Carl Rogers Biography

Humanist beliefs stress the potential value and goodness or human beings while also stressing individual choice and free will. Humanist also believe that we choose most of our behaviors and these choices are guided by physiological, emotional, or spiritual needs. One of the most important founders of humanism is Carl Rogers. Rogers was born in 1902 in Oak Park, Illinois. From an early age Roger had been very intelligent; he was able to read before the age of 5 so he was able to skip kindergarten and first grade.

His father was a successful constructor, engineer, and famer and his mother was a housewife who cared for her six children (Kendra). Roger’s mother was a devoted Christian, which is why Rogers lived within a strict, religious, and ethical environment.

Living in this kind of environment made Roger’s a very independent and isolated individual growing up. When he enrolled to University of Wisconsin in 1919 his intended major was agriculture; during his sophomore year he switched to history because he believed this was more suitable for his career in religious work.

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He had intended on having his undergraduate focus on history and religion that way he can pursue in the career of becoming a minister (Famous Psychologists: Carl Rogers). He was selected to go to Beijing for the “World Student Christian Federation Conference” for six months; after this he questioned his career choice. When he graduated from University of Wisconsin in 1924 with a bachelor’s degree in History, he enrolled at the Union Theological Seminary in New York City.

Here he realized that he could not work in a field where he would be required to believe in specific religious doctrines (Carl Ransom Rogers Facts). Later, he attended Teachers College-Columbia University. He decided to major in Clinical Psychology and children guidance and received his Ph.D. in 1931. He chose to pursue his study of psychology after taking a course at Columbia University with psychologist Leta Setter Hollingworth (Kendra). 3 years prior to earning his Ph.D., Rogers began to work as a psychologist for the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

In this facility, psychologists strongly emphasized a psychoanalytic approach to behavior and treatment. As he works at this facility he begins to employ his own ideas and beliefs. Rogers strongly believed that for an individual to open up and be genuine, a counselor must be empathetic in understanding so that the client feels positive and accepted. He believed it is important for an individual to not feel pressure to discuss his or her thoughts. In order for a counselor to learn nearly everything about an individual, the counselor must make sure the client feels safe and satisfied. Through many of his observations, Rogers was able to gather a variety of information needed to discuss his own opinions, regardless of those people’s opinions that strongly opposed with his. In 1939, Carl Rogers published The Clinical Treat of the Problem Child,which reflected on what he learned at Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children (GoodTherapy). In 1942 he published his most famous piece, Counseling and Psychotherapy, which outlined his theory that an individual must feel accepted, respected, not isolated, and not judged in order to form a personal connection with his or her therapist.