Carl Ransom Rogers (1902-1987) was an American psychotherapist who originated person-centered, non-directive counseling.

Carl Rogers was born on January 8, 1902, in Oak Park, Illinois, the fourth of six children to Walter and Julia (Cushing) Rogers. His father, a successful contractor, engineer, and farmer, believed in the virtue of hard work. His mother had strong fundamentalist religious convictions and raised her six children (five boys) in a home where drinking, smoking, dancing, and playing cards were sinful. She believed that the elect people of God should not mingle with those whose actions indicated that they were otherwise.

Rogers later said that his attitude as a youth toward others outside the home "was characterized by distance and aloofness ... taken over from ... parents." (A Way of Being, 1980). He had only superficial contacts with others, "never having a real date in high school." He was a solitary boy who between numerous farm chores...