Carl Rogers was the leading proponent of the person-centered approach in the United States. He was born on January 8, 1902, in Oak Park, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. His father was a civil engineer and his mother a homemaker. Carl was the fourth of six children and received a strict religious education. Initially, he intended to study agriculture but switched to theology and spent 2 years at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. When he was 20, after a trip to China, he began to question his faith and decided to pursue an alternative career. He transferred to Columbia Teachers College to pursue a degree in clinical psychology under the supervision of Goodwin Watson, an expert in group leadership training. He completed an internship at the Institute for Child Guidance, where he received training in psychological assessment and psychoanalytic psychotherapy. The writings of John Dewey influenced his thinking and contributed to his strong commitment to the principles and methods of scientificCopyright American Psychological Association. Not for further distribution.