In the middle of the 20th century, American psychology was largely influenced by two dominant traditional approaches, psychoanalysis and behaviorism. Psychoanalysis, a set of theories and processes founded by Sigmund Freud in the late-19th century, emphasized unconscious conflict and formative early experiences as drivers for the individual (“About Psychoanalysis.” American Psychoanalytic Association, 2026). Behaviorism, in contrast, asserted that all human behavior is a response to environmental stimuli, emphasizing observable behavior, learning, reinforcement, and environmental conditioning (“Behaviorism.” Simply Psychology, 2026). In the midcentury, most psychologists belonged firmly to one school or the other.

Humanistic psychology emerged in the mid-20th century as a “third force” that rejected the premise that people could be primarily understood either as bundles of subconscious symptoms or conditioned physical responses. As one of its key proponents, Rogers argued that people have an actualizing tendency: an inner movement toward growth that becomes visible when the right relational conditions are present. On Becoming a Person represents this larger cultural and methodological argument in the field for a new approach, centered more experimentally on a patient-led approach grounded in lived experience, personal meaning, freedom, without giving up clinical disciplined observation.