This chapter originates from a 1956 debate between Carl Rogers and B. F. Skinner, a Harvard experimental psychologist, on the use of scientific knowledge to control human behavior. Rogers explains that, in 1961, the behavioral sciences—a cluster of disciplines including psychology, sociology, and anthropology—are rapidly advancing their ability to predict and control behavior. While acknowledging the field’s newness at that time, he argues that its growing power poses deep social and philosophical problems.

Rogers illustrates this power with examples across three domains. First, Rogers agrees that science can predict individual behavior, such as determining who will succeed in a specific career, who will be a troublemaker, or who is easily persuaded by group pressure. Citing the work of contemporaneous psychologist Paul Meehl, whose research showed that a clerk using test scores and statistical tables could produce a better personality prediction than an experienced clinician, calling into question claims by behavioralists that their techniques are predictive. Second, Rogers points to the control of groups, noting that studies show how to increase a work group’s productivity and morale by creating participation in decisions, or conversely, how to create psychological rigidity through threatening evaluations.

Finally, Rogers details methods for controlling individuals. These include using group pressure to make a person disbelieve their own senses, as in Solomon Asch’s 1950s conformity experiments; changing opinions with subliminal stimuli; influencing moods with drugs; and inducing hallucinations through sensory deprivation.