We have now gone as far as we can to identify personal sources for Rogers’ professional ideas. But before we leave Rogers’ life story, let us see what we can learn from one more thing: the marvelous fate of the overlapping of his life and career with that of Skinner. The two men were born 2 years apart, Rogers in 1902 and Skinner in 1904, and they died 3 years apart, Rogers in 1987 and Skinner in 1990. Both fashioned a body of work that had a major impact on merican psychology in the mid-1900s. And yet, although each was a passionate proponent of his own world view, their two views could hardly have been more different. They rarely had the opportunity to battle out their differences directly. Although both started their academic careers in the Midwest, Skinner shortly returned to the east coast to remain ensconced at Harvard for the rest of his career while Rogers traveled through a series of institutions in the Midwest and West as if not wanting to collect any moss. There were three occasions, however, when a special conference was organized so that the two men could meet eye to eye and spar. The most extensive of these meetings was the third, a 2-day event organized by the University of Minnesota in the summer of 1962 A transcript of the meeting shows that the two had no trouble identifying their differences.
Taken from :PSYCHOLOGY’S GRAND THEORISTS How Personal Experiences Shaped Professional Ideas - Amy Demorest