Rogerian Argument

Communication: Its Blocking and Facilitation~ Carl Rogers - 1951 

(After clicking on this link, scroll past the newsletter to read Roger's article)

Carol Rogers was a well known psycholgist who greatly influenced modern thinking about effective communication and argumentation. In his 1951 essay titled, "Communication: Its Blocking and Facilitation," he argues that the best approach to problem solving and disagreement is listening empathetically and disabling defensiveness.  He writes," Breakdowns in communication, and the evaluative tendency which is the major barrier to communication, can be avoided. The solution is provided by creating a situation in which each of the different parties come to understand the other from the other's point of view."

After reading this essay, ask yourself this: How might you summarize Roger's argument? How might his essay influence the way you think about arguments?