Bibliographic Details
| Title: |
The Perils of Autobiography: Evidence, Meaning, Reliability, and Context in the Historiographical Canon on Carl Ransom Rogers, 1950s–2020s. |
| Authors: |
Fierro, Catriel (AUTHOR) |
| Source: |
Integrative Psychological & Behavioral Science. Mar2026, Vol. 60 Issue 1, p1-27. 27p. |
| Subjects: |
Autobiography, Historiography, Life history interviews, Theory of knowledge, Archival research, Client-centered psychotherapy, Rogers, Carl R. (Carl Ransom), 1902-1987, Research methodology, Psychology |
| Abstract: |
This article examines the historical canon on Carl Ransom Rogers (1902–1987) as a case study in the epistemological and methodological shortcomings of ‘insider’ psycho-biographical narratives in the historiography of psychology. Most accounts of Rogers, written by Rogerian practitioners, rely heavily on a limited cluster of biographies and autobiographical recollections treated as transparent self-reports confirming the personal, developmental origins of his theories. I suggest such dependence has produced an ‘echo-chamber’ historiography: a closed system of citation, repetition, and uncritical reverence for inherited narratives privileging Rogers’ first-person accounts. Through methodological criticism of published historical scholarship and archival reconstruction of Rogers’ mid-century writings and professional context, I show that his autobiographical texts emerged from specific institutional, rhetorical, and personal circumstances rather than spontaneous self-disclosure. By situating these materials within broader debates on the historiography of the human sciences, I argue that the Rogerian canon exemplifies how disciplinary self-legitimation can distort historical explanation by collapsing history, memory, and celebration. I conclude by calling for a reflexive historiography grounded in archival evidence, methodological pluralism, and epistemic caution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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| Database: |
Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection |
