HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Rogerian argument (or Rogerian rhetoric) is a
rhetoric Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. It is one of the three ancient arts of discourse ( trivium) along with grammar and logic/ dialectic. As an academic discipline within the humanities, rhetoric aims to study the techniques that speakers or w ...
al and
conflict resolution Conflict resolution is conceptualized as the methods and processes involved in facilitating the peaceful ending of Conflict (process), conflict and Revenge, retribution. Committed group members attempt to resolve group conflicts by actively co ...
strategy based on empathizing with others, seeking common ground and mutual
understanding Understanding is a cognitive process related to an abstract or physical object, such as a person, situation, or message whereby one is able to use concepts to model that object. Understanding is a relation between the knower and an object of u ...
and
learning Learning is the process of acquiring new understanding, knowledge, behaviors, skills, value (personal and cultural), values, Attitude (psychology), attitudes, and preferences. The ability to learn is possessed by humans, non-human animals, and ...
, while avoiding the negative effects of extreme
attitude polarization In social psychology, group polarization refers to the tendency for a group to make decisions that are more extreme than the initial inclination of its members. These more extreme decisions are towards greater risk if individuals' initial tendenci ...
. The term refers to the psychologist
Carl Rogers Carl Ransom Rogers (January 8, 1902 – February 4, 1987) was an American psychologist who was one of the founders of humanistic psychology and was known especially for his person-centered psychotherapy. Rogers is widely considered one of the f ...
, whose client-centered therapy has also been called Rogerian therapy. Since 1970, rhetoricians have applied the ideas of Rogers—with contributions by
Anatol Rapoport Anatol Borisovich Rapoport (; ; May 22, 1911January 20, 2007) was an American mathematical psychologist. He contributed to general systems theory, to mathematical biology and to the mathematical modeling of social interaction and stochastic ...
—to rhetoric and
argumentation An argument is a series of sentences, statements, or propositions some of which are called premises and one is the conclusion. The purpose of an argument is to give reasons for one's conclusion via justification, explanation, and/or persu ...
, producing Rogerian argument. A key principle of Rogerian argument is that, instead of advocating one's own position and trying to refute the other's position, one tries to state the other's position with as much care as one would have stated one's own position, emphasizing what is strong or valid in the other's argument. To this principle, Rapoport added other principles that are sometimes called " Rapoport's rules". Rhetoricians have designed various methods for applying these Rogerian rhetorical principles in practice. Several scholars have criticized how Rogerian argument is taught. Already in the 1960s Rapoport had noted some of the limitations of Rogerian argument, and other scholars identified other limitations in the following decades. For example, they concluded that Rogerian argument is less likely to be appropriate or effective when communicating with violent or
discriminatory Discrimination is the process of making unfair or prejudicial distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong, such as race, gender, age, class, religion, or sexu ...
people or institutions, in situations of
social exclusion Social exclusion or social marginalisation is the social disadvantage and relegation to the fringe of society. It is a term that has been used widely in Europe and was first used in France in the late 20th century. In the EU context, the Euro ...
or extreme power inequality, or in judicial settings that use formal adversarial procedures. Some empirical research has tested role reversal and found that its effectiveness depends on the issue and situation.


Origin

In the study and teaching of rhetoric and argumentation, the term was popularized in the 1970s and 1980s by the 1970 textbook ''Rhetoric: Discovery and Change'' by the
University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...
professors Richard E. Young, Alton L. Becker, and Kenneth L. Pike. They borrowed the term and related ideas from the
polymath A polymath or polyhistor is an individual whose knowledge spans many different subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific problems. Polymaths often prefer a specific context in which to explain their knowledge, ...
Anatol Rapoport, who was working, and doing peace activism, at the same university. The
University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...
professor Maxine Hairston then spread Rogerian argument through publications such as her textbook ''A Contemporary Rhetoric'',; ; ; ; . and other authors published book chapters and scholarly articles on the subject.


Rapoport's three ways of changing people

Anatol Rapoport's 1960 book ''Fights, Games, and Debates'' described three persuasive strategies that could be applied in debates.; ; ; . He noted that they correspond to three kinds of
psychotherapy Psychotherapy (also psychological therapy, talk therapy, or talking therapy) is the use of Psychology, psychological methods, particularly when based on regular Conversation, personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase hap ...
or ways of changing people, and he named them after Pavlov (
behaviorism Behaviorism is a systematic approach to understand the behavior of humans and other animals. It assumes that behavior is either a reflex elicited by the pairing of certain antecedent stimuli in the environment, or a consequence of that indivi ...
), Freud (
psychoanalysis PsychoanalysisFrom Greek language, Greek: and is a set of theories and techniques of research to discover unconscious mind, unconscious processes and their influence on conscious mind, conscious thought, emotion and behaviour. Based on The Inte ...
), and Rogers (
person-centered therapy Person-centered therapy (PCT), also known as person-centered psychotherapy, person-centered counseling, client-centered therapy and Rogerian psychotherapy, is a humanistic approach psychotherapy developed by psychologist Carl Rogers and collea ...
). Young, Becker, and Pike's 1970 textbook ''Rhetoric: Discovery and Change'' said that the strategies correspond to three big assumptions about humanity, which they called three "images of man".


Pavlovian strategy

The represents people "as a bundle of habits that can be shaped and controlled" by punishments and rewards. This strategy changes people by punishing undesired habits and rewarding desired habits. Some examples of Pavlovian techniques in the real world are
behaviorist Behaviorism is a systematic approach to understand the behavior of humans and other animals. It assumes that behavior is either a reflex elicited by the pairing of certain antecedent stimuli in the environment, or a consequence of that indivi ...
teaching machines,
training Training is teaching, or developing in oneself or others, any skills and knowledge or fitness that relate to specific useful competencies. Training has specific goals of improving one's capability, capacity, productivity and performance. I ...
of simple skills, and
brainwashing Brainwashing is the controversial idea that the human mind can be altered or controlled against a person's will by manipulative psychological techniques. Brainwashing is said to reduce its subject's ability to think critically or independently ...
, which Rapoport called "another name for training". Some fictional examples cited by Rapoport are the inquisitors in Shaw's '' Saint Joan'', in Koestler's ''
Darkness at Noon ''Darkness at Noon'' (, ) is a novel by Austrian-Hungarian-born novelist Arthur Koestler, first published in 1940. His best known work, it is the tale of Rubashov, an Old Bolshevik who is arrested, imprisoned, and tried for treason against the ...
'', and in
Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950) was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to a ...
's ''
1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...
''. The Pavlovian strategy can be benign or malign, but a "fundamental limitation" of the strategy is that the user of it must have complete control over the rewards and punishments used to change someone's mind and behavior, and someone in a conflict is unlikely to submit to such control by a perceived opponent, except under draconian conditions such as imprisonment.


Freudian strategy

The represents people as consciously espousing beliefs that are produced by unconscious or hidden motives that are unknown to them; changing people's beliefs—and changing any behaviors that are caused by those beliefs—requires revealing the hidden motives. Rapoport considered this strategy to be at the core of Freudian
psychoanalysis PsychoanalysisFrom Greek language, Greek: and is a set of theories and techniques of research to discover unconscious mind, unconscious processes and their influence on conscious mind, conscious thought, emotion and behaviour. Based on The Inte ...
but also to be present in any other kind of analysis that aims to change people's minds or behaviors by explaining how their beliefs or discourse are a product of hidden motives or mechanisms. Rapoport mentioned his own teaching as one example of this strategy, in situations where his students' resistance to new knowledge was dissolved by the teacher pointing out how the students' opposing preconceptions were caused by the students' memories of prior experiences that were illusory or irrelevant to the new knowledge. Another of Rapoport's examples was a certain kind of Marxist class analysis, used repeatedly by
Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...
, in which the ideals of liberal
intellectual An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and Human self-reflection, reflection about the nature of reality, especially the nature of society and proposed solutions for its normative problems. Coming from the wor ...
s are "explained away" by Marxists as nothing more than a rationalization of the liberals' unconscious motive to preserve their social class position in a capitalist economic system. Such "explaining away" or " debunking" of people's beliefs and behaviors may work, Rapoport said, when there is "a complete trust placed by the target of persuasion in the persuader", as sometimes occurs in teaching and psychotherapy. But such complete trust is unlikely in most conflict situations, and the strategy can often be turned back against someone who is trying to use it: "It has been used by anti-Communists on the Communists (clothed in Freudian terminology) as well as by the Communists on the anti-Communists (clothed in Marxist terminology)."


Rogerian strategy

The represents people as usually trying to protect themselves from what they perceive to be threatening. This strategy invites people to consider the possibility of changing by removing the threat that the change implies. Rapoport noted that Freudian psychoanalysts often diagnose people's defenses against what is perceived to be threatening, since such defenses can be among the hidden motives that the Freudian strategy tries to uncover. But the Freudian strategy of changing someone's mind and behavior by explaining hidden motives will not work whenever a person perceives the to be threatening in some way, as is likely to happen when the explanation comes from a perceived opponent in a conflict. There are many ways that someone's statements could be perceived, consciously or unconsciously, as threatening: for example, the other may perceive some statement as being aggressive to some degree, or even destructive of the other's entire
worldview A worldview (also world-view) or is said to be the fundamental cognitive orientation of an individual or society encompassing the whole of the individual's or society's knowledge, culture, and Perspective (cognitive), point of view. However, whe ...
. To remove the threat requires trying not to impose one's own explanation or argument on the other in any way. Instead, the Rogerian strategy starts by "providing deep understanding and acceptance of the attitudes consciously held at this moment" by the other,; quoted in ; also cited (but not this quotation specifically) in . and this attitude is not a subtle trick used to try to control or persuade the other; in the words of Rogers, "To be effective, it must be genuine." Rapoport suggested three principles that characterize the Rogerian strategy: listening and making the other feel understood, finding merit in the other's position, and increasing the perception of similarity between people.; .


Rogers on communication

A work by Carl Rogers that was especially influential in the formulation of Rogerian argument was his 1951 paper "Communication: Its Blocking and Its Facilitation", published in the same year as his book ''Client-Centered Therapy''. Rogers began the paper by arguing that psychotherapy and communication are much more closely related than people might suspect, because psychotherapy is all about remedying failures in communication—where communication is defined as a process that happens both a person as well as people. For Rogers, the troubling conflict between a person's conscious and unconscious convictions that may require psychotherapy is similar to the troubling conflict between two people's convictions that may require
mediation Mediation is a structured, voluntary process for resolving disputes, facilitated by a neutral third party known as the mediator. It is a structured, interactive process where an independent third party, the mediator, assists disputing parties ...
. Rogers proposed that effective psychotherapy always helps establish good communication, and good communication is always therapeutic. Rogers said that the major barrier to good communication between people is one's tendency to evaluate what other people say from within one's own usual point of view and way of thinking and feeling, instead of trying to understand what they say from within their point of view and way of thinking and feeling; the result is that people talk past each other instead of think together. If one accurately and sympathetically understands how others think and feel from inside, and if one communicates this understanding to them, then it frees others from feeling a need to defend themselves, and it changes one's own thinking and feeling to some degree, said Rogers. And if two people or two groups of people can do this for each other, it allows them "to come closer and closer to the objective truth involved in the relationship" and creates mutual good communication so that "some type of agreement becomes much more possible". One idea that Rogers emphasized several times in his 1951 paper that is not mentioned in textbook treatments of Rogerian argument is third-party intervention. Rogers suggested that a neutral third party, instead of the parties to the conflict themselves, could in some cases present one party's sympathetic understanding of the other to the other. Rogerian argument is an application of Rogers' ideas about communication, taught by rhetoric teachers who were inspired by Rapoport, but Rogers' ideas about communication have also been applied somewhat differently by many others: for example, Marshall Rosenberg created nonviolent communication, a process of conflict resolution and nonviolent living, after studying and working with Rogers, and other writing teachers used some of Rogers' ideas in developing theories of writing.


Relation to classical rhetoric

There are different opinions about whether Rogerian rhetoric is like or unlike from ancient Greece and Rome. Young, Becker, and Pike said that classical rhetoric and Rapoport's Pavlovian strategy and Freudian strategy all share the common goal of controlling or persuading someone else, but the Rogerian strategy has different assumptions about humanity and a different goal. In Young, Becker, and Pike's view, the goal of Rogerian rhetoric is to remove the obstacles—especially the sense of threat—to cooperative communication, mutual understanding, and mutual intellectual growth. They considered this goal to be a new alternative to classical rhetoric. They also said that classical rhetoric is used both in situations—when two parties are trying to understand and change each other—and in situations—when one party is responding to an opponent but is trying to influence a third party such as an arbitrator or
jury A jury is a sworn body of people (jurors) convened to hear evidence, make Question of fact, findings of fact, and render an impartiality, impartial verdict officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a sentence (law), penalty or Judgmen ...
or
public opinion Public opinion, or popular opinion, is the collective opinion on a specific topic or voting intention relevant to society. It is the people's views on matters affecting them. In the 21st century, public opinion is widely thought to be heavily ...
—but Rogerian rhetoric is specially intended for certain dyadic situations, not for triadic situations. English professor
Andrea Lunsford Andrea A. Lunsford is an American writer and scholar who specializes in the field of Composition studies, composition and rhetoric studies. She is the director of the Program in Writing and Rhetoric (PWR) and the Louise Hewlett Nixon Professor of ...
, responding to Young, Becker, and Pike in a 1979 article, argued that the three principles of Rogerian strategy that they borrowed from Rapoport could be found in various parts of
Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...
's writings, and so were already in the classical tradition. She pointed to Book I of Aristotle's ''
Rhetoric Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. It is one of the three ancient arts of discourse ( trivium) along with grammar and logic/ dialectic. As an academic discipline within the humanities, rhetoric aims to study the techniques that speakers or w ...
'' where he said that one must be able to understand and argue both sides of an issue, and to his discussions of friendship and of the enthymeme in Book II, and to similar passages in his '' Topics''. She also saw some similarity to
Plato Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born  BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...
's '' Phaedrus''. Other scholars have also found resonances between Rogerian and Platonic "rhetorics of dialogue". English professor Paul G. Bator argued in 1980 that Rogerian argument is more different from Aristotle's rhetoric than Lunsford had concluded. Among the differences he noted: the Aristotelian rhetor (orator) portrays a certain character (ethos) to try to persuade the audience to the rhetor's point of view, whereas the Rogerian rhetor listens not to "ingratiate herself" but to genuinely understand and accept the other's point of view and to communicate that understanding and acceptance; the Aristotelian rhetor has a predetermined intention to win over the opposition, whereas the Rogerian rhetor has an open-ended intention to facilitate change through mutual understanding and cooperation; the Aristotelian rhetor may or may not explicitly acknowledge the opponent's position, whereas for the Rogerian rhetor an accurate and sympathetic statement of the other's position is essential. Professor of communication Douglas Brent said that Rogerian rhetoric is not the '' captatio benevolentiae'' (securing of good will) taught by
Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...
and later by medieval rhetoricians. Brent said that superficially confusing the Rogerian strategy with such ingratiation overlooks "the therapeutic roots of Rogers' philosophy", rhetoric's power to heal both speakers and listeners, and the importance of "genuine grounds of shared understanding, not just as a precursor to an 'effective' argument, but as a means of engaging in effective knowledge-making".


Rapoport's rules

By the end of the 1960s, the term was used to refer to what Anatol Rapoport called , which is debate guided by Rapoport's Rogerian strategy. Philosopher
Daniel Dennett Daniel Clement Dennett III (March 28, 1942 – April 19, 2024) was an American philosopher and cognitive scientist. His research centered on the philosophy of mind, the philosophy of science, and the philosophy of biology, particularly as those ...
, in his 2013 book ''Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking'', called these principles Rapoport's rules of debate, a term that other authors have since adopted. Rapoport proposed three main principles of ethical debate: # has two parts: First, , which Rapoport attributed to S. I. Hayakawa, is listening to others so that they will be willing to listen as well. Second, , which Rapoport attributed to Carl Rogers, is listening carefully and empathetically enough to be able to state the other's position to the other's satisfaction, and vice versa. Rapoport called this principle "conveying to the opponent that he has been heard and understood", and he noted that it is the main component of Rogers's nondirective client-centered therapy. # , or what Rapoport called "delineating the region of validity of the opponent's stand", is the opposite of the usual intent in a debate, the usual intent being to refute or invalidate the other's position. Most opinions can be partly justified in some circumstances from some perspective, so the aim should be to identify what is conditionally justifiable in the other's position and to give examples that support it. It is implied, but not stated, that the other's position is strong or valid in some other circumstances outside of the identified "region of validity". This second principle reinforces the first principle by communicating to the other in a new way that the other has been heard and understood. It also implies some agreement and common ground between the two positions, while contributing toward a better understanding of the area of disagreement. Furthermore, acknowledging that there is some merit in the other's position may make one more willing to re-examine one's own position and perhaps find some part of it that is strong or valid in some way, which ultimately may lead "away from the primitive level of verbal opposition to deeper levels where searching investigation is encouraged", perhaps leading to larger
field of view The field of view (FOV) is the angle, angular extent of the observable world that is visual perception, seen at any given moment. In the case of optical instruments or sensors, it is a solid angle through which a detector is sensitive to elec ...
with a larger region of validity. # is a deepening of the sense of common humanity between self and other, a sense of shared strengths and flaws. Like the second principle, this third principle is the opposite of what is usual in a debate, the usual perception being that the other is different in an inferior way, such as more "stupid or rigid or dishonest or ruthless". Instead of emphasizing the uniqueness of the flaws of the other, "one seeks within oneself the clearly perceived shortcomings of the opponent", and instead of emphasizing the uniqueness of one's own strengths (such as intelligence, honesty, and conscientiousness), one asks how the other shares such qualities to some degree. Rapoport considered this "assumption of similarity" to be "the psychological set r mindsetconducive to conflict resolution". An obstacle that prevents people from making the assumption of similarity is the notion "that such an assumption is evidence of debater'sprofessional incompetence". But that notion is counterproductive, Rapoport argued, because the assumption of similarity, together with the other two principles, is likely to remove obstacles to
cooperation Cooperation (written as co-operation in British English and, with a varied usage along time, coöperation) takes place when a group of organisms works or acts together for a collective benefit to the group as opposed to working in competition ...
and to successful debate outcomes. Rapoport said: "The outcome depends on the occurrence of one crucial insight: we are all in the same boat."


Dennett's version

Daniel Dennett Daniel Clement Dennett III (March 28, 1942 – April 19, 2024) was an American philosopher and cognitive scientist. His research centered on the philosophy of mind, the philosophy of science, and the philosophy of biology, particularly as those ...
's version of Rapoport's rules, which Dennett considered to be "somewhat more portable and versatile", is: # "You should attempt to re-express your target's position so clearly, vividly, and fairly that your target says, 'Thanks, I wish I'd thought of putting it that way.'" # "You should list any points of agreement (especially if they are not matters of general or widespread agreement)." # "You should mention anything you have learned from your target." # "Only then are you permitted to say so much as a word of rebuttal or criticism." Dennett's other advice, in his presentation of Rapoport's rules, had more of an adversarial outlook than a Rogerian one: he said that some people "don't deserve such respectful attention" and that he found it to "be sheer joy to skewer and roast" such people. In contrast to Rogers' attitude of consistently "providing deep understanding and acceptance of the attitudes consciously held at this moment" by the other, Dennett advised: "If there are contradictions in the opponent's case, then of course you should point them out, forcefully. If there are somewhat hidden contradictions, you should carefully expose them to view—and then dump on them." Although Dennett personally found Rapoport's rules to be "something of a struggle" to practice, he called the rules a strong antidote for the tendency to uncharitably caricature someone else's position in a debate. In a summary of Dennett's version of Rapoport's rules, Peter Boghossian and James A. Lindsay pointed out that an important part of how Rapoport's rules work is by modeling
prosocial behavior Prosocial behavior is a social behavior that "benefit other people or society as a whole", "such as helping, sharing, donating, co-operating, and volunteering". The person may or may not intend to benefit others; the behavior's prosocial benef ...
: one party demonstrates
respect Respect, also called esteem, is a positive feeling or deferential action shown towards someone or something considered important or held in high esteem or regard. It conveys a sense of admiration for good or valuable qualities. It is also th ...
and intellectual openness so that the other party can emulate those characteristics, which would be less likely to occur in intensely adversarial conditions.


Relation to game theory

English professor Michael Austin, in his 2019 book ''We Must Not Be Enemies'', pointed out the connection between Rapoport's three principles of ethical debate, published in 1960, and Rapoport's
tit-for-tat Tit for tat is an English saying meaning "equivalent retaliation". It is an alternation (linguistics), alternation of ''wikt:tip#Noun 3, tip for wikt:tap#Verb 2, tap'' "blow for blow", first recorded in 1558. It is also a highly effective strat ...
algorithm In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm () is a finite sequence of Rigour#Mathematics, mathematically rigorous instructions, typically used to solve a class of specific Computational problem, problems or to perform a computation. Algo ...
that won political scientist Robert Axelrod's repeated
prisoner's dilemma The prisoner's dilemma is a game theory thought experiment involving two rational agents, each of whom can either cooperate for mutual benefit or betray their partner ("defect") for individual gain. The dilemma arises from the fact that while def ...
computer tournaments around 1980. Austin summarized Axelrod's conclusion that Rapoport's tit-for-tat algorithm won those tournaments because it was (in a technical sense) nice, forgiving, not envious, and absolutely predictable. With these characteristics, tit-for-tat elicited mutually rewarding outcomes more than any of the competing algorithms did over many automated repetitions of the prisoner's dilemma game. In the 1950s, R. Duncan Luce had introduced Rapoport to the prisoner's dilemma game, a kind of
non-zero-sum game Zero-sum game is a mathematical representation in game theory and economic theory of a situation that involves two competing entities, where the result is an advantage for one side and an equivalent loss for the other. In other words, player on ...
. Rapoport proceeded to publish a landmark 1965 book of empirical psychological research using the game, followed by another book in 1976 on empirical research about seventy-eight 2 × 2 two-person non-zero-sum games. All this research had prepared Rapoport to understand, perhaps better than anyone else at the time, the best ways to win non-zero-sum games such as Axelrod's tournaments. Rapoport himself, in his 1960 discussion of the Rogerian strategy in ''Fights, Games, and Debates'', connected the ethics of debate to non-zero-sum games. Rapoport distinguished three hierarchical levels of conflict: # are unthinking and persistent aggression against an opponent "motivated only by mutual animosity or mutual fear"; # are attempts "to outwit the opponent" by achieving the best possible outcome within certain shared rules; # are verbal conflicts about the convictions of the opponents, each of whom aims "to convince the opponent". Rapoport pointed out "that a rigorous examination of game-like conflict leads inevitably" to the examination of debates, because "strictly rigorous game theory when extrapolated to cover other than two-person zero-sum games" requires consideration of issues such as "communication theory, psychology, even ethics" that are beyond simple game-like rules. He also suggested that the international affairs experts of the time were facing situations analogous to the prisoner's dilemma, but the experts often appeared incapable of taking actions, such as those recommended by Rapoport's three principles of ethical debate, that would allow the opponents to reach a mutually advantageous outcome. Austin said that the characteristics that Rapoport programmed into the tit-for-tat algorithm are similar to Rapoport's three principles of ethical debate: both tit-for-tat and Rapoport's rules of debate are guidelines for producing a beneficial outcome in certain "non-zero-sum" situations. Both invite the other to reciprocate with cooperative behavior, creating an environment that makes cooperation and mutuality more profitable in the long run than antagonism and unilaterally trying to beat the opponent.


In practice


In informal oral communication

In informal
oral communication Conversation is interactive communication between two or more people. The development of conversational skills and etiquette is an important part of socialization. The development of conversational skills in a new language is a frequent focus ...
, Rogerian argument must be flexible because others can interject and show that one has failed to state their position and situation adequately, and then one must modify one's previous statements before continuing, resulting in an unpredictable sequence of conversation that is guided by the general principles of Rogerian strategy. Carl Rogers himself was primarily interested in spontaneous oral communication, and Douglas Brent considered the "native" mode of Rogerian communication to be mutual exploration of an issue through face-to-face oral communication. Whenever Brent taught the Rogerian attitude, he recommended to his students that before trying to write in a Rogerian way, they should first "practice on real, present people in a context more like the original therapeutic situations for which Rogerian principles were originally designed".


In formal written communication

In formal
written communication Writing is the act of creating a persistent representation of language. A writing system includes a particular set of symbols called a ''script'', as well as the rules by which they encode a particular spoken language. Every written language ...
that addresses the reader, the use of Rogerian argument requires sufficient knowledge of the audience, through prior acquaintance or
audience analysis An audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature (in which they are called "readers"), theatre, music (in which they are called "listeners"), video games (in which they are called "players"), or ...
, to be able to present the reader's perspective accurately and respond to it appropriately. Since formal written communication lacks the immediate feedback from the other and the unpredictable sequence found in oral communication, and can use a more predictable approach, Young, Becker, and Pike proposed four phases that a writer could use to construct a written Rogerian argument: # "An introduction to the problem and a demonstration that the opponent's position is understood." # "A statement of the contexts in which the opponent's position may be valid." # "A statement of the writer's position, including the contexts in which it is valid." # "A statement of how the opponent's position would benefit if he were to adopt elements of the writer's position. If the writer can show that the positions complement each other, that each supplies what the other lacks, so much the better." The first two of Young, Becker, and Pike's four phases of written Rogerian argument are based on the first two of Rapoport's three principles of ethical debate. The third of Rapoport's principles—increasing the perceived similarity between self and other—is a principle that Young, Becker, and Pike considered to be equally as important as the other two, but they said it should be an attitude assumed throughout the discourse and is not a phase of writing. Maxine Hairston, in a section on "Rogerian or nonthreatening argument" in her textbook ''A Contemporary Rhetoric'', advised that one "shouldn't start writing with a detailed plan in mind" but might start by making four lists: the other's concerns, one's own key points, anticipated problems, and points of agreement or common ground. She gave a different version of Young, Becker, and Pike's four phases, which she expanded to five and called "elements of the nonthreatening argument": a brief and objective statement of the issue; a neutrally worded analysis of the other's position; a neutrally worded analysis of one's own position; a statement of the common aspects, goals, and values that the positions share; and a proposal for resolving the issue that shows how both sides may gain. She said that the Rogerian approach requires calm, patience, and effort, and will work if one is "more concerned about increasing understanding and communication" than "about scoring a triumph". In a related article, she noted the similarity between Rogerian argument and
John Stuart Mill John Stuart Mill (20 May 1806 – 7 May 1873) was an English philosopher, political economist, politician and civil servant. One of the most influential thinkers in the history of liberalism and social liberalism, he contributed widely to s ...
's well-known phrase from ''
On Liberty ''On Liberty'' is an essay published in 1859 by the English philosopher John Stuart Mill. It applied Mill's ethical system of utilitarianism to society and state. Mill suggested standards for the relationship between authority and liberty. H ...
'': "He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that." Robert Keith Miller's textbook ''The Informed Argument'', first published in 1986, presented five phases adapted from an earlier textbook by Richard Coe. Miller's phases were: an introduction to the problem; a summary of views that oppose the writer's position; a statement of understanding of the region of validity of the opposing views; a statement of the writer's position; a statement of the situations in which the writer's position has merit; and a statement of the benefits of accepting the writer's position. In 1992, Rebecca Stephens built on the "vague and abstract" Rogerian principles of other rhetoricians to create a set of 23 "concrete and detailed" questions that she called a Rogerian-based
heuristic A heuristic or heuristic technique (''problem solving'', '' mental shortcut'', ''rule of thumb'') is any approach to problem solving that employs a pragmatic method that is not fully optimized, perfected, or rationalized, but is nevertheless ...
for rhetorical invention, intended to help people think in a Rogerian way while discovering ideas and arguments. For example, the first two of her 23 questions are "What is the nature of the issue, in general terms?" (and she recommended that the answer should itself be stated as a question) and "Whose lives are affected by the issue?" The last two questions are "What would have to happen to eliminate the disagreement among the opposing groups?" and "What are the chances that this will occur?"


Ede's critique

Lisa Ede, a writing professor at
Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate degree programs and a variety of graduate and doctor ...
, argued in a 1984 article—referring especially to some of the ideas of Young, Becker, and Pike—that "Rogerian rhetoric is not Rogerian" but is instead a distortion of Carl Rogers' ideas. First, she criticized Young, Becker, and Pike for the inconsistency of suggesting that "Rogerian argument has no conventional structure" while at the same time they proposed four phases of writing that "look suspiciously like" a conventional adversarial structure. She noted that Hairston's fifth phase of written Rogerian argument, a proposal for resolving the issue that shows how both sides may gain, "brings Rogerian rhetoric even closer to traditional argument". Second, she judged that Young, Becker, and Pike underemphasized Rogers' unconditional acceptance of the other person and that they overemphasized advocacy of the writer's position, which is not part of Rogers' recommended practice. Third, she found their description of the empathy required in Rogerian rhetoric to be no more than conventional audience analysis, which she considered to be much weaker than Rogers' more demanding description of empathy as standing in the other's shoes and seeing the world from the other's standpoint. She said that Rogers' principles of congruence, unconditional acceptance of the other, and empathic understanding must be "deeply internalized or they become mere techniques", and she doubted whether the teaching of these principles in writing education had ever been successfully accomplished. Ede argued in 1987 that Young, Becker, and Pike's Rogerian rhetoric is weak compared to what she considered to be the "much more sophisticated" 20th-century rhetorics found in Kenneth Burke's ''A Grammar of Motives'' and
Chaïm Perelman Chaïm Perelman (born Henio (or Henri) Perelman; sometimes referred to mistakenly as Charles Perelman) (20 May 1912 – 22 January 1984) was a Belgian philosopher of Polish-Jewish origin. He was among the most important argumentation theorists ...
's ''The Realm of Rhetoric''. In her view, it is "not parsimonious" to coin the new term to refer to ideas that can already be found elsewhere in rhetorical theory. Young responded to Ede that he did not know of any previous treatment in rhetorical theory of the kind of situation that Rogerian argument tries to address, where the techniques of the classical rhetorical tradition are likely to create or intensify extreme opposition, and where a deeper communication—of the kind that Rogers taught—is needed between and within people. Young later admitted that the first presentation of Rogerian argument in his 1970 textbook "may have been flawed", but he thought that Rogerian argument could still be valuable "if it were modified in light of what we know now". Young admitted, speaking for himself and his 1970 coauthors:


Limitations

Scholars debating Rogerian argument often noted limitations of the scope within which the Rogerian strategy is likely to be appropriate or effective. In a 1968 paper that Anatol Rapoport wrote during, and in response to, the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...
, he noted that the Rogerian approach was mostly irrelevant to the task of
opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War began in 1965 with demonstrations against the escalating role of the United States in the Vietnam War, United States in the war. Over the next several years, these demonstrations grew ...
. Earlier, Rapoport had suggested that an "ethical debate between liberalism and communism, to be conducted according to the rules of role reversal, along lines proposed earlier by Carl Rogers" could help resolve conflict between the United States and communist states. He had previously imagined that an earlier phase of the conflict was "largely a communication problem, one that could be attacked by 'men of good will' on both sides". But he concluded that the Rogerian approach does not apply to situations such as the Vietnam War when it is "impossible to communicate" in a Rogerian way with "the beast, ", a war-making state such as the Lyndon Johnson administration. Rapoport noted: "Just as every proposition has a circumscribed region of validity, so does every method." (Soon after, in opposition to , Rapoport relocated permanently to Canada from the United States, leaving behind research connections with the military that he had since the 1940s.) Young, Becker, and Pike pointed out in 1970 that Rogerian argument would be out of place in the typical mandated adversarial
criminal procedure Criminal procedure is the adjudication process of the criminal law. While criminal procedure differs dramatically by jurisdiction, the process generally begins with a formal criminal charge with the person on trial either being free on bail ...
s of the court system in the United States.: "For example, it would be highly unusual, to say the least, if a defense attorney ... acknowledged in court that his client was guilty." This idea was repeated by Richard M. Coe in . Ede noted in 1984 that the rhetoric textbooks that discussed Rogerian argument dedicated only a few pages to it out of a total of hundreds of pages, so the Rogerian approach is only a small part of theories of rhetoric and argumentation.


Feminist perspectives

In a 1990 article that combined ideas from feminist theorists and testimonies from women college students in the 1980s,
women's studies Women's studies is an academic field that draws on Feminism, feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining Social constructionism, social and cultural constructs of gender; ...
professor Phyllis Lassner identified some limitations of Rogerian argument from women's perspectives. One of Lassner's students "hated" Rogerian argument because "women have a right to be angry" and "everyone needs to know how they feel". Lassner said that Rogers' psychology "is socially constructed on a foundation of cultural
hegemony Hegemony (, , ) is the political, economic, and military predominance of one State (polity), state over other states, either regional or global. In Ancient Greece (ca. 8th BC – AD 6th c.), hegemony denoted the politico-military dominance of ...
". For women who are marginalized and have been taught that they are not "worthy opponents", Lassner said, "Rogerian rhetoric can be just as inhibiting and constraining as any other form of argumentation." Some of Lassner's students doubted that their opponent (such as an anti-gay or
anti-abortion Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its Abortion by country, legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in r ...
advocate) could even recognize them or could conceal repugnance and rejection of them enough to make Rogerian empathy possible. Lassner and her students especially disapproved of Hairston's advice to use neutrally worded statements, and they said that Hairston's ideal of neutrality was too "self-effacing" and "replicates a history of suppression" of women's voices and of their "authentic feeling". In a 1991 article, English professor Catherine Lamb agreed with Lassner and added: "Rogerian argument has always felt too much like giving in."; Paul G. Bator reported a student's similar complaint in : "The writer can appear 'wimpy'—especially in issues that require a firm stance". Lamb said that women (and men) need to have a theory of power and use it to evaluate alternative ways of communicating. Lamb considered more recent negotiation theory such as '' Getting to Yes'' to be more complete than Rogers' earlier ideas about communication (although there was Rogerian influence on ''Getting to Yes''), and she used negotiation theory in her writing classes. In one of her class exercises, students worked in groups of three,
role-playing Role-playing or roleplaying is the changing of one's behaviour to assume a role, either unconsciously to fill a social role, or consciously to act out an adopted role. While the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' offers a definition of role-playing ...
three positions: two disputants in conflict and a third-party mediator. The disputants wrote memos to the mediator, the mediator wrote a memo to a supervisor, and then all three worked together to write a mediation agreement, which was discussed with the teacher. Subsequently, a somewhat similar class exercise was included in later editions of Nancy Wood's textbook ''Perspectives on Argument'', in a chapter on Rogerian argument. Young noted in 1992 that one potential problem with Rogerian argument is that people need it most when they may be least inclined to use it: when mutual antagonistic feelings between two people are most intense.Richard E. Young, "Rogerian argument and the context of situation: taking a closer look", in . The way Rogerian argument had been taught in rhetoric textbooks may be effective for some situations, Young said, but is unlikely to work between two parties in the kind of situation when they need it most, when they are most intractably opposed. Young suggested that third-party
mediation Mediation is a structured, voluntary process for resolving disputes, facilitated by a neutral third party known as the mediator. It is a structured, interactive process where an independent third party, the mediator, assists disputing parties ...
, suggested by Rogers himself in 1951, may be most promising in that kind of situation.


Related research on role reversal

Conflict researchers such as Morton Deutsch and David W. Johnson, citing the same publications by Rapoport and Rogers that inspired Rogerian rhetoric, used the term to refer to the presentation by one person to another person of the other person's position and vice versa. Deutsch, Johnson, and others have done
empirical research Empirical research is research using empirical evidence. It is also a way of gaining knowledge by means of direct and indirect observation or experience. Empiricism values some research more than other kinds. Empirical evidence (the record of one ...
on this kind of role reversal (mostly in the late 1960s and 1970s), and the results suggested that the effectiveness of role reversal—in achieving desired outcomes such as better understanding of opponents' positions, change in opponents' positions, or negotiated agreement—depends on the issue and situation.
Negotiation Negotiation is a dialogue between two or more parties to resolve points of difference, gain an advantage for an individual or Collective bargaining, collective, or craft outcomes to satisfy various interests. The parties aspire to agree on m ...
expert William Ury said in his 1999 book ''The Third Side'' that role reversal as a formal rule of argumentation has been used at least since the
Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...
in the
Western world The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to various nations and state (polity), states in Western Europe, Northern America, and Australasia; with some debate as to whether those in Eastern Europe and Latin America also const ...
: "Another rule dates back at least as far as the Middle Ages, when theologians at the University of Paris used it to facilitate mutual understanding: One can speak only one has repeated what the other side has said to that person's satisfaction." Ury listed such role reversal among a variety of other tools that are useful for conflict mediation, some of which may be more appropriate than role reversal in certain situations. A kind of role reversal also featured among the advice in '' Getting to Yes'', the self-help book on negotiation written by Ury and Roger Fisher, along with that book's Rogerian-like emphasis on identifying common concerns between opposing parties in a conflict.A source that mentions the Rogerian influence on '' Getting to Yes'' is : "The authors also drew lessons on process from
Chris Argyris Chris Argyris (July 16, 1923 – November 16, 2013) was an American business theorist and professor at Yale School of Management and Harvard Business School. Argyris, like Richard Beckhard, Edgar Schein and Warren Bennis, is known as a co-foun ...
, John Dunlop, Jim Healy, and Carl Rogers."


See also

* * * Bohm Dialogue * Civil discourse * Cognitive bias modification * Conflict continuum * Dialectical thinking *
Dialogue Dialogue (sometimes spelled dialog in American and British English spelling differences, American English) is a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people, and a literature, literary and theatrical form that depicts suc ...
*
Dialogue mapping The issue-based information system (IBIS) is an argumentation-based approach to clarifying wicked problems—complex, ill-defined problems that involve multiple Stakeholder (corporate), stakeholders. Diagrammatic visualization using IBIS notatio ...
* Epistemic humility * Epistemic virtue *
Group dynamics Group dynamics is a system of behaviors and psychological processes occurring within a social group (''intra''group dynamics), or between social groups ( ''inter''group dynamics). The study of group dynamics can be useful in understanding decision ...
* Immunity to change *
Interpersonal communication Interpersonal communication is an exchange of information between two or more people. It is also an area of research that seeks to understand how humans use verbal and nonverbal cues to accomplish several personal and relational goals. Communica ...
*
Intergroup dialogue Intergroup dialogue is a "face-to-face facilitated conversation between members of two or more social identity groups that strives to create new levels of understanding, relating, and action". This process promotes conversation around controversial ...
* Peace psychology *
Perspective-taking Perspective-taking is the act of perceiving a situation or understanding a concept from an alternative point of view, such as that of another individual. A vast amount of scientific literature suggests that perspective-taking is crucial to human ...
* Philosophy of dialogue *
Reciprocal altruism In evolutionary biology, reciprocal altruism is a behaviour whereby an organism acts in a manner that temporarily reduces its fitness while increasing another organism's fitness, with the expectation that the other organism will act in a similar m ...
* Theories of rhetoric and composition pedagogy


Notes


References

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The first page of this article notes that its argument is based on . * * This paper was written for the International Conference on
General Semantics General semantics is a school of thought that incorporates philosophy, philosophic and science, scientific aspects. Although it does not stand on its own as a separate list of schools of philosophy, school of philosophy, a separate science, or ...
held from 5–9 August 1968. * * This paper was written for
Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...
's Centennial Conference on Communications held on 11 October 1951. It was later reprinted as a book chapter with a different title: It was also reprinted in full in the book that popularized Rogerian rhetoric, . * * * * Originally published with the title ''Getting to peace: transforming conflict at home, at work, and in the world''. * * * *


Textbooks

Some rhetoric and composition textbooks that have a section about Rogerian argument, listed by date of first edition: * * A later edition was published as: * * Several later editions of this textbook were published. * Several later editions of this textbook were published. * Several later editions of this textbook were published. * Several later editions of this textbook were published. * Several later editions of this textbook were published. * *


Further reading

* * * * * An analysis of how Rogerian argument is portrayed in writing textbooks. * * * * * The authors, from the Harvard Negotiation Project, wrote: "Our work on listening and the power of authenticity was influenced by Carl Rogers ..." (p. x) * Compendium of columns on Rogerian rhetoric, some of which were published in the '' Minneapolis Star Tribune''. {{refend Dispute resolution Rhetoric