personal development grounded in scientific review?

[hawkal]

So I was just wondering whether there was any connection or resource for personal development that was written on a scientific basis referencing scientific journals/ studies that have shown results. I'm not saying that I'm skeptical of pd just that it would be nice to see how scientists would explain it under critical review.

What would a Doctor of Psychology say about Steve's blog?

[Acting Like Godot]

I don't see why personal development should be grounded in scientific review.

You can think of PD as a general set of varied skills. Eg skills in things like time management, communication, building relationships, career development, dealing with difficult people, self-motivation, goal-setting etc.

Now, why should skills be grounded in scientific review? Some skills conceivabky could be, other skills may not.

Eg cooking is a kind of skill. Singing is a kind of skill. Basketball is a kind of skill. If I taught you two new recipes, or how to project your voice, or how to shoot a three-pointer, should my teachings necessarily be grounded in scientific review? I don't think so. You should be able to discern the efficacy of my methods, just from the results you get.

[kablooey]

Positive psychology - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Trustme]

The following book might be of interest for you:
Amazon.com: 59 Seconds: Think a Little, Change a Lot (Borzoi Books): Richard Wiseman: Books

A professor tests common personal development strategies and sees if the claims are supported by scientific studies. Some interestings insights there.

[Agota]

I think there are quite a lot of books that are based on research, they just usually don't count as a typical self-help books. "Talent is overrated" comes to mind, since it's based on talent studies. I think Malcom Gladwell also quotes quite a lot of stuff from researches. These books are not hard science, though. Have you tried searching for books written by actual PhDs?

[Curtis2011]

Originally Posted by hawkal

So I was just wondering whether there was any connection or resource for personal development that was written on a scientific basis referencing scientific journals/ studies that have shown results. I'm not saying that I'm skeptical of pd just that it would be nice to see how scientists would explain it under critical review.

What would a Doctor of Psychology say about Steve's blog?

If you think about what the phrase "personal development" really is, all it essentially means is "purposefully making your life better" or purposefully improving an area, or many areas, or your life.

You don't really need science to do this or to understand it, although I'm sure science could help you find the most effective way of doing it.

Example: I don't need a scientific study in order to tell me that I would feel happier if my body was in better shape. I already know that. However, I could use science to find the best diet and exercise plan to help achieve that.

So really... I don't see why "personal development" needs a scientific definition and/or explanation. It really just means working to improve your life.

If you must have an answer, I would say the closest scientific description of Personal Development would be "working systematically to fulfill each need in your personal hierarchy of needs (from Maslow)".

[Trustme]

Originally Posted by Curtis2011

So really... I don't see why "personal development" needs a scientific definition and/or explanation. It really just means working to improve your life.

Let me give you an example from the above mentioned book. I hope I get it right because I read it over a year ago. Three test groups of students, one group gets no strategy assigned, one group gets to visualize a great result on the upcoming exams, one group gets the order to visualize seeing themselves studying hard. The second group had the worst results on the tests. This is a good example why certain strategies suggested by authors may not work in real life or even cause more harm than good.

Another example. Lots of authors claim that you should not weigh yourself daily. I remember a study where people who actually did that (weighing themselves daily compared to weighing themselves once a week) did significantly better regarding diet adherence.