So: when you’re researching a “how to” topic, how do you tell the good advice from the bad advice?
Pretty much the same as in the sound academic fields, differing only in the amount of woo, bullshit, and self-interest you’ll have to assess. Compare sources, look at results, look at reviews, look at the evidence, ask whether it even makes sense, try things out yourself, etc.
In the area of self-help (as some comedian has remarked, the idea of getting self-help from a book is already something of a contradiction) you also have to contend with the basic therapeutic conflict: anyone selling a cure for a disease has given themselves an interest in never curing it, but providing only palliatives. This is especially true when the disease is an imaginary one and their first task is to persuade you that you have it, which is why so many self-help books begin by telling the reader what a schmuck he or she is.
Here is an extreme example of how not to do it. Conversation I once overheard between a middle-aged man and woman:
The woman: talks about how convenient she is finding her new microwave oven.
The man: “Oh, I’ve heard you shouldn’t use those, they destroy the vibrations in the food.”
The woman: “Oh dear, I’d better stop using it then.”
Ok, the man’s talking woo, but that’s not the point here. Substituting a topic more easily able to pass the rationalist filters:
The woman: talks about how wonderful she finds her new bread-maker.
The man: “Oh, I’ve heard you shouldn’t eat bread, it wasn’t present in the ancestral evolutionary environment.”
The woman: “Oh dear, I’d better stop using it then.”
Whatever the facts about eating grains, the epistemic process of transmission here is completely corrupt. So, don’t just read a book and nod along to the author’s argument, thinking “How true this is, I must do this.”
as some comedian has remarked, the idea of getting self-help from a book is already something of a contradiction
I agree but not sure if for the same reasons. I think most of the time people know perfectly well what they should do differently, they just lack the willpower or motivation for it. A book here may inspire for a short while, if it is really well worded it can “pump” people for a while, but it will not last long. In the vast majority of the cases, people buy self-help book, read actual good advice in (generic good, not big insights, mostly the “get your sh.t together” type of good), nod, nod, and then do nothing.
Coaches, trainers probably work better. So do groups. I think the core idea of AA is that every meeting gives a jolt of motivation enough to last until the next meeting.
Pretty much the same as in the sound academic fields, differing only in the amount of woo, bullshit, and self-interest you’ll have to assess. Compare sources, look at results, look at reviews, look at the evidence, ask whether it even makes sense, try things out yourself, etc.
In the area of self-help (as some comedian has remarked, the idea of getting self-help from a book is already something of a contradiction) you also have to contend with the basic therapeutic conflict: anyone selling a cure for a disease has given themselves an interest in never curing it, but providing only palliatives. This is especially true when the disease is an imaginary one and their first task is to persuade you that you have it, which is why so many self-help books begin by telling the reader what a schmuck he or she is.
Here is an extreme example of how not to do it. Conversation I once overheard between a middle-aged man and woman:
The woman: talks about how convenient she is finding her new microwave oven.
The man: “Oh, I’ve heard you shouldn’t use those, they destroy the vibrations in the food.”
The woman: “Oh dear, I’d better stop using it then.”
Ok, the man’s talking woo, but that’s not the point here. Substituting a topic more easily able to pass the rationalist filters:
The woman: talks about how wonderful she finds her new bread-maker.
The man: “Oh, I’ve heard you shouldn’t eat bread, it wasn’t present in the ancestral evolutionary environment.”
The woman: “Oh dear, I’d better stop using it then.”
Whatever the facts about eating grains, the epistemic process of transmission here is completely corrupt. So, don’t just read a book and nod along to the author’s argument, thinking “How true this is, I must do this.”
I agree but not sure if for the same reasons. I think most of the time people know perfectly well what they should do differently, they just lack the willpower or motivation for it. A book here may inspire for a short while, if it is really well worded it can “pump” people for a while, but it will not last long. In the vast majority of the cases, people buy self-help book, read actual good advice in (generic good, not big insights, mostly the “get your sh.t together” type of good), nod, nod, and then do nothing.
Coaches, trainers probably work better. So do groups. I think the core idea of AA is that every meeting gives a jolt of motivation enough to last until the next meeting.