The field of “human development” is thousands of years old, from the writings of ancient Egyptians and Greeks about advice on how to live and connect with others, to today’s large theaters and lecture halls, where speakers teaches listeners how to achieve a better version of themselves.
The field of human development or self-help is not as popular today, the value of the large commercial sector today is approximately 14 billion dollars annually. The field of human development is now organized and there are leaders, symbols, activists and masses who are willing to spend money and time on this activity. Unfortunately, the content of these classes is often unscientific and full of unrealistic illusions that entice the listener.
For example, one of the pillars of human development is that if you make a decision today, you will succeed tomorrow, and effort, determination, and hard work are the cause of success, while laziness and poor choices are responsible for failure. However, scientific research suggests the opposite: the social, economic, temporal and spatial conditions in which a person grows up largely determine professional future and practical success here.
In 2018, a Harvard University research team analyzed data and information from official U.S. statistics to find correlations between events in a person’s life from childhood and their material income.
They found that there was a strong correlation between a person’s place of birth and their average later income. In doing so, they created the opportunity atlas, which is a map that shows the difference between the regions where a person was born and expected average income at a later date.
So, the main factor in predicting success, represented by income, is not your individual efforts, not your capital intuition, but just the region where you were born and raised, and your parents ’average income. , and these are factors beyond. our control and not dependent on us. “Solutions”. There is no doubt, of course, that there are many examples of people who drastically changed their circumstances and violated these expectations, and other factors are involved in this equation, but this path is the exception to rather than the rule. The problem is to advertise this path as the path everyone expects if they will work and assert their goals, and to advertise these exclusion patterns as symbols of “what we can be ”if we persevere and resolve and apply great effort to achieve our goals. dreams. Unfortunately, these concepts distract us from the real crisis responsible for this inequality, as do the economic, social and political systems and structures that underlie its existence.
This is one of many examples showing that many of these “cycles of human development” do not have strong scientific content. So why are so many people attracted to this world, even though most are unscientific?
The first incentive to enter this world, immerse yourself in it and spend money on it, is it gives a person the “illusion of progress”. A person feels successful after watching this seminar, taking this course, or reading this book. This is felt because of so-called “action modeling”-a term that describes doing tasks that make us feel done but not really doing anything, such as wasting time doing a learning program without starting. of the lesson. . Making a forgery is worse than laziness or procrastination because it deceives the owner that he is doing something. And that’s exactly what many of these courses, letters, books, and articles do: they give the reader or listener a dopamine rush because they feel they have the power and ability to succeed, and they give them a false sense of accomplishment as they continue. spending their money on more of these short -term stimuli without achieving what is being said.
Another problem in the field of human development is the excessive promotion of individualism and egocentrism as the most important goals and objectives in human life. Over-individualism overlooks the inequalities of opportunity mentioned above and places the responsibility for changing a person’s standard of living on the individual himself, rather than on the systems and structures that guard against inequalities- equal to it. Discourse on human development, for the most part, reinforces individualism and reinforces the idea that failure and poverty are the result of a series of bad decisions of the individual responsibility of the poor who can now make decisions. and strive to achieve their dreams. . ! Considering the vast wealth accumulated by the pioneers in these fields, their writings and speeches seem to be the response of the wealthy to the working class, who say, “You can also improve your way of life by focusing in yourself and in your mind, and by effort and effort. ” definition.
Many enter this field because they see they need training in time management skills or planning and leadership skills. Self-development and working to improve a person’s strengths and weaknesses in order to develop his or her skills is a good and wonderful thing, but the field of human development, which has now become an exclusive field of commerce, may not bring these benefits in real life. life. first place, or meet these needs. This field is also positioned as an opportunity to get pleasure from the life a person lives, and to be an “enhanced” version of himself, which makes him feel proud, gives its viewers a feeling of strength and success. For example, psychology professor Martin Seligman explained, based on his findings in his Happiness Research Group, that a meaningful life in which a person in groups is connected to goals and problems greater than himself and using his energy to serve them is a life leading. at the highest level of satisfaction later in life. These scientific results, for example, contradict the misconceptions promoted by human development “leaders” Realism in the approach to human experience does not fill training halls and pockets. of coaches, and also requires complex conditions and qualifications for dynamics.
There is no doubt that the world of human development is a magical world, and our attraction to it is natural, because it contains elements that satisfy our psychological desires, or services that seem to improve our experience. as human beings, but it is also, unfortunately, a world full of unscientific nonsense and unrealistic illusions that don’t really help us improve our lives, but instead give us a temporary dose of power and the illusion of success in exchange for our money, our time, and our next actions.
