Welcome to the Self-Help Literature Research Project!

Every year, hundreds of thousands of people around the world read self-help books, with the intention of changing and improving some aspect of their personal or professional lives. Despite the huge popularity of such books, there has been little research about their impact on people who read them.

What do people who read self-help books learn from them? How does such learning influence people’s lives and their relationships with others?

We conducted a study of the learning experiences and outcomes which accompany the reading of self-help books relating to health, relationships, and careers.

We have concluded our data gathering for this project, and would like to thank all those who participated in our research. Please see the "Reports from the Project" page for updates about what we learned. We are no longer accepting new participants.