A Programmed Personal Growth Laboratory

Abstract

A highly structured non-credit laboratory was designed for college students seeking personal growth experience. Two groups ( ns = 8, 11) were conducted according to this program, each by a trained facilitator and these facilitators each conducted a traditional human relations laboratory group to serve as a comparison ( ns = 8, 11). The Personal Orientation Inventory was used to measure participants' positive growth and the Multiple Affect Adjective Check List was used to measure changes in the experiences of Anxiety, Hostility, and Depression. One programmed group showed significant positive changes on the Personal Orientation Inventory on 6 scales and the other showed significant positive changes on 5 scales. In contrast, one traditional group showed positive changes on 4 scales while the other changed on one scale. Anxiety, hostility, and depression remained unchanged except in one programmed group where the decrease in hostility was significant. Results suggest the programmed approach is at least as beneficial as the traditional unstructured human relations laboratories for college students and significant personal growth can be measured with this paper-and-pencil inventory. Cross-validation is in order.