Christopher Peterson (February 18, 1950 – October 9, 2012) was the Arthur F. Thurnau professor of

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

and organizational studies at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

Ann Arbor Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna (name), Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah (given name), Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie (given name), ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

and the former chair of the clinical psychology area. He was science director of the VIA Institute on Character, and co-author of '' Character Strengths and Virtues'' for the classification of character strengths. He was a member of the Positive Psychology Steering Committee and the International Positive Psychology Association board of directors, a senior fellow at the Positive Psychology Center and a lecturer for the Master of Applied Positive Psychology program at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

. He was a co-editor of Applied Psychology: Health and Well-being and the Positive Psychology Book Series Editor for

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. He is noted for his work in the study of

optimism Optimism is an attitude reflecting a belief or hope that the outcome of some specific endeavor, or outcomes in general, will be positive, favorable, and desirable. A common idiom used to illustrate optimism versus pessimism is a glass filled wi ...

health Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...

character Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...

well-being Well-being, or wellbeing, also known as wellness, prudential value or quality of life, refers to what is intrinsically valuable relative ''to'' someone. So the well-being of a person is what is ultimately good ''for'' this person, what is in th ...

and one of the founders of positive psychology. He has published over 300 academic publications. In 2003 the

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(ISI) named him among the 100 most frequently cited psychologists in the past 20 years. In 2010, Dr. Peterson won the 2010 Golden Apple Award for Outstanding Teaching – the most prestigious teaching award at the

Bibliography includes

* '' Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification'', by Christopher Peterson & Martin E.P. Seligman * Peterson, C., & Seligman, M.E.P. (2002). The VIA classification of strengths. Cincinnati: Values in Action Institute *''A Primer in Positive Psychology'', by Christopher Peterson (Textbook). 2006 * Peterson, C., Maier, S.F., & Seligman, M.E.P. (1993). Learned helplessness: A theory for the age of personal control. New York: Oxford. * Peterson, C., & Bossio, L.M. (1991). ''Health and optimism''. New York: Free Press. * Peterson, Christopher; Seif, Aliakbar; Jahangiri, Hamideh (2020). ''Psychology The Past To Present (2 Volumes), volume 1 volume 2 Scholar’s Press.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peterson, Christopher 20th-century American psychologists Psychology educators 2012 deaths Positive psychologists University of Michigan faculty 1950 births