Martin Seligman
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Martin Elias Peter Seligman (; born August 12, 1942) is an American
psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how indi ...
, educator, and author of
self-help books A self-help book is one that is written with the intention to instruct its readers on solving personal problems. The books take their name from ''Self-Help'', an 1859 best-seller by Samuel Smiles, but are also known and classified under "self-im ...
. Seligman is a strong promoter within the scientific community of his theories of
positive psychology Positive psychology is the scientific study of what makes life most worth living, focusing on both individual and societal well-being. It studies "positive subjective experience, positive individual traits, and positive institutions...it aims t ...
and of
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 ...
. His theory of
learned helplessness Learned helplessness is the behavior exhibited by a subject after enduring repeated aversive stimuli beyond their control. It was initially thought to be caused by the subject's acceptance of their powerlessness, by way of their discontinuing atte ...
is popular among scientific and clinical psychologists. A ''
Review of General Psychology ''Review of General Psychology'' is the quarterly scientific journal of the American Psychological Association Division 1: The Society for General Psychology. The journal publishes cross-disciplinary psychological articles that are conceptual, th ...
'' survey, published in 2002, ranked Seligman as the 31st most cited psychologist of the 20th century. Seligman is the Zellerbach Family Professor of Psychology in 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 ...
's Department of Psychology. He was previously the Director of the Clinical Training Program in the department, and earlier taught at
Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
. He is the director of the university's Positive Psychology Center.Positive Psychology Center
,
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 ...
.
Seligman was elected president of the
American Psychological Association The American Psychological Association (APA) is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States, with over 133,000 members, including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants, and students. It ha ...
for 1998. He is the founding editor-in-chief of '' Prevention and Treatment'' (the APA electronic journal) and is on the board of advisers of ''
Parents A parent is a caregiver of the offspring in their own species. In humans, a parent is the caretaker of a child (where "child" refers to offspring, not necessarily age). A ''biological parent'' is a person whose gamete resulted in a child, a male t ...
'' magazine. Seligman has written about positive psychology topics in books such as ''The Optimistic Child'', ''Child's Play'', ''Learned Optimism'', ''Authentic Happiness'' and ''Flourish''. His most recent book, ''The Hope Circuit: A Psychologist's Journey from Helplessness to Optimism'', was published in 2018.


Early life and education

Seligman was born in
Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City ...
to a Jewish family. He was educated at a public school and at
The Albany Academy The Albany Academy is an independent college preparatory day school for boys in Albany, New York, USA, enrolling students from Preschool (age 3) to Grade 12. It was established in 1813 by a charter signed by Mayor Philip Schuyler Van Rensselae ...
. He earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy at
Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
in 1964, graduating
summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...
. He turned down a scholarship to study analytic philosophy at Oxford University, and animal experimental psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, and accepted an offer to attend the University of Pennsylvania to study psychology. He earned a Ph.D. in psychology from University of Pennsylvania in 1967. On June 2, 1989, Seligman received an
honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...
from the Faculty of Social Sciences at
Uppsala University Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in opera ...
,
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
.


Learned helplessness

Seligman's foundational experiments and theory of "learned helplessness" began at University of Pennsylvania in 1967, as an extension of his interest in depression. Quite by accident, Seligman and colleagues discovered that the experimental conditioning protocol they used with dogs led to behaviors which were unexpected, in that under the experimental conditions, the recently conditioned dogs did not respond to opportunities to learn to escape from an unpleasant situation. Seligman developed the theory further, finding learned helplessness to be a psychological condition in which a human being or an animal has learned to act or behave helplessly in a particular situation—usually after experiencing some inability to avoid an adverse situation—even when it actually ''has'' the power to change its unpleasant or even harmful circumstance. Seligman saw a similarity with severely depressed patients, and argued that clinical depression and related mental illnesses result in part from a perceived absence of control over the outcome of a situation. In later years, alongside Abramson, Seligman reformulated his theory of learned helplessness to include
attributional style Explanatory style is a psychological attribute that indicates how people explain to themselves why they experience a particular event, either positive or negative. Aspects Personal This aspect covers the degree to which a person attributes the ca ...
.


Happiness

In his 2002 book ''Authentic Happiness'', Seligman saw
happiness Happiness, in the context of Mental health, mental or emotional states, is positive or Pleasure, pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. Other forms include life satisfaction, well-being, subjective well-being, flourishin ...
as made up of positive emotion, engagement and meaning.


Positive psychology

Seligman worked with Christopher Peterson to create what they describe as a "positive" counterpart to the ''
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders The ''Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders'' (DSM; latest edition: DSM-5-TR, published in March 2022) is a publication by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) for the classification of mental disorders using a common langua ...
'' (''DSM''). While the ''DSM'' focuses on what can go wrong, '' Character Strengths and Virtues'' (2004) is designed to look at what can go right. In their research they looked across cultures and across millennia to attempt to distill a manageable list of virtues that have been highly valued from ancient China and India, through Greece and Rome, to contemporary Western cultures. Their list includes six character strengths: ''
wisdom Wisdom, sapience, or sagacity is the ability to contemplate and act using knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense and insight. Wisdom is associated with attributes such as unbiased judgment, compassion, experiential self-knowledge, ...
/knowledge'', ''
courage Courage (also called bravery or valor) is the choice and willingness to confront agony, pain, danger, uncertainty, or intimidation. Valor is courage or bravery, especially in battle. Physical courage is bravery in the face of physical pain, h ...
'', '' humanity'', ''
justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...
'', ''
temperance Temperance may refer to: Moderation *Temperance movement, movement to reduce the amount of alcohol consumed *Temperance (virtue), habitual moderation in the indulgence of a natural appetite or passion Culture *Temperance (group), Canadian danc ...
'', and '' transcendence''. Each of these has three to five sub-entries; for instance, ''temperance'' includes ''forgiveness'', ''humility'', ''prudence'', and ''self-regulation''. The authors do not believe that there is a hierarchy for the six virtues; no one is more fundamental than or a precursor to the others.


Well-being

In his book ''Flourish'', 2011, Seligman wrote on "Well-Being Theory", and said, with respect to how he measures
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 ...
:
Each element of well-being must itself have three properties to count as an element: # It contributes to well-being. # Many people pursue it for its own sake, not merely to get any of the other elements. # It is defined and measured independently of the other elements.
He concluded that there are five elements to "well-being", which fall under the
mnemonic A mnemonic ( ) device, or memory device, is any learning technique that aids information retention or retrieval (remembering) in the human memory for better understanding. Mnemonics make use of elaborative encoding, retrieval cues, and imag ...
PERMA: * Positive emotion—Can only be assessed subjectively * Engagement—Like positive emotion, can ''only ''be measured through subjective means. It is presence of a
flow state ''Flow State'' is the debut studio album by Australian singer-songwriter Tash Sultana, released on 31 August 2018, through their own record label, Lonely Lands Records (distributed by Sony Music Australia in Australia, and Mom + Pop elsewher ...
* Relationships—The presence of friends, family, intimacy, or
social connection Social connection is the experience of feeling close and connected to others. It involves feeling loved, cared for, and valued, and forms the basis of interpersonal relationships."Connection is the energy that exists between people when they feel ...
* Meaning—Belonging to and serving something bigger than one's self * Achievement—Accomplishment that is pursued even when it brings no positive emotion, no meaning, and nothing in the way of positive relationships. These theories have not been empirically validated. In July 2011, Seligman encouraged the
British Prime Minister The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As modern p ...
,
David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...
, to look into well-being as well as financial wealth in ways of assessing the prosperity of a nation. On July 6, 2011, Seligman appeared on ''
Newsnight ''Newsnight'' (or ''BBC Newsnight'') is BBC Two's news and current affairs programme, providing in-depth investigation and analysis of the stories behind the day's headlines. The programme is broadcast on weekdays at 22:30. and is also availa ...
'' and was interviewed by
Jeremy Paxman Jeremy Dickson Paxman (born 11 May 1950) is an English broadcaster, journalist, author, and television presenter. Born in Leeds, Paxman was educated at Malvern College and St Catharine's College, Cambridge, where he edited the undergraduate ne ...
about his ideas and his interest in the concept of well-being.


MAPP program

The Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) program at the University of Pennsylvania was established under the leadership of Seligman as the first educational initiative of the Positive Psychology Center in 2003.


Personal life

Seligman plays
bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...
and finished second in the 1998 installment of one of the three major North American pair championships, the
Blue Ribbon Pairs The Edgar Kaplan Blue Ribbon Pairs (or simply the Blue Ribbon Pairs) is a national bridge championship held at the fall American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC). The event is restricted to those that have wo ...
, as well as having won over 50 regional championships. Seligman has seven children, four grandchildren, and two dogs. He and his second wife, Mandy, live in a house that was once occupied by
Eugene Ormandy Eugene Ormandy (born Jenő Blau; November 18, 1899 – March 12, 1985) was a Hungarian-born American conductor and violinist, best known for his association with the Philadelphia Orchestra, as its music director. His 44-year association wit ...
. They have home-schooled five of their seven children. Seligman was inspired by the work of the psychiatrist
Aaron T. Beck Aaron Temkin Beck (July 18, 1921 – November 1, 2021) was an American psychiatrist who was a professor in the department of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania.
at the University of Pennsylvania in refining his own cognitive techniques and exercises.


Publications

* (Paperback reprint edition, W.H. Freeman, 1992, ) * (Paperback reprint edition, Penguin Books, 1998; reissue edition, Free Press, 1998) * (Paperback reprint edition, Ballantine Books, 1995, ) * (Paperback edition, Harper Paperbacks, 1996, ) * (Paperback edition, Free Press, 2004, ) * * *


See also

* List of Jewish American psychologists


References


External links


Authentic Happiness
Seligman's homepage at University of Pennsylvania

an article wherein Seligman speaks extensively on the topic of eudaemonia
"The Positive Psychology Center"
a website devoted to positive psychology. Martin Seligman is director of the Positive Psychology Center of the University of Pennsylvania.
Program description for Master of Applied Positive Psychology degree
established by Seligman

at the University of Pennsylvania

* University of Pennsylvania's page o
MAPP
program * {{DEFAULTSORT:Seligman, Martin 1942 births 20th-century American psychologists 21st-century American psychologists American contract bridge players American self-help writers Animal testing Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows of the Society of Experimental Psychologists Jewish American writers Living people Positive psychologists Presidents of the American Psychological Association Princeton University alumni Social psychologists The Albany Academy alumni University of Pennsylvania alumni University of Pennsylvania faculty 21st-century American Jews