Martin Seligman Positive Psychology Pdf

[Bertoldo Beyer]

Thisarticle discusses positive psychology theory as a framework and model for understanding the factors contributing to positive mental health and wellbeing while introducing closely related theories.

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Having spent much of his early career researching the concept of learned helplessness, Seligman was to introduce positive psychology, a new branch of psychology focusing on the study of positive emotions, character strengths, and building a flourishing life.

Seligman also suggests that individuals have the capacity to develop and strengthen their character strengths, such as grit, resilience, and gratitude, which can further help to enhance their wellbeing and increase happiness (Seligman, 2011).

The PERMA model provides a helpful framework for understanding and measuring psychological wellness. Psychotherapists can use it to help individuals identify areas of their lives where they may lack in wellbeing and work on strategies to increase wellbeing in those areas.

As a result, the extended PERMAH model has proven popular and effective, particularly in educational and workplace settings, where it can be predictive of wellness and performance (Allen et al., 2022; Beacham et al., 2020).

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Resilient individuals typically have specific characteristics, such as being able to regulate emotions, able to solve problems effectively, and maintain positive relationships. Such individuals also often have a strong sense of purpose and meaning, which helps them find hope and motivation in difficult times.

Flow is a mindset people can enter when fully immersed in and enjoying an activity or task. When doing so, they are likely to be highly motivated, productive, creative, and perform at their very best. Flow helps people achieve what they thought was impossible (Csikszentmihalyi, 2009).

Helping individuals identify and engage in activities that promote flow can be crucial in achieving positive outcomes. Therapists can help individuals find challenging and rewarding activities, and develop strategies for achieving a state of flow (Riva, Freire, & Bassi, 2016).

And these strengths are important to our mental health: identifying and creating opportunities to use strengths has proven effective at lowering depression for up to three and six months (Seligman, 2011).

After all, strengths are not temporary or transient. They endure and are central to who we are and how we think of ourselves. Awareness of our top three to five strengths allows us to be our best selves at home, in education, and in the workplace (Niemiec, 2018).

Positive psychology is the study of what makes life worth living. It focuses on the positive events and influences in life by building upon the following three vital elements (Seligman, 2011; Boniwell & Tunariu, 2019):

As both a theory and an approach, positive psychology has the potential to lead to more fulfilling lives, turn trauma into growth, and develop a more resilient outlook (Seligman, 2011).

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Positive psychology theory focuses on the positive aspects of human life, such as happiness, strengths, and fulfillment, rather than solely on pathology and mental illness. As such, it offers therapists a unique perspective and toolset for helping their clients improve their mental health and overall wellbeing.

As a therapist, incorporating positive psychology into your practice can benefit your clients by helping them to identify and build upon their strengths, set and achieve meaningful goals, and increase their overall wellbeing. It can also enhance your personal fulfillment and satisfaction as a mental health professional by providing a more holistic and proactive approach to mental health care.

Positive psychology interventions are effective in reducing depression, increasing life satisfaction, and enhancing coping skills. Incorporating positive psychology into your practice can help clients build resilience, cultivate gratitude, and find meaning and purpose.

Interesting article, I might ask for more clarification about the relationship point and how to link that to the field of coaching, me as a coach, is there an example about that?

Thanks

Samar

With this understanding in mind, you can point your clients to other resources to strengthen their ability to form healthy relationships, such as by encouraging them to develop their emotional intelligence.

With the zeal of a convert, Seligman promulgated his insights to foundations, colleagues, professional communities, and the general public. In a torrent of productivity stretching to three decades, he wrote dozens of papers and best-selling books, created a research center to attract acolytes, and introduced positive psychology to corporations, schools, medical communities, and the military.

The premise of positive psychology is that well-being can be defined, measured, and taught. Well-being includes positive emotions, intense engagement, good relationships, meaning, and accomplishment (PERMA). Questionnaires can measure it. Trainers can teach it. Achieving it not only makes people more fulfilled but makes corporations more productive, soldiers more resilient, students more engaged, marriages happier. Seligman even came up with a formula: H = S + C + V. Happiness equals your genetic set point plus the circumstances of your life plus factors under voluntary control.

Psychologists discovered that humans tend to remember unsolved problems, frustrations, and failures more than their successes. This is the negativity bias, most recently described by John Tierney and Roy F. Baumeister in their 2019 book The Power of Bad: How the Negativity Effect Rules Us and How We Can Rule It.

Generally, Seligman describes himself as brainy, fast, confident, rude, self-absorbed, depressed, and pessimistic. He taught at Cornell briefly and, in 1969, resigned in protest when the Black Panthers brandished rifles and took over the student union. Moving to the University of Pennsylvania, he studied helplessness in rats and dogs and depression in humans.

Eminent scholars analyzed each virtue. The book lists dozens of studies, illuminating examples, and mini biographies. Lincoln is a paragon of forgiveness, Washington of honesty, T. S. Eliot of humility, Lou Gehrig of gratitude. Darwin legitimized the view of humans as mere animals. Japanese culture values modesty. Curiosity may have a biological basis. Self-control and self-regulation are uniquely human traits. Americans rank prudence, modesty, and self-regulation at the bottom of the recommended list.

Santos became head of Silliman College at Yale, which gave her access to student concerns. She was struck by the high levels of stress and anxiety students reported, concerned they were fixated on a good job rather than on developing a meaningful philosophy of life. She believed that exposing students to evidence-based insights from contemporary psychology might dispel some of their gloom and proposed a small class for 35 students. Twelve hundred showed up. Professor Santos became a sensation: articles in the New York Times and Oprah.com, requests for lectures, and an online Coursera viewed in more than 100 countries with 2.5 million enrolled.

Seligman has predecessors whom he credits. Abraham Maslow invented the term positive psychology and celebrated mentally healthy individuals such as Albert Einstein and Henry David Thoreau. Aaron Beck popularized cognitive behavior therapy, which offers evidence-based strategies to counter catastrophic thinking.

The International Positive Psychology Association sponsors a world congress whose members include geneticists, economists, and professors of business education. Professional magazines include the Journal of Happiness Studies, the Journal of Positive Psychology, and the Journal of Well Being Assessment. The United Nations publishes a World Happiness Report. The Nordic countries rank high. America is number eighteen. Very poor countries do not fare well.

Still, taking into account sages of the past and common sense, recognizing our rudimentary knowledge of the brain, conceding the imperfect nature of social science techniques, and acknowledging the fallibility of human beings and the sudden swings of history, the conclusions of positive psychology can validate experience and offer hope:

The National Endowment for the Humanities has supported numerous studies focused on happiness in the philosophies of thinkers from Plato and Aristotle to Maimonides, Spinoza, Adam Smith, and John Stuart Mill. The phrase "pursuit of happiness" feature prominently in NEH-supported projects on the founding, the 250th anniversary of which is the object of A More Perfect Union, a major initiative at NEH. In recent years, NEH grants have supported the development of several undergraduate courses on the nature of happiness.

If you have a moment, be sure to watch his TED Talk. It is a powerful introduction into the scientific study of positive psychology.

Download 3 Free Positive Psychology Exercises (PDF)Enhance wellbeing with these free, science-based exercises that draw on the latest insights from positive psychology.

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