MARTIN SELIGMAN: BIOGRAPHY AND MAIN THEORIES - GEOGRAFÍA - 2026

Martin Seligman is an American psychologist, educator, and writer known for his theory of learned helplessness, the theory of learned optimism and for being one of the pioneers of positive psychology.

He was born on August 12, 1942 in Albany, USA Seligman is currently the Zellerbach Family Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania and is also the director of the Center for Positive Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania.

In 1998, the psychologist was elected as president of the American Psychological Association (APA). He was also the first editor-in-chief of Prevention and Treatment, which is the association's electronic newsletter.

Today, at 72, he is not only one of the most influential psychologists in history, but he is also a renowned writer and author of successful books such as The Optimistic Child, Learned Optimism, Authentic Happiness, What You Can Change and What You Can't and Flourish.

Seligman's beginnings in the field of psychology

Seligman began his career as a psychologist at Princeton University. In 1964 he graduated Summa Cum Laude and during his final year received several offers to continue his studies in the area. Two of these options were to study analytical psychology at the University of Oxford or experimental animal psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. Seligman chose the latter option and in 1967 he obtained his doctorate in psychology.

During his years of study, Martin Seligman was inspired by the work of one of his professors, Aron T. Beck, who was an eminence in the field of cognitive therapy and an expert in its application to the treatment of depression. Beck's work was based on the idea that people's negative thoughts were the cause of their depressive states.

Seligman decided to work on this postulate as well and it was for this reason that he developed his famous theory "Learned Helplessness" (learned helplessness). With it she also created an experimental model for the treatment of depression, which consisted of counteracting negative thoughts through disputation skills.

Seligman's idea with this work was to get people to learn to explain or rationalize what happened to them in a positive and not negative way to overcome depression.

With this theory, Seligman was also able to create and test new cognitive techniques and exercises that showed that by countering negative thoughts it was possible to improve and even prevent depressive states.

But, although his intervention model became a benchmark in the field of psychology, in 1990 Seligman reversed his work approach. The psychologist went from being a specialist in depression to becoming an expert in optimism and happiness.

The pioneer of positive psychology

Upon entering the field of positive psychology, Seligman worked with clinical psychology expert Christopher Peterson to create The Character Strengths and Virtues Manual, or what they called the counterpart of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders).

The authors' goal was to create a manual that, instead of focusing on what could go wrong, focused on what could go right. In their research on many, many cultures and their different philosophies and religions they managed to make a list of the most valued virtues from the times of ancient China and India, Greece and Rome to the most contemporary Western cultures.

This list included six elements: wisdom / knowledge, courage, humanity, justice, temperance, and transcendence. Each of these categories could be subdivided into three or five more elements.

Humanity, for example, included love, kindness, and social intelligence, while courage includes bravery, persistence, integrity, and vitality. Furthermore, the authors did not believe that any kind of hierarchy existed, as neither was more important than the other.

Theory of true happiness

In 2002 Martín Seligman developed the theory of authentic happiness. With positive psychology, the author had already directed the field's attention to human strengths, to highlight everything that allows people to learn, enjoy, be happy and optimistic.

Based on his work, Seligman created this theory of happiness, where he affirmed that it was not only possible to achieve it, but that it could also be cultivated, using the characteristics that are possessed. In the theory of authentic happiness, the theme was happiness and it was discussed how happiness was measured by satisfaction with life.

Seligman argued that the solution for people to achieve happiness was to increase their satisfaction with life. At that time Seligman was in agreement with Aristotle's theory, in which it was stated that everything that is done is with the objective of seeking happiness.

In this theory, Seligman believed that the term could be divided into three elements: Positive Emotion, which are the positive emotions that contribute to having a pleasant life; Engagement, which is the commitment to some pleasant activity; and Meaning, which is the meaning or purpose that we give to what we do.

The true happiness theory attempts to explain happiness as the result of satisfaction in life. This means that whoever has the most positive emotions and meaning in their life will be the happiest. For this reason, it is proposed that the maximum objective of the human being would be to increase their satisfaction in life in order to be happy.

Welfare theory

Today Seligman has transformed his own theory. In his book Flourish, published in 2011, the author states that he hates the word happiness, since its excessive use in the modern world has made it meaningless in his opinion. The author assures that happiness cannot be defined by satisfaction with life. For this reason, he has reformulated his approach creating the Theory of Well-being.

According to Seligman, well-being is a more complete construct that can define the goal of the human being much better. In this theory, with well-being being the theme and not happiness, the way to measure it is through positive emotions, commitment, positive relationships, meaning or purpose, and achievements.

The five elements that explain well-being

This classification is known as PERMA, according to its acronym in English:

• Positive emotions: positive emotions remain fundamental to the goal of being human. But in this case life satisfaction and happiness are no longer the focal point of positive psychology, but become elements of well-being, a new approach to positive psychology.
• Engagement (commitment): being fully committed to a situation, task or project in any area of ​​life, you are more likely to experience a sense of well-being.
• Relationships (positive relationships): cultivate positive relationships with other people. Being able to share experiences with others nurtures social and inner life, which favors well-being.
• Meaning (meaning, purpose): being able to give meaning to events or situations allows you to achieve personal knowledge.
• Accomplishment: are the goals that motivate people to follow. It is about completing objectives and being able to feel that you have an established path.

According to what Martin Seligman has proposed in his theory of well-being, none of these elements can, by itself, define the concept of well-being. However, each provides important characteristics that contribute to achieving it.

What is happiness according to Martin Seligman?

To be happy you need much more than satisfaction with life. With the theory of well-being, Martin Seligman has rethought his own postulate, demonstrating how happiness is more a question of well-being. But the author also states that well-being goes beyond smiling and feeling good.

Seligman has explained that it is necessary to change the idea that happiness is smiling a lot and always being happy. The author assures that people aspire to have much more than that and that happiness does not imply feeling good at all times.

Knowing what makes the difference between a happy person and one who is not has been a question that psychology, and especially Martin Seligman, has tried to find an answer to.

After many years of research and experimentation, the famous psychologist and author has it clear. Happiness has nothing to do with relationships, money, or luxuries, much less having a 'perfect' body image. Happiness is having well-being and well-being is given by the five pillars that make up PERMA.

The types of happy lives

Beyond his publications, Martin Seligman has devoted himself in recent years to lecturing on the new era of positive psychology. The psychologist has differentiated between three types of happy life, which means that there is no single model to achieve the desired happiness.

The first is the pleasant life. It is a life where the person has all the positive emotions that can be had, but in addition to that, they also have the skills to amplify them.

The second is the life of commitment. This is a life in which love, parenting, work, free time, among other things, are the most important.

And finally the third, the meaningful life, which is a life in which each person knows their own strengths and also uses them for good.

Selingman's tips to be happy

In describing these three types of life, Seligman assures that one is not better than the other and that it is only about three different "happy lives". Everyone can be happy reaching their own priorities. However, throughout his time as a speaker, the author has also shared some ideas of how it is possible to achieve a much more positive life.

Martin Seligman recommends designing a beautiful day and enjoying it. It also points out the importance of thanking those who have contributed lessons in life and those who have collaborated in the construction of a full life.

In addition, the author reaffirms that the key to well-being is to enjoy one's own strengths and that is achieved by carrying out activities where the innate aptitudes of each person are put into practice.

Thanks to the many discoveries of positive psychology and the tireless work of Martin Seligman in the field, this field has gained more and more followers.

Despite the fact that depression, one of the problems that positive psychology seeks to attack, affects around 350 million people in the world today, the advantage is that there are psychological tools and methodologies to help in this battle.