Abbie Price

PSY 1010

Edelman

01/06/2022

Positive Psychology

From the beginning to today, psychology has mostly been based on the question,

“what is wrong with the human mind?” We’ve had many theories and treatments that

focus on the wrong but what if we focused on the good? Positive psychology is the

study of how human beings prosper in the face of adversity (Seligman &

Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). From clinical psychology to cognitive psychology, positive

psychology has always been the most ‘happiest’ of the psychologies. A lot of the types

of psychology we have today are based on Freud's time however positive psychology is

more recent. Martin Seligman is one of the pioneers that has brought up the perspective

of positive psychology.

After graduating from Princeton University, Seligman went on to achieve his

Ph.D. at the age of 25. During his studies, it never sat right with him that psychology

only focused on what’s wrong with people, never what’s right with people. He started to

look at the theory of “learned helplessness.” Learned helplessness is a term specifying

an organism learning to accept and endure unpleasant stimuli, and unwilling to avoid

them, even when it is avoidable. By using this knowledge from his studies he has also

found a way to work with the military to increase the psychological health of soldiers and

reduce the rates of post-traumatic stress disorder (Pennock, 2021).

 While studying learned helplessness and trying to help these soldiers he founded

a model called, PERMA: Positive emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and

Accomplishment. While using this model, which anyone can apply to themselves, one

can achieve balance, achievement, and contentment.

One of the many benefits of positive psychology is flourishing. This is one of the

most significant concepts for this type of psychology. Flourishing is described as the

state we are in when we pay attention to each aspect of the PERMA model (Ackerman,

2021.) When we follow the PERMA model we “flourish” and love the attention. Having

good emotions, engagement, and relationships, while finding meaning as well as

achieving accomplishment, we essentially have a happy life. Having all of these

attributes is hard to come by, but not impossible. By working through all of these

aspects we can achieve a happier life. With the positive psychology aspect, one can

learn to have a happy and meaningful life without having to go through therapy and

professional help.

Martin Seligman is a very prestigious man, his positive psychology theory and

treatment is different from others in his profession however it works and applies to

everyone. This concept is applicable in the home, workplace, and school. When

following his PERMA principle, life can be changed for the better. Less depression

would be found in teenagers and adults if this model was applied in life. Positive

Psychology is a great example of how we are broadening our psychological knowledge.

References

Seligman, M. E. P., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2000). Positive psychology: An introduction.

American Psychologist, 55(1), 5–14. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.5

Pennock, S. F. (2021, December 7). Who is Martin Seligman and what does he do?

PositivePsychology.com. Retrieved January 8, 2022, from

https://positivepsychology.com/who-is-martin-seligman/.

Ackerman , C. E. (2021, November 25). What is positive psychology & why is it

important? [2020 update]. PositivePsychology.com. Retrieved January 8, 2022, from

https://positivepsychology.com/what-is-positive-psychology-definition/