Martin Seligman
Martin Seligman is known as the “father of positive psychology”, and for good reason. To many, he is one of the leading researchers in the whole field of psychology. He served as the director of the clinical training program of the University of Pennsylvania for 14 years. His work revolves around the topics of learned helplessness, positive psychology, depression, resilience, optimism, and pessimism, all of which can be useful in the field of education (Positive Psychology.com 2021).
Below you will find Martin Seligman’s inspiring TED Talk called The New Era of Positive Psychology. In his talk, he explains how the historical 'mistake' of psychology was to try to 'fix' what was deemed to be broken. Seligman's psychological research was revolutionary in that it aimed to create interventions to 'make people happier' (Positive Psychology 2021). He called these 'positive interventions'.
As a result of his work in the field of 'positive psychology', Seligman worked on a classification manual called the ‘Character Strengths and Virtues,' the full list of which can be seen here. In addition to this work, Seligman identified five core areas which humans need to fulfill in order to achieve 'optimal human functioning' and happiness. He called these PERMA (see below). His identification of PERMA provides a structure for thinking about well-being. Central to enhancing well-being is growing and developing character strengths. Knowing your own character strengths and acting on them gives you more Positive emotions, stronger Engagement, better Relationships, a sense of Meaning and purpose and greater Accomplishment - PERMA.
Through evaluation of these areas, improvements can be achieved leading to greater well-being. Developing well-being is important, because it leads to better work performance; more satisfying relationships; more cooperative; stronger immune systems; better physical health; fewer sleep problems; greater self-control; better coping abilities; stronger engagement with school; less depression and anxiety.
At Warden Park Academy, we have chosen to focus on a number of the character strengths identified by Seligman because we believe that through the development of these, our students will be able to achieve long-lasting, positive well-being and profound personal fulfilment through their relationship with themselves and others. If you would like to learn more about Character and Martin Seligman's work, please watch the video below, and read the suggested texts.
''Schools have two aims. One is to produce learning, that's the traditional aim, but the other aim is to build well being, and that means increasing PERMA.' Seligman 2021