In his appearance at TED Talks, psychologist Martin Seligman presented a compact introduction to what positive psychology is and why it matters. If you are already familiar with the field, you will find it a real treat to have your memory refreshed by the man who is considered to be the father of this organized re-balancing of psychology.

Speech summary:

The state of psychology

(1) the good:

• 15 disorders are now treatable & 2 curable
• We have an established science of mental illnesses that can: measure illnesses, classify them, understand their causality, discover their causes, create and evaluate treatments for them.
• Psychology can make us less miserable.

(2) the bad:

• Psychology has become a victimology, preoccupied with addressing pathology
• Normal people and high talents have been forgotten
• To make people happier has been left largely unaddressed

Positive Psychology’s Aims:

1. establish an equal concern of strengths and weaknesses
2. building on what is best and repairing what is worst
3. making lives of “normal” people fulfilling and nurturing high talent

Contributions of Positive Psychology

• Positive psychology measurements for free at www.authentichappiness.org
• A classification of Character Strengths and Virtues (DSM opposite)
• Causation of positive states (for example extremely happy people differ in one way: they are very social and have both romantic and otherwise fulfilling relationships)
• Identifying and manualizing interventions
• Establishing efficacy & effectiveness of interventions

Three “Happy” Lives

1. The Pleasant Life (positive affect): To have as many pleasures (positive emotions) as possible and savoring them. These are raw feels, we are aware of them happening but the draw backs are that about 50% is heritable and we easily habituate (get used) to pleasurable feelings.
2. The Good Life (engagement): To experience flow. These are the times when we don’t feel anything, when time stops, and we are immersed in an activity with intense concentration. Identifying and using one’s strengths in all areas such as work, love, and play will lead to more absorption and therefore flow.
3. The Meaningful Life (meaning): Knowing what one’s strengths are and using them in the service of something larger than oneself.

Life Satisfaction = Positive Affect + Engagement + Meaning

Meaning is the strongest contributor to life satisfaction, engagement is second, and positive affect only marginally. Random, placebo controlled, long term researches indicate that there are interventions that can lastingly change our life satisfaction.

References:

Seligman, M. E. P. (Speaker). (2004, February). What positive psychology can help you become [Video]. Ted Conferences. Retrieved November 18, 2008, from http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/martin_seligman_on_the_state_of_psychology.html

Related posts:

1. Martin Seligman – Quotes
2. The Beginning of Positive Psychology
3. Martin Seligman
4. TED Talks – Csikszentmihalyi on Creativity, Fulfillment, & Flow
5. Positive Psychology Lecture 1 by Tal Ben-Shahar