Martin E.P. Seligman

Zellerbach Family Professor of Psychology
Director, Positive Psychology Center
215-898-7173

Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos: 2023 Interview with Dr. Seligman

Pennsylvania Gazette 2011 Profile on Martin Seligman

Pennsylvania Gazette 1999 Profile on Martin Seligman

Martin Seligman 2004 Presentation at TED

Martin Seligman 2010 Presentation at Google Zeitgeist

Princeton Alumni 2008 Profile on Martin Seligman

Philadelphia Inquirer 2010 Article on Martin Seligman

Martin Seligman's Curriculum Vitae

Request for Interview

Request for Speech

Book: Tomorrowmind

Book: The Hope Circuit

Book: Flourish

Book: Learned Optimism

Book: The Optimistic Child

Book: Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification

Pennsylvania Gazette 2018 Excerpt from The Hope Circuit

Book: Positive Psychotherapy: Clinician Manual

Book: Positive Psychotherapy: Workbook

Book: Authentic Happiness

Book: Homo Prospectus 

HBR: Cultivating Creativity

Video: On Larry King Now: On Happiness, 2018

Article: Agency in Greco-Roman Philosophy, 2020

Podcast: Positive Psychology in a Pandemic, 2021

Mandy Seligman's Photo-Sharing and Well-Being Website

 

 

Dr. Martin E.P. Seligman is the Director of the Penn Positive Psychology Center and Zellerbach Family Professor of Psychology in the Penn Department of Psychology. He is also Director of the Penn Master of Applied Positive Psychology program (MAPP). He was President of the American Psychological Association in 1998, during which one of his presidential initiatives was the promotion of Positive Psychology as a field of scientific study. He is a leading authority in the fields of Positive Psychology, resilience, learned helplessness, depression, optimism and pessimism. He is also a recognized authority on interventions that prevent depression, and build strengths and well-being. He has written more than 350 scholarly publications and 30 books.

Dr. Seligman's books have been translated into more than 50 languages and have been best sellers both in America and abroad. Among his better-known works are Tomorrowmind (Simon & Schuster, 2022), The Hope Circuit (Public Affairs, 2018), Flourish (Free Press, 2011), Authentic Happiness (Free Press, 2002), Learned Optimism (Knopf, 1991), What You Can Change & What You Can't (Knopf, 1993), The Optimistic Child (Houghton Mifflin, 1995), Helplessness (Freeman, 1975, 1993) and Abnormal Psychology (Norton, 1982, 1988, 1995, with David Rosenhan). His book Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification, was co-authored with Christopher Peterson (Oxford, 2004). His work has been featured on the front page of the New York Times, Time, Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report, the Reader's Digest, Redbook, Parents, Fortune, Family Circle, USA Today and many other popular magazines. He has been a spokesman for the science and practice of psychology on numerous television and radio shows. He has written columns on such far-flung topics as education, violence, happiness, and therapy. He has lectured around the world to educators, industry, parents, and mental health professionals.

Dr. Seligman is the recipient of various awards, including the American Psychological Association (APA) Award for Lifetime Contributions to Psychology (2017), the Tang Award for Lifetime Achievement in Psychology (2014), the APA Award for Distinguished Scientific Contribution (2006), the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Society for Research in Psychopathology (1997), and the Distinguished Contribution Award for Basic Research with Applied Relevance from the American Association of Applied and Preventive Psychology (1992). He also received two awards from the American Psychological Society - the James McKeen Cattell Fellow Award for Applications of Psychological Knowledge (1995) and the William James Fellow Award for Contributions to Basic Science (1991).

Dr. Seligman's research and writing has been broadly supported by a number of institutions including the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute of Aging, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Education, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the MacArthur Foundation. His research on preventing depression received the MERIT Award of the National Institute of Mental Health in 1991.

For 14 years, Dr. Seligman was the Director of the Clinical Training Program of the University of Pennsylvania’s Department of Psychology. He was named a "Distinguished Practitioner" by the National Academies of Practice, and in 1995 received the Pennsylvania Psychological Association's award for “Distinguished Contributions to Science and Practice." He is a past-president of the Division of Clinical Psychology of the American Psychological Association.

In 1996, Dr. Seligman was elected President of the American Psychological Association, by the largest vote in modern history. His primary aim as APA President was to join practice and science together so both might flourish - a goal that has dominated his own life as a psychologist. His major initiatives concerned the prevention of ethnopolitical warfare and the study of Positive Psychology. Since 2000 his main mission has been the promotion of the field of Positive Psychology.

He received his A.B. from Princeton University, Summa Cum Laude (Philosophy), 1964; Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania (Psychology), 1967; Ph.D., Honoris causa, Uppsala University, Sweden, 1989; Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris causa, Massachusetts College of Professional Psychology, 1997; Ph.D., Honoris causa, Complutense University, Spain, 2003; and Ph.D., Honoris causa, University of East London, 2006.