17 Facts About Martin Seligman

Martin Elias Peter Seligman is an American psychologist, educator, and author of self-help books.

Martin Seligman is the Zellerbach Family Professor of Psychology in the University of Pennsylvania's Department of Psychology.

Martin Seligman was previously the Director of the Clinical Training Program in the department, and earlier taught at Cornell University.

Martin Seligman is the director of the university's Positive Psychology Center.

Martin Seligman was elected president of the American Psychological Association for 1998.

Martin Seligman is the founding editor-in-chief of Prevention and Treatment and is on the board of advisers of Parents magazine.

Martin Seligman has written about positive psychology topics in books such as The Optimistic Child, Child's Play, Learned Optimism, Authentic Happiness, and Flourish.

Martin Seligman was born in Albany, New York, to a Jewish family.

Martin Seligman was educated at a public school and at The Albany Academy.

In June 1989, Martin Seligman received an honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Social Sciences at Uppsala University, Sweden.

Martin Seligman saw a similarity with severely depressed patients, and argued that clinical depression and related mental illnesses result in part from a perceived absence of control over the outcome of a situation.

In later years, alongside Abramson, Martin Seligman reformulated his theory of learned helplessness to include attributional style.

Martin Seligman worked with Christopher Peterson to create what they describe as a "positive" counterpart to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

Martin Seligman concluded that there are five elements to "well-being", which fall under the mnemonic PERMA:.

In July 2011, Martin Seligman encouraged the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, to look into well-being as well as financial wealth in ways of assessing the prosperity of a nation.

On July 6,2011, Martin Seligman appeared on Newsnight and was interviewed by Jeremy Paxman about his ideas and his interest in the concept of well-being.

Martin Seligman plays bridge and finished second in the 1998 installment of one of the three major North American pair championships, the Blue Ribbon Pairs, as well as having won over 50 regional championships.