Biography
In the early years, Martin Seligman's biography had to face the feeling of helplessness, which in the future determined the direction of his research. He became known as the living classic of psychology and the author of books to overcome negative experiences and the achievement of true happiness.Childhood and youth
Martin Elias Pete Seligman was born on August 12, 1942 in the American city of Albany. He grew up in the family of a lawyer together with the older sister Beth. Martin from childhood was smart and easily mastered the school curriculum, so parents decided to send it to the private academy for boys.
When Seligman was a teenager, his father had a stroke, and the material situation of the family deteriorated sharply. The young man had to get a job to pay for expenses. Because of his secretive character, Martin was not socially active and had few friends. But even then he watched people and learned to listen to them, which influenced the choice of profession.
After graduation at the Academy, the guy entered the University of Princeton, where he studied philosophy. But when the bachelor's degree was in her arms, he had to make a difficult choice - to continue the study of philosophical science in Oxford or to work in experimental psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. As a result, Seligman made a decision in favor of the latter.
Later he was an associate professor at the University of Cornell, but due to the unstable political situation, he returned to Pennsylvania, where he soon took the post of professor.
Personal life
In the past, a man was married to Kerry Muller, who gave him two heirs. After the divorce in 1978, the psychologist could not yet improve his personal life, but eventually began to meet with his student Mandy McCarthy. Despite the difference in 17 years, they played a wedding and raised five more children.Scientific activity
At the University of Pennsylvania, the young man first encountered a phenomenon that became the basis for the theory of learned helplessness. During experiments on the dogs, which were conducted to confirm the ideas of Ivan Pavlov, the animals were locked into the cells and were exposed to electric current simultaneously with the beep.
Scientists assumed that noise would be associated with dogs with pain, cause fear and desire to escape. But when the cells discovered, the animals lay down on the floor and helplessly bored. As Martin concluded later, the experimentally accustomed that they had no control over the situation, and did not try to do anything about it.
After receiving the doctoral degree Seligman decided to test his assumption. Together with the counterpart Steve Mayer, he arranged an experiment in which three groups of dogs participated. The first (a) could control the impact of the current during the sound signal, the second (B) - no, and the third (c) was the control.
As a result, when the animals were released to an open space, where they had to overcome a small barrier and gain freedom, and gave a beep, to escape only experimental from categories A and C, and from the remaining to lie, despite shock blows.
The discovery of the scientist became revolutionary in psychology, because it contradicted the postulates of biheviorism. In subsequent years, the experiment has repeatedly repeated with people and animals, but the conclusion was one: if experimental understood that they could not control the situation, they usually cease to make attempts to change it. According to Seligman, the emerging condition of helplessness often underlies depression and neurosis.
A separate interest for the researcher was experimental, which even in such, seemingly hopeless situations continued again and again to look for a decision. Their behavior has become an impetus for the development of positive psychology, which explores optimism and positive experiences of a person.
Martin's speech after election as the head of the American Psychological Association shocked the scientific community, because from the moment of the occurrence of psychology it was used to identify and treat pathologies. The scientist suggested studying phenomena that will help avoid the appearance of these deviations and make life a healthy person brighter.
In 2002, he presented a model of authentic happiness. It consisted of three components: the experience of positive emotions, involvement and the presence of meaning. Later, the scheme was supplemented by the components of relations and achievements and received the abbreviated name perma.
The main ideas of positive psychology Seligman outlined in numerous articles and books. He replenished the bibliography such publications as "how to learn optimism", "child-optimist" and "on the way to prosperity". Many of the works became bestsellers and were translated into several languages.
The views of the researcher attracted such famous psychologists as Albert Bandura, Mihai Chixentmichei and Jonathan Hyidt. Together with Christopher Peterson, he created a classification of the positive features of a person who divided into 6 groups. Later on its basis, a test questionnaire Via-Survey was developed, identifying quality assisting to overcome depression and achieving happiness. It is actively used in psychotherapy.
Martin Seligman now
In 2020, the scientist continues to engage in psychology, although now he is less likely to appear in public, gives interviews and poses for the photo.Quotes
- "Pessimist can be taught to be an optimist."
- "The basis of pessimism is helplessness."
- "Physical health is more resistant to conscious control than it is considered."
- "The available data indicate that optimists live longer than pessimists."
- "The image of thinking is not what is given to us once and forever. As we know from psychology, a person can choose a strategy of thinking. "
Bibliography
- 1975 - "helplessness"
- 1982 - "Psychology of deviations"
- 1991 - "Optimism that can be learned"
- 1994 - "What you can change and what you can't"
- 1995 - "Optimistic Child"
- 2002 - "Genuine Happiness"