December 5, 2004
Martin Seligman, former president of the American Psychological Association, is a pioneer who has moved research psychology from sole emphasis on dysfunction, to include measures and means to happiness. My favorite book of his is The Optimistic Child. Its purpose is to teach parents to raise resilient children, and, since most of us flick over into being-a-child when the heat is on, it's a helpful book for everyone. Seligman's recent bestseller tackles the key questions even more directly: Authentic Happiness.
This New York Times description of a research study from Science takes a d'oh headline and lede approach: "What Makes People Happy? TV, Study Says." However, the report of Seligman and others parsing what the study can tell us, pragmatically, about furthering our own happiness, redeems the article. Some of Seligman's students have used the day-reconstruction method that was applied in the study, and report that they now know better how in very practical ways to foster their own happiness.
Incidentally, Seligman made his name in the 1960's by the experiments that discovered learned helplessness. This idea is such a landmark in modern experimental psychology that, when he came back in the public eye, it was surprising that he was still actively mid-career. May he continue well and happy for many years. Happiness studies were a long time coming, and promise to do a lot of good.
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