Martin E. P. Seligman is an American psychologist widely regarded as the founder of positive psychology, the scientific study of what allows individuals and communities to flourish. He is the Zellerbach Family Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania and Director of the university’s Positive Psychology Center.
Seligman first came to prominence for his research on learned helplessness, a theory developed in the late 1960s showing that both animals and humans can learn to stop trying to escape an adverse situation after repeated exposure to circumstances they cannot control — a finding that reshaped psychological understanding of depression. In 1998, as President of the American Psychological Association, he redirected much of the field’s attention from pathology toward well-being, launching positive psychology as a distinct area of scientific inquiry. His later PERMA model — Positive emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment — remains one of the most widely used frameworks for describing psychological flourishing.
Seligman has authored roughly 30 books and more than 350 scholarly publications. His work explores the mechanics of human agency, optimism, and mental wellness.
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