Dr. Martin Seligman delivered a talk at the University of Michigan on positive psychology and positive interventions. He outlined his work developing positive psychology as a field focused on human flourishing beyond just minimizing suffering. He defined human flourishing, called PERMA, as having positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning and achievement. Seligman discussed how positive interventions can build these enabling conditions of life in individuals, organizations and possibly even entire nations.
Dr. Martin Seligman delivered a talk at the University of Michigan on positive psychology and positive interventions. He outlined his work developing positive psychology as a field focused on human flourishing beyond just minimizing suffering. He defined human flourishing, called PERMA, as having positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning and achievement. Seligman discussed how positive interventions can build these enabling conditions of life in individuals, organizations and possibly even entire nations.
Dr. Martin Seligman delivered a talk at the University of Michigan on positive psychology and positive interventions. He outlined his work developing positive psychology as a field focused on human flourishing beyond just minimizing suffering. He defined human flourishing, called PERMA, as having positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning and achievement. Seligman discussed how positive interventions can build these enabling conditions of life in individuals, organizations and possibly even entire nations.
MARTIN SELIGMAN TuvT.wwvvLvc:UvvsowHUx.w V.iUvs Delivered at TeUniversityofMichigan October -, .c:c x.v:iwsviicx.wworksonpositivepsychology,learnedhelplessness, depression,optimism,andpessimism.HeiscurrentlyZellerbachFamily ProfessorofPsychologyintheDepartmentofPsychologyattheUniver- sityofPennsylvaniaandthedirectorofthePositivePsychologyCenter. He was elected president of the American Psychological Association in :,,c by the largest vote in history. Dr. Seligmans bibliography includes twenty-onebooksandmorethan.,carticles.Amonghisbetter-known worksarethebest-sellingAuthentic Happiness(.cc.),Helplessness(:,-,), Learned Optimism (:,,:), What You Can Change and What You Cant (:,,,),Te Optimistic Child(:,,,),andCharacter Strengths and Virtues (.cc,withChristopherPeterson).Hisbookshavebeentranslatedinto morethanthirtylanguages.HislatestbookisFlourish (.c::). Dr. SeligmanistherecipientofthreeDistinguishedScientincContri- butionAwardsfromtheAmericanPsychologicalAssociation,theLaurel AwardoftheAmericanAssociationforAppliedPsychologyandPreven- tion, the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Society for Research in Psychopathology,andthenrstWileyPsychologyLifetimeAwardofthe BritishAcademy. [231] vvoiocUv:o.vosi:ivvuUx.w vU:Uvv Wehaveastrangeheritageaboutthepositiveandnegativesidesoflife.' OurheritagecomesfromSchopenhauerandFreudwhotoldusthatthe bestwecaneverhopeforistokeepourmiseryandsuneringtoamini- mum.Iwanttosuggesttodaythepossibilityofapositivehumanfuture. Untilthepossibilitythatthereismoretolifethanminimizingsunering gets on the radar screen, a positive human future is much less likely. As a nrst step, I will outline what it might mean for human beings to have apositivehumanfuture,tofourish,andhowsciencecanhelpusunder- stand more about the elements of the positive side of life and how they mightbeachieved. HereisanoutlineofwhatIamgoingtodiscuss.Ihavegivenyouthe prologueifwemerelybegintothinkofourownlives,thelivesofour university,thelivesofournation,morethanjustintermsofgoingfrom, tocbutofgoingfrom+.to+,,thatmerelyhavingthatpossibilityonthe radarscreenmaydosomegood.Next Iamgoingtotrytodennewhatit meanstogofrom+.to+,.HavingdennedwhatIthinkitisforahuman being,anorganization,oranationtofourish,Iamthengoingtoaskthe question:IsthepositivesideoflifebuildableOrisitlikeyourwaistline You probably know that dieting is a scam, a nny-billion-dollar scam in the United States. And the reason for that is that any of you can lose , percentofyourbodyweightinaboutthreeweeksbyfollowinganydiet thatisonthebest-sellerlistnow.Teproblemisthatbetweenscand,, percentofyouwillregainallthatweightormoreinthenextthreetonve years(Mannet al. .cc-;Powell,Calvin,andCalvin.cc-).Isthepositive sideoflifelikesomanythingsinwhichwecanseetemporarychangesand thenreverttoourbaselineOrisitactuallymovableTereisagrowing literatureonpositiveinterventionsthatsuggeststhatwhatIamgoingto denneinamomentasthepositivesideoflifePERMA:positiveemo- tion,engagement,relationships,meaning,andaccomplishmentisactu- allybuildable. Ten I will talk about positive intervention programs in larger entitiesin schools, in school systems, and in the entire United States Army. Te chief of stan decided two years ago that he wanted to create anarmythatwasjustaspsychologicallyntasphysicallynt.Iwilltellthe storyofthismassiveculturalintervention.Finally,Iwillask,Canposi- tive interventions work, not only in individuals and organizations, but :. TranscriptionbyAlex Silk. Te Tanner Lectures on Human Values 232 alsoinentirenationsCanithappengloballyInthiscontextIbelieve thatthewealthynationsoftheworldstandataveryspecialmomentin historyaFlorentine momentinwhichwecan,withgreatenect,decide whatourwealth is for. u.:isvosi:ivvvsvcuoiocv: First, the question: what is positive psychology Historically and in my ownintellectualhistory,psychologyhasbeenaboutwhatiswrongwith life: suicide, depression, schizophrenia, and all the brick walls that can fall on you. I started my work on learned helplessness (Seligman :,-,): people who experience uncontrollable bad events become passive, not tryingtodoanythingabouttheirfuture.Suchpeoplealsohavecognitive troubles:dimcultyseeingthattheiractionssucceedwhentheyreallydo. Butinthehelplessnessliteraturetherewas,fortenyears,aregularity:one- thirdofthepeoplewhocametomylaboratory,peopletowhominescap- ableeventsweregiven,neverbecamehelpless.Soaroundthirty-nveyears agowebegantoaskthequestion,whatisitaboutsomepeoplethatmakes themimmunefromhelplessnessAndwhatisitaboutone-tenthofthe people who came to my laboratory, who would become helpless at the dropofahatItturnedoutthatthekeywasoptimism.Whenwebegan to ask people in the laboratory and in real life who experienced awful events,thosepeoplewhosehabitualwayoflookingatsetbacksinlifewas tragicpeople who said, Tis is going to last forever and is going to undermineeverythingIdo,andthereisnothingIcandoaboutitwere the people who collapsed most readily. By and large, the people whom wecouldnotmakehelplesswerepeoplewho,whenbadeventsoccurred, hadthehabitofmindofsaying,Itstemporary,itsjustthisonesituation, andthereissomethingIcandoaboutit.Tatwaswhatwecalledlearned optimism(Seligman :,,:). Tirteenyearsago,whenIwaspresidentoftheAmericanPsychologi- calAssociation,myjobwastolookaroundatwhatpsychologydidwell and what it did badly. What psychology did well was misery. What it did not do very well was what made life worth living. It was with that inmindthatIgatheredtogetherunderonelargetentsomeofthelead- ingpeople,amongthemChrisPetersonandBarbaraFrederickson,who workedonthepositivesideoflife,andtriedtocreateaneldinwhichwe askedthequestion,Whatmakeslifeworthliving,andhowcanwebuild itIn thisframework,psychologyisjustasconcernedwithstrengthasit iswithweakness.Itisjustasinterestedinbuildingwhatmakeslifeworth livingasitiswithrepairingpathology. 233 [Sviicx.w] Flourish I hasten to say to those of you who do clinical work that I am not remotely suggesting that positive psychology is a replacement for psychology-as-usual.Ispentmylifeworkingonmiseryandsunering,and I think we have learned something about how to lower the amount of it on the planet. Positive psychology is a supplement to psychology-as- usual.JustworkingwithintheSchopenhauer-Freudframework,thebest you can do is to relieve misery. Tis is literally half-baked. Most of you, whenyougotobedatnight,arenotthinkingofhowtogofromsto, inlife.Byandlarge,youarethinkingabouthowtogofrom+,to+c.Tis suggests that in addition to understanding sunering, we need to under- standhowtogofrom+,to+c.Sopositivepsychologyisasupplementto whatpsychologytraditionallydoes.Weshouldbejustasconcernedwith makingthelivesofpeoplefulfllingaswearewithhealing pathology. Finally, though we have spent so much enort in pharmacology and in psychotherapy developing interventions that relieve misery, such interventionsarenotthesameasinterventionsthatproducewell-being. Removing the disabling conditions of life is laudable, but it is not the sameendeavorasbuildingtheenablingconditionsof life. Iamapsychotherapist.Onceinawhile,Iwoulddoprettygoodwork. I would get rid of almost all of a patients sadness, her anxiety, and her anger.IthoughtIwouldgetahappyperson.But Ineverdid.What Igot wasanemptyperson.Tatisbecausebuildingtheskillsofhavingbetter relationships,moremeaninginlife,moreengagement,andmorepositive emotion is almost entirely dinerent from building the skills of nghting depression, anxiety, and anger. So, positive psychology aims to develop interventionsthatbuildtheenablingconditionsoflife,notjustinterven- tionsthatdecrease misery. u.:isvii-nviwc: Letmetakeyouthroughmyintellectualdevelopmentaboutwell-being. AbouttenyearsagoIwroteabookcalledAuthentic Happinessinwhich I asked the question, what are the components of happiness I argued thatthestudyofhappinesscouldbedissolvedintothestudyofpositive emotion and engagement and meaning. Te nrst element of happiness was positive emotion. Te second was being absorbed, engagement. And thethirdwashavingmeaninginlife,belongingtoandservingsomething you believed was bigger than you were. Tat was the Authentic Happi- nesstheory,andalotofresearchfollowed. Startingaroundfouryearsago,Ibegantochangemymindaboutthis theory.Tenrstproblemwasthetargetofpositivepsychology.Tetarget Te Tanner Lectures on Human Values 234 of positive psychology was happiness, and the prime measurement was life satisfaction. I found this problematic because, as Ruut Veenhoven (.ccc) has shown, when you ask people about their life satisfaction, -c percentoftheiransweriswhatmoodtheyarein,andabout,cpercent is what judgment they make about the conditions of their life. I didnt want a happiology, a psychology that was merely about what mood peoplewerein.Instead,Ihavechangedthetargetofpositivepsychology fromhappinessorlifesatisfactiontowell-beingorfourishing. Tesecondproblemistheelementsofthisnewtargetofpositivepsy- chology.Ibegantobeconvincedthatpositiveemotion,engagement,and meaningdidnotexhaustwhatpeoplevaluedfortheirownsake.Rather, therearefvedinerentelementsofwell-being.Firstandsecondarepositive emotionandengagement,asinAuthenticHappinesstheory.Tethirdis positive relationships.Ihavecometobelievethatpeoplearemotivatedto seek out and maintain positive relationships even when it brings none oftheotherelements.Tefourthelementismeaning,belongingtoand servingsomethingthatyouthinkisbiggerthanyouare.Andthennhis accomplishment.Manypeoplearemotivatedtoachieve,tohavemastery, to have competence, even if it brings no positive emotion, no engage- ment,norelationships,andnomeaning(Seligman .c::). Letmeexplainbrienywhathasconvincedmeofthat.Iamaserious bridgeplayer.Greatbridgeplayersdivideintotwocategories:thosewho, whentheyplay,areengagedandhappy,andthosewhojustplaytowin. Among the latter are cheaters. Some people actually cheat at high-level bridge just in order to win. I think the same thing is true in the actual worldaswell.So Ihavebecomeconvincedthataccomplishmentisannh element. I want now to illustrate the kind of science that is done in positive psychology by discussing research on optimism, one of the positive emotionsandwhatitsenectisondepression,achievement,andphysi- calhealth.TirtyyearsagoChrisPetersonandIstartedtomeasureopti- misticversuspessimisticpeople.Optimisticpeopleweredennedaspeople who viewed setbacks as temporary, changeable, and local. Pessimists viewedsetbacksaspermanent,unchangeable,andpervasive.Wefollowed both across time, and we found that, holding depression constant, pes- simisticpeoplegotdepressedattwicetherateofoptimisticpeoplewhen theyfacedsetbacks(PetersonandSeligman :,s). Wethenaskedthequestion,whatistheenectofoptimismonachieve- ment Tis has been tested in schools, in the business world, in sports. 235 [Sviicx.w] Flourish Importantly, the form of the studies from this large literature involves taking peoples optimism or pessimism at time t : , their talents at time t : , and then seeing if increases or decreases in the target variable can be predicted. Here is a school example that comes from the University of Pennsylvania,wheretheadmissionscommitteetakestheapplicantsSAT score, high school grade point average, and achievement tests, and then grinds these scores into a regression equation. Tis spits out a number like ,.,: the applicants predicted grade point average for the freshman year.Muchofadmissionsisdonebasedonthatnumber.SoPennsdean of admissions had come to me and said, Marty, were making a lot of mistakesinadmissionsatPenn.Wenndthattherearealargenumberof kidswhodomuchbetterthantheyresupposedtodo,giventheirSATs andtheirhighschoolrecords.A smallernumberofthemdomuchworse. Canyoupredictwhoisgoingtodobetteror worse Inresponse,wedidthefollowingstudy.Onstudentsnrstdayatthe UniversityofPennsylvania,wegavethemoptimism-pessimismteststhat welloveramillionpeoplehavetakennow,andthenwesimplywatched them for the nrst semester. We found that eighty-three of the kids did :.,standarddeviationsbetterthantheyweresupposedtodo,giventheir talents. Only seventeen kids did :., standard deviations worse. (Tat is aboutgettinganA-insteadofaC+,orviceversa.)Itwasthepessimists who did worse than they were supposed to and the optimists who did better(Seligman,Kamen,andNolen-Hoeksema :,ss). Ataroundthesametime,thecoachofAmericasOlympicswimming team in the Seoul Olympics of :,ss, Nort Tornton, wanted to know who to put in the relay races. In swimming, the relay races occur aner individualevents.Sothequestionis,Ifaswimmerdoesbadlyinanindi- vidualevent,shouldyouputthatswimmerintotherelaysOrwillthey collapseWemeasuredtheoptimismandpessimismofallofAmericas male and female Olympic swimmers. Here is what we did with Matt Biondi.NortsentMattintothepooltoswimthe:cc-meterny.Biondi swam it in ,c... He came out of the pool, and Nort said, lying to him, Matt,,..,.Restupfortwentyminutesandswimitagain.Biondiswam itthesecondtimein,.,.Heisinthetop.,percentofoptimismamong professionalathletes.Optimisticathletesgetfasteranerdefeat,whilepes- simisticathletesgetslower(Seligmanet al. :,,c). I will summarize one study on cardiovascular death and optimism. Take ,,, sixty-nve-year-old Dutch men and women and monitor them foradecade.Tenyearslater,,,percentofthemaredeadofcardiovascular Te Tanner Lectures on Human Values 236 complications. Can you predict who is going to die, given all the tradi- tionalriskfactorslikecholesterol,bloodpressure,bodymassindex,and the like Tese risk factors are not very predictive. But if you take the optimism and pessimism, holding constant the risk factors, the upper quartile in optimism has less than half the risk of cardiovascular death thantherestofthepopulation(Giltayet al. .cc).Tereareaboutnf- teensuchstudiesintheliterature. What I have done so far is denne the neld of positive psychology. Positivepsychologyisabouttheconceptofwell-being.Teelementsof well-being are PERMA: positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning,andaccomplishment.Ihavegivensomesamplesofthescience that has been done on these nve elements. Can these elements be built in people vosi:ivviw:vvvvw:iows Before describing how many positive interventions begin, I should say that I am a pessimist and a depressive. I take my own medicine. For example, when one of my undergraduates suggested to me ten years agothatmakingagratitudevisitmightincreasepositiveemotion,Inrst tried it on myself. I have always taken whatever my subjects have taken. When I didshockinanimals,Iwouldtaketheshocknrst.(And Iwould eatthePurinachow,whichwasworsethantheshock!)So Inrstdidthese interventions on myself. If it works on me, I give it to my wife and my seven children. If it works on us, then my graduate students get it, and thenwearereadytodolaboratorystudiesonit.Ifitworksinlaboratory studies,webegintodoclinicalstudies. Tere is a gold-standard method for testing interventions on the negative side of liferandom-assignment, placebo-controlled studies. Since Ihadusedthismethodologywithpsychotherapystudiesandwith drug studies, when I began to work on positive interventions ten years ago, I asked, Could you do the same thing on positive interventions Could you ask in a rigorous way whether a given positive intervention, in a random-assignment, placebo-controlled procedure, would actually make people lastingly less depressed From the Buddha to modern pop psychology,therehavebeenabouttwohundredsuggestionsaboutwhat makespeoplelastinglyhappy.Whatwedoinmylaboratoryistakethese dinerentsuggestions,manualizethem,andputthemontheWorldWide Web. I have a website, www.authentichappiness .org. Some :.s million peoplehaveregisteredatitandtakenthetests.Ithasallthebasictestsof 237 [Sviicx.w] Flourish thepositivesideoflife,and,everysoonen,alinkwithexercisesappears. Tis link says something like this: Dr. Seligman would like to nnd out which exercises make people lastingly happier and less depressed, and whichareplacebos.Ifyouarewillingtodothis,youaregoingtogetan exercisebutwillnotknowwhetheritisaplaceboorarealexercise.Ten wearegoingtofollowyouforthenextsixmonths,askingyouaboutyour depression and well-being. Tat is typical of the methodology that we use. Using this procedure, we have found what works lastingly well and whatdoes not. Oneexercisefromthewebsiteisthreegoodthings:Everynightfor thenextweek,beforeyougotosleep,writedownthreethingsthatwent welltoday,andwhytheywentwell.Itturnsoutthatwhenpeopledothis, sixmonthslatertheyarelessdepressedandhavehigherpositiveemotion comparedtoplaceboeventhoughtheexercisesaystodoitforonlyone week.Positiveinterventions,unlikenegativeones,tendtobeaddictive. Oneofthedirtylittlesecretsofpsychotherapyresearchisthattheway wemeasureitsenectivenessishowlongtheenectslastanertheendofthe treatmentbeforetheymelttozero.Sadtosay,byandlargeinpsycho- therapy, as in dieting, you get benents for a few months, and then they melttozero.Interestingly,onecharacteristicofmanyofthepositiveexer- cises is that they are self-sustaining. Unlike dieting, where its no fun to keepturningdownchocolatemousse,whenyoustartwritingdownthree things that went well today and why they went well, you tend to sleep better,andyoudontgotosleepatnightthinkingabout,say,thenghtyou justhadwithyourdean.Byandlarge,peoplekeepdoingtheexerciseaner theweekisup.Teexercisesthustendtobeself-maintaining. Hereisanotherexercise.Maritaltherapyisthemostdimcultformof therapytodo,andithastheworstoutcomestatistics.Basically,inmarital therapy,whatweteachpeopleishowtonghtbetter,hownottohavethe samenghtoverandover.Whatyoutrytodo,essentially,ischangeinsuf- ferable marriages into barely tolerable marriages. Tat is not what posi- tive psychology is interested in. So about seven years ago, led by Shelly Gable,maritalresearchersatUCLAbegantoaskthequestionnotofhow couplesnghttogether,butofhowtheycelebratetogether. Imaginethatyourspousehasjustbeenpromotedatwork.Whatdo yousaytoherImaginea.x.table,whichisactivepassivebyconstruc- tivedestructive. You might do active-destructive: Youve been pro- motedYouknowwhattaxbracketthatsgoingtoputusintoYoumight do what I did until I read the literaturenamely, passive-constructive: Te Tanner Lectures on Human Values 238 Congratulations. Well deserved. You might do passive-destructive: WhatsfordinnerButtheonlytypeofresponsethatworksisactive- constructive:Wherewereyouwhenyourbosstoldyouthatyouhadbeen promoted Exactly what did he say Why did you really think you had beenpromotedYouknow,Ihavebeenreadingyournnancialreportsfor thepastfewmonths,andthatlastreportyouwroteonthepensionplan issimplythebestnnancialdocumentIhavereadinmytwenty-nveyears inbusiness.WouldyourelivethewholeepisodewithmeTatisactive- constructive responding. It turns out that practicing active-constructive responding predicts increases in love and anection and decreases in divorce. So active-constructive responding is a second exercise that is quitewelldocumented now. AthirdexercisecameoutoftheworkthatChrisPetersonandIdid. Te VIA Signature Strengths Questionnaire (www.authentichappiness .org),whichmorethanamillionpeoplehavetaken,tellsyouwhatyour nvehigheststrengthsarefairness,kindness,socialintelligence,senseof humor,andthelike.Onceyouhaveyoursignaturestrengths,yourassign- mentisthefollowing:Tinkofsomethingthatyouhavetodoatschool or at work every week that you dont like doing. Given that you have found your signature strengths, think of a way of doing that task using yourhigheststrength. Letmeputalittleneshonthis.OnewomanIworkedwithwasawait- ress. She hated waitressing, with the heavy trays and customers patron- izingher.Hertaskwastoredennewaitressingusingherhigheststrength: socialintelligence.Shedecidedthatshewouldmaketheencounterwith her the social highlight of every customers evening. Notice that she is goingtofailalmostallthetime.Sheis,however,continuallyputtingon onerwhatsheisbestat.Inhercase,thetraysgotlighterandthetipsgot bigger. In the case of random-assignment, placebo-controlled research, sixmonthslateryouarelessdepressedandhappier(Seligmanet al. .cc,). vvoxiwuiviuU.is:oovc.wiz.:iows:o w.:iows Nowthatwehaveabouttwelvewell-documentedinterventionsthatwork forindividuals,weaskedthequestion,Canyouhavepositiveinterven- tionsinorganizationsWebeganwithschoolsandchildren.Wewentto classroomsandtaughtindividualclassestechniquesofthesortthatIhave describedabove.Wefoundinseveralstudiesthatwhenwetaughtten-to twelve-year-oldsthetechniquesofpositivepsychologyandresilienceand thenfollowedthemversuscontrolgroups,weroughlyhalvedtherateof 239 [Sviicx.w] Flourish depression and anxiety when the kids went through puberty (Gillham et al. .cc-). Sincetheteachinginthesestudieswasdonebygraduatestudents,we thenaskedthequestion,couldweteachteacherstodothisSowedevel- opedaten-daycourseforteachersandthenfollowedthestudentsofthese teachersforthenexttwoyears.Wefoundthattheirstudentsshowedsig- nincantly less depression, less anxiety, and, perhaps, better conduct for the next two years (Seligman et al. .cc,). Could this work for a whole schoolTeGeelongGrammarSchoolinAustralia(atraditionalBritish boarding school) allowed us to try this. Twenty of my faculty went to Australia, and we taught one hundred faculty from Geelong Grammar, which has around twelve hundred students. Te faculty took ten days tolearnthesetechniques.Tewholeschoolhasnowbeenimbuedwith positiveeducation.Indeed,therearenownineteenreplicationsofthese proceduresinschoolsacrosstheworld(Seligmanet al. .cc,). Here is the story of the innection point in positive education. Two years ago I was called to the Pentagon. Te chief of stan of the army, George Casey, began by saying, Post-traumatic stress disorder, suicide, depression, substance abuse, divorcewhat does positive psychology have to say about that, Dr. Seligman I said that the distribution of humanreactionstoextremeadversityisbellshaped.Onthefarlenhand arepeoplewhofallapartunderextremeadversity.Teybecomehelpless, they show what we now call post-traumatic stress disorder, they kill themselves,ortheybecomemassivelydepressed.Inthegreatmiddleare mostpeople,bydennition.Tesearepeoplewhoareresilient,inthesense thatalthoughtheyhaveaveryhardtimeanertheawfulevent,withina monthortwo,byourpsychologicalandphysicalmeasures,theyareback where they were. And then a large number of people on the right-hand side of the distribution show post-traumatic growth. Tat is, they onen go through post-traumatic stress disorder, but a year later, by physical andpsychologicalmeasures,theyarestrongerthantheywerebeforethe adversity occurred. Tese are the people of whom Nietzsche said, If it doesntkillme,itmakesmestronger (:,,c). Mysuggestiontothechiefofstanwasthathemovetheentiredistri- bution of the army in the direction of post-traumatic growth by teach- ing them the skills of positive psychology. General Casey then actually ordered that, from that day forward, resilience and positive psychology would be taught and measured throughout the entire United States Army. General Casey said to me, Te general stan has read your work Te Tanner Lectures on Human Values 240 onpositiveeducation,andwelikeyourmodel.Tatis,welikethenotion that you teach teachers these skills and then have the teachers teach the students.Tatisthearmyway.Isaid,ItisHesaid,Well,sure,wehave c,cccteachersinthearmy:thedrill sergeants.Sothejob,Dr. Seligman, willbetotrainallthedrillsergeantsinthearmyinpositivepsychology. Indeed,thisiswhattheUnitedStatesArmyisdoingnow.Tisproject iscalledComprehensiveSoldierFitness.First,anewtestofntnesswas developed.Teusualarmytestsareaboutweaknessesandriskfactors.But ChrisPeterson,withCarlCastro,developedatestofftness,a:c,-itemtest ofpsychologicalntness,socialntness,familyntness,andspiritualntness. Sowehavemeasuresofthesepositivevariableson:.:millionsoldiers.Sec- ond,thearmyhasdevelopedonlinecoursesthatyoucantakeforcollege creditineachoftheseareas.Tird,thearmyistrainingthedrill-sergeant teachers in master resilience training. Every month :,c drill sergeants come to the University of Pennsylvania for ten days, and we take them throughtheteachingmanuals.Teythengooutandteachthe troops. SotheU.S. Armyisinthemiddleofaculturaltransformation.George Caseyisavisionary.Herealizesthatthewarsthatwehavebeeninvolved inlatelyarehumanwars,notmechanicalwars,andifyouwanttocreate an army that can do its job and not have an epidemic of post-traumatic stressdisorder,youneedapsychologicallyntarmy.Sopsychologicalnt- ness has now been elevated to the same level as physical ntness in the UnitedStates Army. Te United States Army is the largest organization that we have workedwith.ButhowaboutnationsIsitpossiblethatanentirenation cannourishPolicyfollowsfromwhatwemeasure,andrightnow,what wemeasureisessentiallyeconomic.InFebruary,IadvisedtheToryleader- shipoftheUKthatshouldyoubeelected,youshouldtakeseriouslythe measurementofwell-beinginBritaininadditiontoeconomicmeasures. Youshouldholdyourselfaccountableforincreasesinwell-beingandnot justincreasesinwealth.YoushouldmeasurePERMAhowmuchposi- tive emotion, how much engagement, how much goodness in relation- ships, how much meaning, and how much accomplishment the British peoplehave.Indeed,theTorieswereelected,andDavidCameronsgov- ernmentisdoingwhatIsuggested. Using criteria similar to PERMA, Felicia Huppert and Timothy So (.cc,)oftheCambridgeWell-BeingInstitutemeasuredaboutnnythou- sandadultsintwenty-threeEuropeannations.Tissurveyjustusedsub- jectivecriteria,thoughIamveryinterestedincombiningsubjectiveand 241 [Sviicx.w] Flourish objectivemeasuresofpositiveemotion,engagement,relationships,mean- ing, and accomplishment. Huppert and So reported, for example, that Denmarkisleadingthepackwithabout,,percentofadultsnourishing, Britainisatabout:spercent,andRussiaataboutcpercent.Tisbegin- ningtellsusthattheconceptofhumannourishingismeasurable.So one can ask the question of changing the criterion by which government is judgedfrommakinganationwealthiertoincreasingitswell-being.It is commonlysaidintheUnitedStatesandGreatBritainthatthisgenera- tionofyoungpeoplewillbethenrstgenerationnotaswellonasitspar- ents.Tatmaybetrueeconomically,butitisnottrueoffourishing. Tis leads to the moon shot of positive psychology: our goal is that bytheyear.c,:,,:percentoftheworldspopulationwillbenourishing. Tisgoalisamoreserioushumangoalthanmorepeoplesmiling,having good relationships, and having meaning in life. Te evidence is that the downstream enects are that people who are nourishing by PERMA cri- teriaarephysicallyhealthier,moreproductiveatwork,andmorepeace- ful than people who are not nourishing. Some of the human goals we most cherishprosperity, health, and peacewhich we have not been abletoachievehead-on,mightbeabletobemetindirectly:bybuilding nourishing. oUvviovvw:iwv xoxvw: Tisbringsmetomyconcludingcommentonthepoliticsofnourishing. ItisnotapoliticsofLenorRight,whicharethepoliticsofwhatmeansto theconventionalendsofwealthandsecurity.Tisisapoliticsofa difer- ent end.Inthispolitics,theendishuman fourishing:whatgovernmentis about,inthisview,isincreasinghumannourishing. When nations are poor and at war and in famine and in plague, it is perfectly natural that governments primary concern should be about defense and damage. Tis is the way it has usually been in human his- tory. But there have been eras when a nation was wealthy, at peace, not incivilturmoil,notinplague,notinfamine.Florencehadbecomeenor- mouslywealthybythe:,cs,due,forthemostpart,toMedicibanking genius. Tey asked the question, What are we going to do with our wealthCosimotheElderwontheday,andFlorencedecidedtodevote its resources and its surplus to beauty. Tey gave us what, two hundred yearslater,wecalledtheRenaissance. I am not suggesting that the time has come for us to do sculpture. Rather, I am suggesting that we are at a Florentine moment. Te rich Te Tanner Lectures on Human Values 242 nations of the world have come to a Florentine moment. Te question is,WhatisourwealthforMyeconomistfriendsgenerallysaythatthe pointofwealthistoincreasewealth.Idisagree.Tepointofincreasing wealthistoincreasewell-being,toincreasethePERMAinthecitizensof the nation. InZarathustra,Nietzschearguedthathumandevelopmenthasthree stages. Te nrst stage he called the camel. Human history for the most parthasbeeninthisstage.Tecameljustsitsthereandmoans.Tesec- ondstageNietzschecalledthelion,orsometimestherebel.Whatthelion doesissayNo!notopoverty,notoracism,notodisease.Tisisbasi- callywhatourpoliticsfrom:--chasbeen,apoliticsofsayingNotothe disabling conditions of life. I think you have to be blinded by ideology nottoseethatthispoliticshasbeenworkingandthattherehasbeenreal humanprogress.Terearemoregoodthingsintheworldnowthanthere weretwohundredyearsago.Tereisnotonlymorewealth,butalsoless racism,lesspollution,morehumanrights,fewerbattlenelddeaths,more democracy,andon and on. ButthelionisnotNietzschesnnalstage.Nietzschewondered,what ifthelionworked,andweactuallyweresuccessfulinsayingNotothe disablingconditionsoflifeTisleadstothethirdstageofhumanexis- tence,whichNietzschecalledthechild reborn.Inthisstage,wecanask, WhatcaneveryhumanbeingafrmWhatdoeseveryparentwantfor everychildTisisexactlywhatwehavetalkedabout today. WecanallsayYestomorepositiveemotionin life. WecanallsayYestomoreengagementwiththepeoplewelove,in ourwork,inourleisure. WecanallsayYestobetterrelationshipswith people. WecanallsayYestomoremeaningin life. WecanallsayYestomorepositiveaccomplishment. WecanallsayYestohumannourishing. Rvvvvvwcvs Gillham, J., K. Reivich, D. Freres, T. Chaplin, A. Shatt, B. Samuels, et al. .cc-.School-BasedPreventionofDepressiveSymptoms:A Ran- domized Controlled Study of the Enectiveness and Specincity of the PennResiliencyProgram.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology -,: ,:,. Giltay,E.,J. Geleijnse,R. Zitman,T. Hoekstra,andE. Schouten..cc.Dis- positional Optimism and All-Cause and Cardiovascular Mortality in a 243 [Sviicx.w] Flourish ProspectiveCohortofElderlyDutchMenandWomen.Archives of Gen- eral Psychiatryc::::.c,,. Huppert, R., and T. So. .cc,. What Percentage of People in Europe Are Flourishing and What Characterizes Tem July .,. http: www .isqols.cc,.istitutodeglinnocenti.itContent_enHuppert.pdf. Mann,T.,J. Tomiyama,E. Westling,A.-M. Lew,B. Samuels,andJ. Chatman. .cc-. Medicares Search for Enective Obesity Treatments: Diets Are NottheAnswer.American Psychologistc.:.cc.,,. Nietzsche,F.:,,c.Twilight of the Idols; or, How to Philosophize with a Ham- mer.London:PenguinClassics. . .ccc. Tus Spoke Zarathustra. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Peterson, C., and M. E. P. Seligman. :,s. Causal Explanations as a Risk Factor for Depression: Teory and Evidence. Psychological Review ,:: ,--. Powell,L.,J. Calvin,andJ. E. Calvin Jr..cc-.EnectiveObesityTreatments. American Psychologistc.:.,c. Seligman,M. E. P.:,-,.Helplessness.San Francisco:W. H. Freeman. .:,,:.Learned Optimism.New York:Alfred A. Knopf. ..cc..Authentic Happiness.New York:Free Press. ..c::.Flourish.New York:Free Press. Seligman,M. E. P.,J. Gillham,K. Reivich,M. Linkins,andR. Ernst..cc,. PositiveEducation.Oxford Review of Education,,:.,,,::. Seligman, M. E. P., L. P. Kamen, and S. Nolen-Hoeksema. :,ss. Explana- tory Style across the Life-Span: Achievement and Health. In Child Development in Life-Span Perspective, edited by E. M. Hetherington, R. M. Lerner,andM. Perlmutter,,:::.Hillsdale,NJ:Erlbaum. Seligman,M. E. P.,S. Nolen-Hoeksema,N. Tornton,andK. M. Tornton. :,,c.ExplanatoryStyleasaMechanismofDisappointingAthleticPer- formance.Psychological Science:::,c. Seligman,M. E. P.,T. Steen,N. Park,andC. Peterson..cc,.PositivePsy- chologyProgress:EmpiricalValidationofInterventions.American Psy- chologistcc::c.:. Veenhoven, R. .ccc. How Do We Assess How Happy We Are Tenets, Implications, and Tenability of Tree Teories. Paper presented at the conferenceNewDirectionsintheStudyofHappiness:UnitedStatesand InternationalPerspectives,UniversityofNotreDame,SouthBend,Indi- ana,October.
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