Martin Seligman - Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology

new approach

successful

Focus: 

• happiness

• optimal growth

• excellence

Kind of Happiness - Pleasant Life

loads of positive emotion

Kind of Happiness - Engaged Life

engagement, involvement, purpose, commitment, absorption in work

Kind of Happiness - Meaningful Life

using talents/abilities/strength to commit to something larger than self

Principle 1: Buy experiences instead of things

stronger and long lasting happiness

Principle 2: Help others instead of self

fullfills basic needs: connection, meaning effectiveness

Principle 3: Buy many small over few big pleasures

happiness is driven more by frequency than intensity of positives

Principle 4: Buy less “Psychological Insurance”

immune neglect and affective forecasting errors

Principle 5: Pay Now and Consume Later

Anticipation is rewarding

temporal distance improves choice quality

avoids debt-driven negative effect

Principle 6: What are you not thinking about

Mispredict: 

• Focalism

• Context neglect 

Principle 7: Awareness of Comparison Shopping

Misleads:

• attribute salience

• neglect of lived experience

• regret risk

Principle 8: Follow Herd instead of Head

Works:

• surrogate affective forecasting

• overvalue vivid details

• aggregated ratings out perform intuition

Best predictors of happiness?

Personality Traits: Neuroticism and Extraversion

Social Relationship Quality: Friendship quality, martial quality, social support

Economic Factors: Income, Standard of living satisfaction, emotional well-being

Psychological Need Fulfillment: Autonomy, learning, respect