Martin Seligman is the pioneer of Positive Psychology not because he has a systematic theory about why happy people are happy, but because he uses the scientific method to explore it. Martin Seligman found that the most satisfied people were those who had discovered their unique combination of "signature strengths," such as humanity, temperance and persistence. His vision of happiness is combined with the virtue ethics of Confucius, Mencius and Aristotle with modern psychological theories of motivation. His conclusion is that happiness has three dimensions that can be cultivated: the Pleasant Life, the Good Life, and the Meaningful Life.
The Pleasant Life is realized to be that if we learn to savor and appreciate basic pleasures as companionship, …show more content…
We can remain stuck at this stage or we can go on to experience the Good Life. The good life is the stage that is achieved through discovering our unique virtues and strengths, and employing them creatively to enhance our lives. According to Martin’s theories of self-esteem life is only genuinely satisfying if we discover value within ourselves. One of the best ways of discovering this value is by nourishing our unique strengths in contributing to the happiness of our fellow humans. The final stage is the Meaningful Life, in which we find a deep sense of fulfilment by employing our unique strengths for a purpose greater than ourselves. Seligman's theory is that it reconciles two conflicting views of human happiness, the individualistic approach, which emphasizes that we should take care of ourselves and nurture our own strengths, and the altruistic approach, which tends to downplay individuality and emphasizes sacrifice for the greater purpose. In his study of the Good Life and the Meaningful Life, positive psychology seeks to help people acquire the skills to be able to deal with the stuff of life in ever fuller, deeper way. According to Seligman, we can experience three kinds of happiness: 1) pleasure and gratification, 2) embodiment of strengths and virtues and 3) meaning and purpose. Each kind of happiness is linked to positive emotion. Seligman provides a
The Pleasant Life is realized to be that if we learn to savor and appreciate basic pleasures as companionship, …show more content…
We can remain stuck at this stage or we can go on to experience the Good Life. The good life is the stage that is achieved through discovering our unique virtues and strengths, and employing them creatively to enhance our lives. According to Martin’s theories of self-esteem life is only genuinely satisfying if we discover value within ourselves. One of the best ways of discovering this value is by nourishing our unique strengths in contributing to the happiness of our fellow humans. The final stage is the Meaningful Life, in which we find a deep sense of fulfilment by employing our unique strengths for a purpose greater than ourselves. Seligman's theory is that it reconciles two conflicting views of human happiness, the individualistic approach, which emphasizes that we should take care of ourselves and nurture our own strengths, and the altruistic approach, which tends to downplay individuality and emphasizes sacrifice for the greater purpose. In his study of the Good Life and the Meaningful Life, positive psychology seeks to help people acquire the skills to be able to deal with the stuff of life in ever fuller, deeper way. According to Seligman, we can experience three kinds of happiness: 1) pleasure and gratification, 2) embodiment of strengths and virtues and 3) meaning and purpose. Each kind of happiness is linked to positive emotion. Seligman provides a