Martin Seligman

Martin E. P. Seligman (born 1942) is an American psychologist and author best known for his research on learned helplessness and for founding the field of positive psychology. A longtime professor at the University of Pennsylvania, he served as president of the American Psychological Association in 1998 and later helped establish Penn’s Positive Psychology Center. Seligman’s work shifted attention from treating mental illness alone to also studying strengths, resilience, and well-being. He has proposed influential models of flourishing, including the PERMA framework, and has written widely for both academic and general audiences, including *Learned Optimism* and *Flourish*.