Martin E. P. Seligman: From Learned Helplessness to Positive Psychology Seligman (b. 1942) began his research career by studying learned helplessness in dogs, and later, in humans. He applied his findings to psychological problems, including depression. Seligman developed techniques to teach people to overcome feelings of helplessness, habitual pessimism, and depression (Seligman & others, 2011; Seligman, 2005). Elected president of the American Psychological Association in 1996, Seligman helped launch positive psychology, which emphasized research on human strengths (see Chapter 1). As Seligman (2004) explained, “It became my mission in life to help create a positive psychology whose mission would be the understanding and building of positive emotion, of strength and virtue, and of positive institutions.”
Courtesy of the Positive Psychology Center