The Man Who Invented Happiness Science: Marty Seligman
The Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos
Pushkin Industries
4.7 • 14.8K Ratings
🗓️ 1 May 2023
⏱️ 41 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
When Marty Seligman started his long scientific career, psychologists concentrated on studying "misery and suffering" and what made people sad. But Marty wanted to discover what made happy people, well, happy. His research laid the foundations of "positive psychology" and the happiness science you hear week after week in this podcast.
Dr Laurie Santos talks to Professor Seligman about his decades of research; the power of optimism; and how he became less of a "grouch" to improve his own personal happiness.
Marty's latest book, TOMORROWMIND: Thriving At Work – Now and in an Uncertain Future, is OUT NOW.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Pushkin |
| 0:12.6 | I always try to book guests for the show that I know you'll love. |
| 0:16.0 | People who I think really have something to say about the science of happiness. |
| 0:20.0 | Some guests have important lived experiences, giving them valuable well-being insights to share. |
| 0:25.0 | Other guests are leading researchers in my field. |
| 0:28.0 | People who've gathered exciting data about what actually does make us feel happier. |
| 0:32.0 | Let's go zoom, I think the zoom is sounding fine, so I think we should be all set. |
| 0:36.0 | But the guest you're about to hear from today is kind of in a different league. |
| 0:41.0 | Thank you so much for taking the time to do this. We've wanted to have you on the podcast for a long time, so we're very excited. |
| 0:47.0 | I'm happy to do it. |
| 0:49.0 | And saying he's in a different league, honestly, still sort of undersells his stature. |
| 0:53.0 | Because this scientist didn't just play the happiness scientist game. |
| 0:57.0 | He kind of invented it. |
| 0:59.0 | I kind of just wanted to introduce all the listeners of the podcast to your story and what it's been like to have this legacy of creating positive psychology over these years. |
| 1:06.0 | So we're going to kind of go pretty broad if you're cool with that. |
| 1:09.0 | Okay, are we ready? |
| 1:11.0 | Yep, we're ready to go. |
| 1:13.0 | Are you ready? |
| 1:14.0 | Ready to meet the scientist without whom the happiness lab probably wouldn't exist. |
| 1:18.0 | Hello, I'm Marty Silligman. |
| 1:20.0 | I'm professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. |
| 1:25.0 | And about 25 years ago when I was president of the American Psychological Association, I had to look around and ask what did psychology need? |
... |
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