Martin E P Seligman RICHIE JERRICK Irene Brown

Martin E. P. Seligman RICHIE JERRICK

Irene Brown Mother Born in 1905 in Nagyvarad (meaning “big town”, also center of jewish fashion and culture, until “cleanse” in 1944), Hungary (now Romania) Changed her birthdate to 1906 when she got married in 1931 (unseemly to be older than the groom) Her mother died giving birth to her Premature, incubated in family oven, nursed back to health by grandfather Basically lived Cinderella's life (doting father, ‘evil’ stepmother) Beautiful (the book described her as five-foot-one, full-figured, blonde, and blue-eyed. )

Adrian Seligman VERY determined, if not a little creepy (sat outside her house until she got back from dates) He was handsome, but his strongest points were his determination, cleverness, he was great in conversation, and quick wit. Jewish (political reasons, secretly atheist) Temple of Israel He eventually did get the moment he was waiting for (6 engagements) His parents emigrated from the Dutch border of Germany (father Sigmund) and Alsace (mother Matilda), they married in New York in 1890 Bert (his brother) was very successful, founded a Wall Street trading firm on the eve of Great Depression, changed last name (Sinclair) ostracized from family because he married a catholic. Adrian was far different then Bert (more sickly, had a childhood throat bump, impeded swallowing, Globus Hystericus) Brilliant lawyer, second year of Great Depression, chose to be a civil servant, secure job.

Beth Seligman Not really sure when she was born or what she is doing for sure Very fond of her brother Martin and vice versa

Birth of Martin Born August 12, 1942 (born less then a year after the attack on Pearl Harbor) at 11: 58 am “just in time for lunch” Named after grandfather (Martin), after Irenes grandfather (Elias), Sister wanted to pick a name too (Peter) Martin Elias Peter Seligman Old photos, face gleamed, but changed (martin believes it was from the after math of WWII) Influenced his studies in the future

Childhood Martin Very smart, picked up on things very quickly, when it came to effort though, he bluffed things. Identified strongly with being Jewish “Tribalism is surely not about the good times, and it penetrated my soul” However, he wasn’t proud Jewish (like those who taught him in school 16 which will talk about in a minute)

Childhood: Albany Father took job reporting judges decisions at the Court of Appeals (NY highest court) Moved from Manhattan to Albany Martin didn’t recall Albany to positively when he was growing up, grubby and corrupt, GD made it worse. Life was brutal, fragile, and cheap, lots of bums roaming around. Martin was born and raised here

Childhood: School 16 Only two blocks from where they lived (South Main Avenue) Depression left many females looking for jobs (spinsters: older unmarried women, past the usual marrying age), these were the people filling the public schools Martin attended (not too experienced) School 16 was composed of Jewish refugees from Hitler (seemingly taught more about culture then other things) Needless to say, Martin hated it here, learned more about the world from his stamp collecting then at school Duck and Cover drills were seen as a nice break from his “mindless” school day

Childhood: Albany Academy for Boys Father made a sacrifice, it was expensive to come here, spent lots If Martin was to get into a good college, he needed to leave School 16. ‘Breezed’ through admissions IQ test, first boy done Only boys school (male instructors) Sister Beth didn’t attend Radcliffe, instead attended Rochester for a year then switched to the free New York State Teacher’s college in Albany so Martin could attend this school Martin had no idea of this sacrifice Racist (did not truly find out until he was older) Started attending the September of 1955

Time at Albany Academy for Boys Continued… Met Jeff Albert, very smart, that’s why Martin liked him(a stereotypical rich pretty boy basically), his high status mom had a strangely profound effect on him (‘sensed’ his social status behind is current social status) During this time he had is Bar Mitzvah, held at the Temple of Israel building his father was in charge of (kind of now), surrounded by other Academy students and old acquaintances, learned he did not belong, told his mom he did not believe in God anymore Doing very well academically, not so much socially. (Mary Ellen Fisher, lunch humming)

Fathers life took a turn in 1955 Became a civil servant for job security, turned into a bad call. Economy exploded after WWII He still had the promise of job advancement, job opened up for state reporter of the Court of Appeals. Lost to Irish politics (immigrants). Went back to the way he was as a kid, went into hiding, stayed home weeks with a cold (helpessness) Soon decided he wanted to work as a comptroller (second highest office in NY State) Easily angered now and feverish with activity

Fathers life gets worse… Adrian drives Martin and his friend Robert Kaiser (he refers to him as ‘Bob’) to a golf course. Jokingly mentions no feeling in left arm High blood pressure! 300/180. not good (warfarin, knowledge of drug was unknown to practitioners in Albany) Doctor just told him to “take it easy” Soon after, he has a stroke (cerebral Thrombosis) Had yet another one in the hospital, irreversible, lost whole control of left body, not expected to live, but did Put in nursing home in Guilderland At the end of the summer in 1955, he was sent home, but never recovered, drained of his previous vitality he was known for Pg. 32

Family life takes a toll With his father out of commission, family struggles big time Family decides its best for Martin to go back to public school to save money (hard for him, but with the situation, excepted it) Martin also feels he should get a job as well, because he was the man of the house now Shifty magazine job, pedophilic boss (touch the “lucky stones” pg. 34), made more money here then any other job he had until he was an assistant professor

Stroke of luck! When the Academy reopened in late September of 1956, the Headmaster, Harry E. P. Meislahn offered him a full ride scholarship. Had to wash dishes and work his magazine job, but he was saved! To honor this, Martin included his middle initials in his title to match his headmaster (instead of just Martin Seligman, he now prefers Martin E. P. Seligman)

Finishing off his time at AAB Bob left the academy and started attending Loomis School in Conneticut (interestingly, he eventually became managing director of the Washington Post under Ben Bradlee) Dan Chirot took his place basically (French Native) very smart, rivaled Martin in fact, first to get straight A+’s in all classes at the Academy (Martin was second to do this soon after) Dan Chirot, Jeff Albert, and Martin E. P. Seligman were known as the class “Intellectuals” Still not good with women decided to be the “good listening” type to attract women, “these were the baby steps to becoming the psychologist I would be” Graduated in the year 1960, graduation party solidified the idea that he doesn’t belong in his current lower standard of living and is meant for bigger and better things. He was pessimistic and depressive going into the future

Moving onto Princeton The last of his time he spent at AAB, he became super involved in the “Humanities”, this is what geared him toward pursuing philosophy during his time at Princeton During this time he met an individual by the name of Robert Nozick (became one of the most preeminent philosophers of the twentieth century), graduate student only 4 years older than Martin, had a huge impact on him. In 1961, saw him as his first true philosophy teacher Summer between his junior and senior years, first laboratory study in psychology, study on rats, the stronger the shock the further they stayed away (couldn’t find this) Thesis on how the mind and body are not identical, won philosophy prize upon graduation On the ropes, psychology? Or Philosophy?

Kerry Mueller The first person to return his affections Very smart ‘used’ his status as captain of the Ivy League championship bridge team, he would go and visit her using his car privileges on weekends Lived through two national traumas together, Cuban Missile crisis (glued to the radios, it did not come, staggered on to November 1963) and the death of John F. Kennedy in 1961(and eventually Robert F. Kennedy in 1968) Did not stop them or their love Married a day before his graduation in 1964

The ‘Trilemma’ Playing Bridge professionally? Granted a National Science Foundation graduate fellowship to study experimental psychology wherever he chose Fulbright fellowship to study analytic philosophy with Geoffry Warnock at Magdalen College, Oxford Asked Bob (Robert) Nozik what he should do “Marty, philosophy is a good preparation for doing something else. ” Decided on Penn State where he studied experimental psychology in 1964

Richard (Dick) L. Solomon Convinced Martin to go to Penn State Conducted an experiment on dogs in the early 1950’s, training dogs to avoid shocks by jumping over a barrier when a tone sounded Dogs heard the tone, felt the shock and jumped over the barrier, the dogs soon learned to jump over the barrier the second they heard the tone and avoided the shock all together “I think the dogs in my lab are helpless, and I don’t know why. ”

Steve Maier Met Martin on their very first day at Penn (like it was destiny) while waiting in line for their course schedules Self proclaimed tough New York City street kid Hailed from the City College of New York and before that from Bronx Science (legendary high school for the brightest kids from New York) He made his living in high school “running numbers” in Harlem (This basically means he gathered bets from gamblers and delivered the payoff when the gamblers won) After their 30 -minute wait, Martin asked if they could work together, Steve quickly agreed.

Learned helplessness Dog Experiment Initially observed helpless behavior in dogs that were classically conditioned to expect an electrical shock after hearing a tone These dogs were then placed in a shuttlebox that contained two chambers separated by a low barrier 1. In group one got escapable shock (ESC), where they were taught to press a panel with their noses to turn off the shock 2. The second group were taught the same things as group one, except their responses did not stop the shock 3. The third group received no shock at all

Results to the Learned Helplessness Dog study Ran 24 dogs through their “triadic” design and found that all the dogs in the ESC group and all the dogs in the Zero group readily learned to escape in the shuttle box, but five of the eight dogs in the inescapable shock (INESC) failed altogether to learn to escape. The ESC and Zero groups learned to escape equally well Animals in the INESC group learned previously that shock offset was independent of their responses, and when shock occurred the next day in the shuttle box, they expected that there wasn’t anything they could do to stop the shock. They learned helplessness

Outcomes from Martin and Steve’s shock study Study findings were published as the lead article in the prestigious Journal of Experimental Psychology with only one criticism…there they spelled paralyze ‘paralyse’. Thought that learned helplessness would be well accepted, they were very wrong. Learning Theorists closed ranks against cognitive theorizing in all forms, particularly in animals Animals are stimulus response machines, they cant learn helplessness, when given a stimulus, they respond. They weren’t heartless, they loved dogs very much, but they don’t regret what they did because they believe it benefitted the betterment of man kind.

After Graduating Pennsylvania State Completed Penn Ph. D program in two years and eight months (roughly 1966 -1967) Accepted first job after grad school: assistant professor of psychology at Cornell University Wants people to call him Marty, break down the psychological distance between undergraduate and professor. Met Joe Wolpe at a presentation, claimed helplessness was a behavioral not cognitive, Martin and Steve proved him wrong Joe and Martin end up become good friends, despite their competing beliefs (which Joe took to his grave), helped put Martin onto the path of Clinical psychology

Cornell Martin was on the fence between two job offers Michigan University or Cornell University, his wife Kerry cast the deciding vote on Cornell (she had put here Ph. D ambitions on hold and wanted to get on with her career) He was assigned to teach “Introduction to Experimental Psychology” Students gasped when they realized their teacher wasn’t that much older than they were Taught enthusiastically, taught about relative findings he was enthusiastic about and his students caught on His style of teaching wove together an entirely new area of psychology “evolutionary psychology”, he wasn’t even trying to do that.

Cornell Continued… Stimulated his creative juices but was also a political hotbed Told to take 60% of all black applicants whose SAT’s averaged 500 or better, but also told to take 40% of all black applicants whose SAT’s averaged 400 or better. This upset him. His home become a watering hole for a dozen of his students including Suzanne B. Johnson who went to become the president of the APA in 2012. Frenzied Black Liberation Front 1969, one faculty member died, two left the university, fire swept through a dormitory killing eight students. Many of their actions went unpunished Williard Straight Hall (pg. 104) Lectured on intelligence, Arthur Jensen super controversial article on intelligence, several of his black students scowled at him, he grew afraid and knew he needed to leave December 31, 1969

Penn State Psychiatry Shortly after quitting from Cornell University, he found himself a job in psychiatry at Penn State with help from Tim Beck who served as his mentor (was inviting cognitive therapy for treating depression) Learned about mental illness first hand 27 at the time First patient Jerry (tricked him, got out of draft) His research shifted towards mental illness in humans (pg. 114 learned helplessness in lab and depression in clinic) Residency ended in 1972, but he ended up getting tenured as an associate professor of psychology

Parents not doing well During Martin’s time working at Penn; Fighting between Martin’s parents caused them to split (moved to Florida), but not divorce His mom very sad with how things are going between them Dad became suicidal admitted to inpatient psychiatry ward (Philadelphia General Hospital) A few days later he flew him to the airport where he flew back home, this is the last time he saw his father

England (1975) Rented a three-bedroom detached house on Westover Road in a slightly gentrified district of Wandsworth Had a Guggenheim Fellowship and was to be visiting professor at the Institute of Psychiatry of the Maudsley and Bethlem Hospitals Main point was to learn more clinical psychology at the premier settings in the world. Isaac Marks introduces Martin to “exposure” therapy Him and Jack Rachman (a close colleague of his at Maudsley) published “Unprepared Phobias: Be Prepared” unprepared phobias being phobias that don’t make sense on an evolutionary standpoint (like a blind person having a phobia of plants in general) Relationship with Kerry was faultering, focus was almost entirely of work and not of his wife and two kids at the time, met another women by the name of Suzanne Miller, within a year, he ends up leaving Kerry and his children for her. Wrote and published his first trade book Helplessness He and John Teasdale began to refine his model of helplessness to better fit depression and humans. After returning to Penn, he completed his rework and published theory in 1976

Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences (1978 -1979) Located in Stanford, California Came here to write a textbook on abnormal psychology Rented a pricey modern home in Woodside (somewhere between Stanford and the Pacific ocean with Suzanne by his side Relationship was a little rocky (eyeing other men as many of them were eyeing her), she ended up leaving him for Walter Mischel (Professor in the Psychology department in Stanford, Marshmallow Test) Left the center with a broken heart and no family to turn to

Depression and back at Penn 1980, 38 year old bachelor. Left his wife and two kids for another woman who left him. Major depression ensued, but carried on During his time back he met Chris Peterson, who became a very close friend and colleague he helped him publish the Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ) after two years of working on it. Soon after developed the Children’s Attributional Style Questionnaire (CASQ) Upset that students were partying a ton instead of being academics, he became a house master in 1980 -1983

Mandy Mc. Carthy Seligman September 1984, a new batch of graduate students arrived at Penn State one of which was where he met Mandy (he was especially captivated by her British accent) who asked him to be her advisor She was inspired by his work on Learned Helplessness which is why she needed to come to America He told her how he felt in May 1987, she seemed to share feelings, he flew to England to ask her father for his blessing, he agreed but only after dating a year, he could still propose though Just a reminder that he is 17 years older than she is. 17. years. Older. Got him to think about the concept of Happiness

Learned Optimism (1989 -1993) After speaking to Richard Pine (A friend a blockbuster fiction bestselling author), he got Martin thinking about writing a book on Optimism, something he hadn’t considered before Richard helped get his book the attention it needed to grow (sent it to publishers, got it funded, stuff like that) The book was published in 1990 He believed the that his book did something other self help books didn’t: the tests and exercises came from the very vineyards of science. “wrote not footless self help, but evidence-based self help. ”

Irene’s death (1996) Gets a call from sheriff of West Palm Beach, Florida, mom in the hospital for a broken hip When Martin goes down he notices she also has facial contusions and other bruises Turned out Irene’s housekeeper had been physically abusing her Martin had her come leave near him in a plush nursing home She died February 26 th, 1996 at 90 years old

President of the APA Received 5 -years paid leave from Penn in order to run for APA president in exchange for the copyrights for his book, Learned Optimism. Got elected in 1996 as president of the APA, served for three years (19961999), then spent one more year to get back into the swing of things as a scientist (2000)

Inventing Positive Psychology (19982001) Mandy coaxed him to go on a vacation to escape the stresses from being the APA president for a little while German-speaking resort in Yucatan, he called it “cut-rate” just wanted to sleep through the whole thing, Mandy didn’t let him Rented house owned by the Grateful Dead, here is where he and a few of his colleagues hammered out the details and invented Positive Psychology To summarize, Positive psychology focuses on our strengths, rather than our weaknesses, that help us power through adversity. By the end of the year 1999, positive psychology was launched

2002, Sixty years old and life is good for Martin 3 kids; Lara (12), Nikki (10), and Darryl (8); 2 Old English Sheepdogs (Barney and Rosie) Both Martin and Mandy were teachers and they did a lot of traveling, so they ended up homeschooling their children There curriculum involved a lot of hands on learning including a trip to the Galapagos to learn about biology and evolution Took up playing Bridge again

Positive Psychology flourishes (20012011) The Positive Psychology Center and the Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) program of the University of Pennsylvania were launched. Creation of the an Authentic Happiness website (www. authentichappiness. org) that contained the major tests of well-being. In coming up for questionnaires to put on the website Martin became convinced that there were five elements of well-being: PERMA (Positive emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, Accomplishment) Tayyab Rashid tested a fourteen-session of positive psychotherapy against antidepressant medications and against cognitive therapy with diagnosed major depression. To Martin’s astonishment, it was superior to both.

Helping the US Army (2008 -2017) In 2008, war was raging in Iraq, but so was mental illness in the army itself, this is why he was invited to the Pentagon General Casey wanted his drill sergeants to be taught the skills of resilience and positive psychology Was tasked with working with Rhonda Cornum (pg 313) The succeeding in rewriting the training manuals used by Drill Sergeants and incorporated positive psychology and resilience. It was alarmingly well received.

Martin and his Family now Martin is currently 78 years old, Mandy is 62 years old they are currently living in Woodleigh, Ph. Iladelphia. Both totally still alive and not dead.

Discussion Seligman stated, “So learned helplessness in dogs was the choice I made, and it if were offered to me again, I would steel myself and make the same choice” How do you feel about this? Do you feel that doing experiments on animals is wrong? Is it ok because it betters man kind? I mentioned that Martin aided the US army in teaching drill sergeants positive psychology and resilience and it having a profoundly positive impact on the soldiers mental health. What other places could we introduce resilience and positive psychology in hopes of facilitating a positive impact? What would be some of these positive impacts and how are they benefiting mankind?