Martin E.P. Seligman, Ph.D., works on learned helplessness, depression, and on optimism and pessimism. He is currently Zellerbach Family Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. He is well known in academic and clinical circles and is a best-selling author.
His bibliography includes twenty books and 200 articles on motivation and personality. Among his better-known works are Learned Optimism; The Optimistic Child; Helplessness; Abnormal Psychology, Authentic Happiness, Flourish, and coauthor of Character Strengths and Virtues.
Dr. Seligman's research and writing has been broadly supported by a number of institutions including The National Institute of Mental Health (continuously since 1969), the National Institute of Aging, the National Science Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the MacArthur Foundation. His research on preventing depression received the MERIT Award of the National Institute of Mental Health in 1991. He is the network director of the Positive Psychology Network and Scientific Director of the Telos Project of the Mayerson Foundation.
In 1996 Dr. Seligman was elected President of the American Psychological Association.
