The Psychology Book (63 page)

those who found satisfaction in

part of the enjoyment of flow is the

important in making work more

pursuits such as sports and games.

sense of being outside everyday

rewarding and meaningful. ■

Mihály

Mihály Csíkszentmihályi was

Csíkszentmihályi remained

Csíkszentmihályi

born in Fiume, Italy (now Rijeka,

at the University of Chicago,

Croatia), where his father was

teaching and developing his

posted as a Hungarian diplomat.

ideas on “flow,” from 1969 to

The family became exiles in Rome

2000, when he was appointed

when Hungary was taken over by

Professor of Psychology and

the Communists in 1948.

Management at Claremont

As a teenager, Csíkszentmihályi

Graduate University, California.

attended a talk given by Carl Jung

in Switzerland, which inspired him

Key works

to study psychology. A scholarship

brought him to the University of

1975
Beyond Boredom and

Chicago; he graduated in 1959,

Anxiety

and received his PhD in 1965.

1990
Flow: The Psychology

While still a student, he married

of Optimal Experience

the writer Isabella Selenga, and in

1994
The Evolving Self

1968 became a US citizen.

1996
Creativity

200

HAPPY PEOPLE

ARE EXTREMELY

SOCIAL

MARTIN SELIGMAN (1942– )

IN CONTEXT

There are three kinds of happy life.

APPROACH

Positive psychology

BEFORE

1950s
Carl Rogers develops

the concept and practice of

The Meaningful

The Good

The Pleasant

Life
—acting

“client-centered” therapy.

Life
—pursuing

Life
—socializing

in the service of

personal growth and

and seeking

1954
Abraham Maslow uses

something greater

achieving “flow.”

pleasure.

the term “positive psychology”

than yourself.

for the first time, in his book

Motivation and Personality.

1960s
Aaron Beck exposes

the weaknesses of traditional

psychoanalytical therapy, and

proposes cognitive therapy.

Social relationships

These
bring
lasting

happiness
,
but this

do not guarantee

AFTER

happiness cannot be

high happiness,

1990
Mihály Csíkszentmihályi

achieved without

but it does not appear

publishes
Flow: The Psychology

social relationships.

to occur without them.

of Optimal Experience
, based

on his research into the links

between meaningful, engaging

activity and happiness.

1994
Jon Kabat-Zinn’s

Wherever You Go
,
There You

W
hile experimental

cognitive therapies still focused

psychology after World

largely on alleviating unhappy

War II became deeply

conditions rather than on creating

Are
introduces the idea of

concerned with the cognitive

and promoting happier ones.

“mindfulness meditation” to

processes of the brain, clinical

Martin Seligman, whose theory of

cope with stress, anxiety,

psychology continued to examine

“learned helplessness” (the spiral of

pain, and illness.

ways to treat disorders such as

acquiring pessimistic attitudes in

depression and anxiety. The new

illnesses such as depression) had

COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 201

See also:
Erich Fromm 124–29 ■ Carl Rogers 130–37 ■ Abraham Maslow 138–39 ■

Aaron Beck 174–77 ■ Mihály Csíkszentmihályi 198–99 ■ Jon Kabat-Zinn 210

much pleasure as possible,

appeared to bring happiness,

though Seligman found this was

often short-lived. Less obviously,

the good life, or being successfully

engaged in relationships, work,

Good social relationships

and play, gave a deeper, more

are, like food and

lasting happiness. Similarly, the

thermoregulation,

meaningful life, or acting in the

universally important

service of others or something

to human mood.

bigger than oneself, led to great

Martin Seligman

Martin Seligman

satisfaction and fulfilment.

Seligman also observed that

Born in Albany, New York,

Martin Seligman took his

good and meaningful lifestyles

first degree in philosophy at

both involve activities that his

Princeton University in 1964.

colleague Mihály Csíkszentmihályi

He then turned his attention

had described as generating “flow,”

to psychology, gaining a

or deep mental engagement. The

doctorate from the University

led to more successful treatments

pleasant life clearly does not involve

of Pennsylvania in 1967. He

in the 1980s, believed that what

“flow,” but Seligman did find that all

taught at Cornell University,

psychology offered was good, but

the “extremely happy people” he

New York, for three years,

it could offer more. He felt that

studied were also very sociable,

before returning in 1970 to

therapy should be “as concerned

and in a relationship. He concluded

Pennsylvania, where he has

with strength as with weakness;

that “social relationships do not

been Professor of Psychology

as interested in building the best

guarantee high happiness, but it

since 1976.

things in life as repairing the

does not appear to occur without

Seligman’s research into

worst.” Having studied philosophy,

them.” A good and meaningful life

depression during the 1970s

he likened the task of his “positive

may bring
eudaemonia,
but having

led to a theory of “learned

helplessness,” and a method

psychology” to that of Aristotle

a pleasant life as well will intensify

of countering the pervasive

seeking
eudaemonia
—“the happy

whatever happiness you achieve. ■

pessimism associated with it.

life.” Like his philosophical

But after an incident with his

forebears, Seligman found this was

daughter that highlighed his

not a matter of relieving or removing

own innate negativity, he was

things that make us unhappy, but

persuaded that focusing on

of encouraging those things that

positive strengths, rather than

might make us happy—and first he

negative weaknesses, was key

had to discover what they were.

to happiness. Regarded as one

of the founding fathers of

“Happy” lives

modern positive psychology,

Seligman noticed that extremely

Seligman instigated the

happy, fulfilled people tend to get

Positive Psychology Center at

on with others, and enjoy company.

the University of Pennsylvania.

They seemed to lead what he called

Key works

“the pleasant life,” one of the three

Enjoying social events
and the

distinct types of “happy” life that

company of others may not offer deep

1975
Helplessness

he identified, the others being “the

intellectual or emotional satisfaction,

1991
Learned Optimism

good life” and “the meaningful life.”

but Seligman observed that it was an

2002
Authentic Happiness

The pleasant life, or seeking as

essential part of being truly happy.

WHAT WE BELIEVE

WITH ALL OUR HEARTS

IS NOT NECESSARILY

ELIZABETH LOFTUS (1944– )

TH

E TRUTH

204 ELIZABETH LOFTUS

IN CONTEXT

T
oward the end of the

19th century, Sigmund

Freud claimed that the

APPROACH

mind has a way of defending itself

Memory

against unacceptable or painful

BEFORE

thoughts and impulses, by using an

Human remembering

1896
Sigmund Freud proposes

unconscious mechanism that he