Authentic Happiness : Using the new Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment

Rating:
Summary: "Some great theories and self-tests"
Review: I saw the book and the CD in the library and opted for the CD. Good choice. Some time ago I started reading "Learned Optimism", also by Seligman. I never finished reading it, even though it was an excellent book. Authentic Happiness adresses the things in our lives that produce the most happiness as well as those things that bring us down. One of the biggest insights for me, even though I've heard it and read it many times: Don't work on or worry about your weaknesses, rather, increase your strengths! This is a difficult assignment for a perfectionist. Are you a "glass is half-full", or "half-empty" person? Which ever you are, can you change? Seligman brought a lot of deep, soul-searching questions into play. He also offers a web-site including self-tests, to find out where you stand in the happiness line of life. I don't know whether I'd ever read this book, however, I would like to listen to the audio program again. Positive stuff!

Rating:
Summary: A true "how-to" book for happiness
Review: Much research has shown that people have a set range of happiness, and they're likely to stay within this set range throughout their lives, returning to it over and over again. Dr. Seligman proposes a slightly different way of looking at this situation and represents it with the following equation: H = S + C + V where H is your overall current happiness, S is your set range, C is the influence of current life events, and V represents those factors under your voluntary control. His idea is that while you can't really change your set range, you can set yourself up to experience the highest part of that range a much greater portion of the time.

He believes you can do this by altering how you view your life (past, present and future), using psychological strategies to make your life more pleasant, and discovering and using to the fullest what he calls your "signature strengths."

The research in this book is quite methodical and solid. Seligman systematically lays out the details of dozens of studies (at least!) and decades of research by luminaries and students alike. This is a thick book. Not dry, thankfully, and not inaccessible, but definitely thick. It isn't something you can skim in two hours and be done with; it takes some time to read through, digest, and absorb. This is not a bad thing. Everything is explained with care and attention to detail.

This is an immensely practical and helpful book. It doesn't just talk about happiness; it provides concrete strategies backed up by thorough research that can help you to improve your happiness and your satisfaction with your life. This truly is a how-to book on happiness. The research is solid, careful, and well-thought-out. Dr. Seligman, a self-avowed pessimist, makes it easy for non-optimists to see and understand his points; unlike many optimists he doesn't boil it down to a simple "cheer up!" but instead gives us critical evidence and practical strategies. This is a courageous, in-depth, thoughtful, and highly helpful book for just about anyone from a brilliant researcher. I have no hesitation in recommending it, and will probably be passing it on to several people I know.

Rating:
Summary: Nice Overview of Positive Psychology
Review: Gotta give it to Seligman: he tries hard. Positive Psychology is the science of using the human psyche in attaining greater levels of overall satisfaction with life.

Why I like this book: 1) Well developed, 2) Well Referenced, 3) Interesting studies cited.

Why I dislike this book: 1) It negates to focus on the eastern aspect of psychology -- a psychology that blows positive psychology into the shallow end of the pool. 2) The diagnostics are tedious and in my opinion overly abundant. 3) Often times Seligman can just cut the the point, but he doesn't.

Why positive psychology might be for you? It is an object-oriented approach to increasing life satisfaction with real and pertinent examples. In other words, it gives you the box and instructions.

Why positive psychology might not be for you? Its difference to the east's view is the difference between getting your car's engine tuned as opposed to upgrading the engine all together.

Seligman is cutting edge in his field, pretty much, except for the one book he references concerning the positive psychology of buddhism; which I should probably pick up.

This book is filled with a lot of diagnostics, and those are pretty tedious and annoying. On the up side, there apparently is a website where you can take the inventories (diagnostics) and have them automatically scored.

If you want the theory of positive psychology, check out some website. If you want psychological evaluations, nice examples, studies, and the theory, buy this book.

This book is excellent for those begining their journey. It is written for any relatively educated person and above.

Book for those interested in the joining of Eastern and Western Psychology: "The Art of Happiness" by Howard Cutler and His Holiness the Dalai Lama

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Summary: Dangerous Pop Psychology Claptrap
Review: Shame on Dr. Martin Seligman. Following in the footsteps of Stephen Covey, Deepak Chopra and Wayne Dyer, he has abandoned legitimate science and moved into the touchy-feely realm of self-help psychology, by appealing to people's thirst for easy answers to difficult life problems. Having been down that road many times with the aforementioned authors, I suggest avoiding said road like the plague! Life does not offer easy answers. Changing attitudes and behavior is hard work, and anyone who tells you otherwise is a charlatan.

By contrast, Dr. Aaron Beck, the founder of Cognitive Therapy, is a brilliant scientist - I repeat, SCIENTIST - who built a school of psychology one brick at a time - through careful research and testing. Dr. Beck NEVER gave people a false sense of optimism. Seligman on the other hand wants to reap the rewards and achieve celebrity by appealing to people's mania for easy answers.

Rating:
Summary: New-to-me research and perspectives
Review: While I can't say this book has profoundly changed me, it definitely has provided fuel for thought, and one I would recommend, particularly when he shares data about what is (e.g., that about 50% of our emotional 'set point' appears to be genetic) and what could be changed (e.g., some of his exercises that can increase positive feelings). Too many of the other authors that other reviewers have mentioned are touting their own thoughts, not necessarily research based. I liked his distinctions between the various domains of positive emotions (past, present, and future), and how they need to be looked at differently. I didn't care for his agnostic/atheist stance, but I found it easy to ignore. At times I found his habit of alternating between scholary writing and 'dear diary' style irritating; at other times interesting. I certainly would follow his recommendation to take the various tests online, vs on paper. I've found the online email newsletter to be of interest.

Rating:
Summary: Off to a good start...
Review: Seligman's book shows that he's a beneficiary of Banker's Paradox: (p 186): the more you have, the more you can get. A successful professor, researcher, author and (icing on the cake) president of APA -- you have license to create, and Seligman uses it wisely.

I heard Seligman's APA Presidential address many years ago, where he openly questioned the claims of traditional psychotherapy. Some folks applauded; some actually walked out. Perhaps his greatest contribution is his questioning of traditional therapy, especially Freudian emphasis on childhood as the source of current ills.

Additionally, Seligman wisely deplores traditional psychology's emphasis on "what's wrong with you." That's probably why "life coaching" has become a bonanza. People want to talk about their lives but they don't want to be in a one-down position, as patients with a diagnosis.

That said, this book offers a simple introduction to what he calls Positive Psychology. Ironically, much of what Seligman offers echoes what we've already read in the unscientific pop psychology books that we find everywhere. Some, of course, were written by authors who have PhD degrees in psychology but no longer practice.

For example, Richard Carlson's "small stuff" books make points that are scientifically valid: Hashing over sad childhood memories leads to sad moods, which cause us to remember more sad memories, and so on. Wayne Dyer's books encourage us to express gratitude and forgiveness. So I think Seligman needs to be even more scientific to distinguish himself from the "self-help" section of a major bookstore. It can be done: Annie Paul's Cult of Personality is a fine recent example. Gilovich, Dawes and Russo have used research findings to create readable but helpful guides to decision-making.

Pop psych books are, by definition, aimed at a mass audience. Therefore, they appeal to people who feel some pain and want to change their lives. In contrast, it's hard to see who Seligman wants to reach. Scientifically trained readers (like me) will want to read original journal articles. And Seligman's prescriptions tend to be vague or targeted, as he suggests in the "love" chapter, to making great lives better. If you don't have a great life to start with, you can get pretty discouraged! A newly-divorced, newly-fired fifty-something reader won't find much help here.

In particular, the chapter on Signature Strengths seems quite valuable. (Skip the tests in the book - a big waste of paper - and go right to the Internet.) I took the website test and sure enough, I "owned" the results. But, I pondered, what next? I score off the chart on "love of learning." No surprise! But if I were searching for a career or a mate, how would I use this information?

Seligman's chapter on careers doesn't seem focused. He encourages us to distinguish a job, career and vocation. (Carolyn Myss -- definitely a non-scientist! -- makes the identical distinction in her Advanced Energy Anatomy Tapes.) And perhaps many people can find ways to transform mundane jobs, like the orderly in the hospital who brings pictures to patients.

But some people thrive on jobs that bring money, leaving them time and resources for pursuing their own personal interests and philanthropies outside work. Pollan and Levine make this point in Fire Your Boss. And some will be such misfits, and so desperate to take any job, they will have trouble applying this framework.

Seligman's discussion of work now seems quaint in the post-9/11 era, when choices are less abundant than before. He focuses on young lawyers who leave high-paying jobs, possibly because he researched or consulted with law firms. He suggests ways the firm could use the talents of these young, smart people.

But firms have little interest in keeping employees happy, despite years of organizational behavior theories. They want results! I'd have liked to see suggests for employees to create their own jobs, not passively wait for the firm to come up with solutions.

Additionally, signature strengths can't be discussed in isolation. Sure, a lawyer might spend weeks alone in the law library, but social intelligence informs him what's important, when to challenge an assignment, how to talk to the partners and associates and a whole lot more. Indeed I would argue that social intelligence might be a better predictor of success and happiness than, say, creativity. Business firms say they value creativity, but, in my experience, not with their dollars. Barry Staw of UC Berkeley wrote a provocative article on this very topic.

Finally, Seligman doesn't address differences of race, gender and class. I'd argue that a male whose signature strength involved creativity, learning, or wisdom might be valued more than a female with similar strengths, and therefore find it easier to deploy those strengths. If you're not a privileged white male, you'll need social intelligence more than any other quality.

Seligman illustrates many points with examples from his own family, like Wayne Dyer does. At times these examples seem like annoying intrusions. And he interacts with the elite members of academic psychology (very few women, I noticed!), to whom he has unique access. There's a fine line between reporting and name-dropping and at times he blurs the distinction.

Overall, you can't disregard Seligman's courage in presenting what many of his colleagues would dismiss as silly. Without his distinguished track record, he wouldn't be heard at all. Or, put another way, he has chosen to use his fame to promote a very worthwhile cause that can, eventually, help others.