Flourish: Positive Psychology

and Positive Interventions

MARTIN SELIGMAN
TuvT.wwvvLvc:UvvsowHUx.w V.iUvs
Delivered at
TeUniversityofMichigan
October -, .c:c
x.v:iwsviicx.wworksonpositivepsychology,learnedhelplessness,
depression,optimism,andpessimism.HeiscurrentlyZellerbachFamily
ProfessorofPsychologyintheDepartmentofPsychologyattheUniver-
sityofPennsylvaniaandthedirectorofthePositivePsychologyCenter.
He was elected president of the American Psychological Association in
:,,c by the largest vote in history. Dr. Seligmans bibliography includes
twenty-onebooksandmorethan.,carticles.Amonghisbetter-known
worksarethebest-sellingAuthentic Happiness(.cc.),Helplessness(:,-,),
Learned Optimism (:,,:), What You Can Change and What You Cant
(:,,,),Te Optimistic Child(:,,,),andCharacter Strengths and Virtues
(.cc,withChristopherPeterson).Hisbookshavebeentranslatedinto
morethanthirtylanguages.HislatestbookisFlourish (.c::).
Dr. SeligmanistherecipientofthreeDistinguishedScientincContri-
butionAwardsfromtheAmericanPsychologicalAssociation,theLaurel
AwardoftheAmericanAssociationforAppliedPsychologyandPreven-
tion, the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Society for Research in
Psychopathology,andthenrstWileyPsychologyLifetimeAwardofthe
BritishAcademy.
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Wehaveastrangeheritageaboutthepositiveandnegativesidesoflife.'
OurheritagecomesfromSchopenhauerandFreudwhotoldusthatthe
bestwecaneverhopeforistokeepourmiseryandsuneringtoamini-
mum.Iwanttosuggesttodaythepossibilityofapositivehumanfuture.
Untilthepossibilitythatthereismoretolifethanminimizingsunering
gets on the radar screen, a positive human future is much less likely. As
a nrst step, I will outline what it might mean for human beings to have
apositivehumanfuture,tofourish,andhowsciencecanhelpusunder-
stand more about the elements of the positive side of life and how they
mightbeachieved.
HereisanoutlineofwhatIamgoingtodiscuss.Ihavegivenyouthe
prologueifwemerelybegintothinkofourownlives,thelivesofour
university,thelivesofournation,morethanjustintermsofgoingfrom,
tocbutofgoingfrom+.to+,,thatmerelyhavingthatpossibilityonthe
radarscreenmaydosomegood.Next Iamgoingtotrytodennewhatit
meanstogofrom+.to+,.HavingdennedwhatIthinkitisforahuman
being,anorganization,oranationtofourish,Iamthengoingtoaskthe
question:IsthepositivesideoflifebuildableOrisitlikeyourwaistline
You probably know that dieting is a scam, a nny-billion-dollar scam in
the United States. And the reason for that is that any of you can lose ,
percentofyourbodyweightinaboutthreeweeksbyfollowinganydiet
thatisonthebest-sellerlistnow.Teproblemisthatbetweenscand,,
percentofyouwillregainallthatweightormoreinthenextthreetonve
years(Mannet al. .cc-;Powell,Calvin,andCalvin.cc-).Isthepositive
sideoflifelikesomanythingsinwhichwecanseetemporarychangesand
thenreverttoourbaselineOrisitactuallymovableTereisagrowing
literatureonpositiveinterventionsthatsuggeststhatwhatIamgoingto
denneinamomentasthepositivesideoflifePERMA:positiveemo-
tion,engagement,relationships,meaning,andaccomplishmentisactu-
allybuildable.
Ten I will talk about positive intervention programs in larger
entitiesin schools, in school systems, and in the entire United States
Army. Te chief of stan decided two years ago that he wanted to create
anarmythatwasjustaspsychologicallyntasphysicallynt.Iwilltellthe
storyofthismassiveculturalintervention.Finally,Iwillask,Canposi-
tive interventions work, not only in individuals and organizations, but
:. TranscriptionbyAlex Silk.
Te Tanner Lectures on Human Values
232
alsoinentirenationsCanithappengloballyInthiscontextIbelieve
thatthewealthynationsoftheworldstandataveryspecialmomentin
historyaFlorentine momentinwhichwecan,withgreatenect,decide
whatourwealth is for.
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First, the question: what is positive psychology Historically and in my
ownintellectualhistory,psychologyhasbeenaboutwhatiswrongwith
life: suicide, depression, schizophrenia, and all the brick walls that can
fall on you. I started my work on learned helplessness (Seligman :,-,):
people who experience uncontrollable bad events become passive, not
tryingtodoanythingabouttheirfuture.Suchpeoplealsohavecognitive
troubles:dimcultyseeingthattheiractionssucceedwhentheyreallydo.
Butinthehelplessnessliteraturetherewas,fortenyears,aregularity:one-
thirdofthepeoplewhocametomylaboratory,peopletowhominescap-
ableeventsweregiven,neverbecamehelpless.Soaroundthirty-nveyears
agowebegantoaskthequestion,whatisitaboutsomepeoplethatmakes
themimmunefromhelplessnessAndwhatisitaboutone-tenthofthe
people who came to my laboratory, who would become helpless at the
dropofahatItturnedoutthatthekeywasoptimism.Whenwebegan
to ask people in the laboratory and in real life who experienced awful
events,thosepeoplewhosehabitualwayoflookingatsetbacksinlifewas
tragicpeople who said, Tis is going to last forever and is going to
undermineeverythingIdo,andthereisnothingIcandoaboutitwere
the people who collapsed most readily. By and large, the people whom
wecouldnotmakehelplesswerepeoplewho,whenbadeventsoccurred,
hadthehabitofmindofsaying,Itstemporary,itsjustthisonesituation,
andthereissomethingIcandoaboutit.Tatwaswhatwecalledlearned
optimism(Seligman :,,:).
Tirteenyearsago,whenIwaspresidentoftheAmericanPsychologi-
calAssociation,myjobwastolookaroundatwhatpsychologydidwell
and what it did badly. What psychology did well was misery. What it
did not do very well was what made life worth living. It was with that
inmindthatIgatheredtogetherunderonelargetentsomeofthelead-
ingpeople,amongthemChrisPetersonandBarbaraFrederickson,who
workedonthepositivesideoflife,andtriedtocreateaneldinwhichwe
askedthequestion,Whatmakeslifeworthliving,andhowcanwebuild
itIn thisframework,psychologyisjustasconcernedwithstrengthasit
iswithweakness.Itisjustasinterestedinbuildingwhatmakeslifeworth
livingasitiswithrepairingpathology.
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I hasten to say to those of you who do clinical work that I am not
remotely suggesting that positive psychology is a replacement for
psychology-as-usual.Ispentmylifeworkingonmiseryandsunering,and
I think we have learned something about how to lower the amount of
it on the planet. Positive psychology is a supplement to psychology-as-
usual.JustworkingwithintheSchopenhauer-Freudframework,thebest
you can do is to relieve misery. Tis is literally half-baked. Most of you,
whenyougotobedatnight,arenotthinkingofhowtogofromsto,
inlife.Byandlarge,youarethinkingabouthowtogofrom+,to+c.Tis
suggests that in addition to understanding sunering, we need to under-
standhowtogofrom+,to+c.Sopositivepsychologyisasupplementto
whatpsychologytraditionallydoes.Weshouldbejustasconcernedwith
makingthelivesofpeoplefulfllingaswearewithhealing pathology.
Finally, though we have spent so much enort in pharmacology and
in psychotherapy developing interventions that relieve misery, such
interventionsarenotthesameasinterventionsthatproducewell-being.
Removing the disabling conditions of life is laudable, but it is not the
sameendeavorasbuildingtheenablingconditionsof life.
Iamapsychotherapist.Onceinawhile,Iwoulddoprettygoodwork.
I would get rid of almost all of a patients sadness, her anxiety, and her
anger.IthoughtIwouldgetahappyperson.But Ineverdid.What Igot
wasanemptyperson.Tatisbecausebuildingtheskillsofhavingbetter
relationships,moremeaninginlife,moreengagement,andmorepositive
emotion is almost entirely dinerent from building the skills of nghting
depression, anxiety, and anger. So, positive psychology aims to develop
interventionsthatbuildtheenablingconditionsoflife,notjustinterven-
tionsthatdecrease misery.
u.:isvii-nviwc:
Letmetakeyouthroughmyintellectualdevelopmentaboutwell-being.
AbouttenyearsagoIwroteabookcalledAuthentic Happinessinwhich
I asked the question, what are the components of happiness I argued
thatthestudyofhappinesscouldbedissolvedintothestudyofpositive
emotion and engagement and meaning. Te nrst element of happiness
was positive emotion. Te second was being absorbed, engagement. And
thethirdwashavingmeaninginlife,belongingtoandservingsomething
you believed was bigger than you were. Tat was the Authentic Happi-
nesstheory,andalotofresearchfollowed.
Startingaroundfouryearsago,Ibegantochangemymindaboutthis
theory.Tenrstproblemwasthetargetofpositivepsychology.Tetarget
Te Tanner Lectures on Human Values
234
of positive psychology was happiness, and the prime measurement was
life satisfaction. I found this problematic because, as Ruut Veenhoven
(.ccc) has shown, when you ask people about their life satisfaction,
-c percentoftheiransweriswhatmoodtheyarein,andabout,cpercent
is what judgment they make about the conditions of their life. I didnt
want a happiology, a psychology that was merely about what mood
peoplewerein.Instead,Ihavechangedthetargetofpositivepsychology
fromhappinessorlifesatisfactiontowell-beingorfourishing.
Tesecondproblemistheelementsofthisnewtargetofpositivepsy-
chology.Ibegantobeconvincedthatpositiveemotion,engagement,and
meaningdidnotexhaustwhatpeoplevaluedfortheirownsake.Rather,
therearefvedinerentelementsofwell-being.Firstandsecondarepositive
emotionandengagement,asinAuthenticHappinesstheory.Tethirdis
positive relationships.Ihavecometobelievethatpeoplearemotivatedto
seek out and maintain positive relationships even when it brings none
oftheotherelements.Tefourthelementismeaning,belongingtoand
servingsomethingthatyouthinkisbiggerthanyouare.Andthennhis
accomplishment.Manypeoplearemotivatedtoachieve,tohavemastery,
to have competence, even if it brings no positive emotion, no engage-
ment,norelationships,andnomeaning(Seligman .c::).
Letmeexplainbrienywhathasconvincedmeofthat.Iamaserious
bridgeplayer.Greatbridgeplayersdivideintotwocategories:thosewho,
whentheyplay,areengagedandhappy,andthosewhojustplaytowin.
Among the latter are cheaters. Some people actually cheat at high-level
bridge just in order to win. I think the same thing is true in the actual
worldaswell.So Ihavebecomeconvincedthataccomplishmentisannh
element.
I want now to illustrate the kind of science that is done in positive
psychology by discussing research on optimism, one of the positive
emotionsandwhatitsenectisondepression,achievement,andphysi-
calhealth.TirtyyearsagoChrisPetersonandIstartedtomeasureopti-
misticversuspessimisticpeople.Optimisticpeopleweredennedaspeople
who viewed setbacks as temporary, changeable, and local. Pessimists
viewedsetbacksaspermanent,unchangeable,andpervasive.Wefollowed
both across time, and we found that, holding depression constant, pes-
simisticpeoplegotdepressedattwicetherateofoptimisticpeoplewhen
theyfacedsetbacks(PetersonandSeligman :,s).
Wethenaskedthequestion,whatistheenectofoptimismonachieve-
ment Tis has been tested in schools, in the business world, in sports.
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[Sviicx.w] Flourish
Importantly, the form of the studies from this large literature involves
taking peoples optimism or pessimism at time t
:
, their talents at time
t
:
, and then seeing if increases or decreases in the target variable can be
predicted. Here is a school example that comes from the University of
Pennsylvania,wheretheadmissionscommitteetakestheapplicantsSAT
score, high school grade point average, and achievement tests, and then
grinds these scores into a regression equation. Tis spits out a number
like ,.,: the applicants predicted grade point average for the freshman
year.Muchofadmissionsisdonebasedonthatnumber.SoPennsdean
of admissions had come to me and said, Marty, were making a lot of
mistakesinadmissionsatPenn.Wenndthattherearealargenumberof
kidswhodomuchbetterthantheyresupposedtodo,giventheirSATs
andtheirhighschoolrecords.A smallernumberofthemdomuchworse.
Canyoupredictwhoisgoingtodobetteror worse
Inresponse,wedidthefollowingstudy.Onstudentsnrstdayatthe
UniversityofPennsylvania,wegavethemoptimism-pessimismteststhat
welloveramillionpeoplehavetakennow,andthenwesimplywatched
them for the nrst semester. We found that eighty-three of the kids did
:.,standarddeviationsbetterthantheyweresupposedtodo,giventheir
talents. Only seventeen kids did :., standard deviations worse. (Tat is
aboutgettinganA-insteadofaC+,orviceversa.)Itwasthepessimists
who did worse than they were supposed to and the optimists who did
better(Seligman,Kamen,andNolen-Hoeksema :,ss).
Ataroundthesametime,thecoachofAmericasOlympicswimming
team in the Seoul Olympics of :,ss, Nort Tornton, wanted to know
who to put in the relay races. In swimming, the relay races occur aner
individualevents.Sothequestionis,Ifaswimmerdoesbadlyinanindi-
vidualevent,shouldyouputthatswimmerintotherelaysOrwillthey
collapseWemeasuredtheoptimismandpessimismofallofAmericas
male and female Olympic swimmers. Here is what we did with Matt
Biondi.NortsentMattintothepooltoswimthe:cc-meterny.Biondi
swam it in ,c... He came out of the pool, and Nort said, lying to him,
Matt,,..,.Restupfortwentyminutesandswimitagain.Biondiswam
itthesecondtimein,.,.Heisinthetop.,percentofoptimismamong
professionalathletes.Optimisticathletesgetfasteranerdefeat,whilepes-
simisticathletesgetslower(Seligmanet al. :,,c).
I will summarize one study on cardiovascular death and optimism.
Take ,,, sixty-nve-year-old Dutch men and women and monitor them
foradecade.Tenyearslater,,,percentofthemaredeadofcardiovascular
Te Tanner Lectures on Human Values
236
complications. Can you predict who is going to die, given all the tradi-
tionalriskfactorslikecholesterol,bloodpressure,bodymassindex,and
the like Tese risk factors are not very predictive. But if you take the
optimism and pessimism, holding constant the risk factors, the upper
quartile in optimism has less than half the risk of cardiovascular death
thantherestofthepopulation(Giltayet al. .cc).Tereareaboutnf-
teensuchstudiesintheliterature.
What I have done so far is denne the neld of positive psychology.
Positivepsychologyisabouttheconceptofwell-being.Teelementsof
well-being are PERMA: positive emotion, engagement, relationships,
meaning,andaccomplishment.Ihavegivensomesamplesofthescience
that has been done on these nve elements. Can these elements be built
in people
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Before describing how many positive interventions begin, I should say
that I am a pessimist and a depressive. I take my own medicine. For
example, when one of my undergraduates suggested to me ten years
agothatmakingagratitudevisitmightincreasepositiveemotion,Inrst
tried it on myself. I have always taken whatever my subjects have taken.
When I didshockinanimals,Iwouldtaketheshocknrst.(And Iwould
eatthePurinachow,whichwasworsethantheshock!)So Inrstdidthese
interventions on myself. If it works on me, I give it to my wife and my
seven children. If it works on us, then my graduate students get it, and
thenwearereadytodolaboratorystudiesonit.Ifitworksinlaboratory
studies,webegintodoclinicalstudies.
Tere is a gold-standard method for testing interventions on the
negative side of liferandom-assignment, placebo-controlled studies.
Since Ihadusedthismethodologywithpsychotherapystudiesandwith
drug studies, when I began to work on positive interventions ten years
ago, I asked, Could you do the same thing on positive interventions
Could you ask in a rigorous way whether a given positive intervention,
in a random-assignment, placebo-controlled procedure, would actually
make people lastingly less depressed From the Buddha to modern pop
psychology,therehavebeenabouttwohundredsuggestionsaboutwhat
makespeoplelastinglyhappy.Whatwedoinmylaboratoryistakethese
dinerentsuggestions,manualizethem,andputthemontheWorldWide
Web. I have a website, www.authentichappiness .org. Some :.s million
peoplehaveregisteredatitandtakenthetests.Ithasallthebasictestsof
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thepositivesideoflife,and,everysoonen,alinkwithexercisesappears.
Tis link says something like this: Dr. Seligman would like to nnd out
which exercises make people lastingly happier and less depressed, and
whichareplacebos.Ifyouarewillingtodothis,youaregoingtogetan
exercisebutwillnotknowwhetheritisaplaceboorarealexercise.Ten
wearegoingtofollowyouforthenextsixmonths,askingyouaboutyour
depression and well-being. Tat is typical of the methodology that we
use. Using this procedure, we have found what works lastingly well and
whatdoes not.
Oneexercisefromthewebsiteisthreegoodthings:Everynightfor
thenextweek,beforeyougotosleep,writedownthreethingsthatwent
welltoday,andwhytheywentwell.Itturnsoutthatwhenpeopledothis,
sixmonthslatertheyarelessdepressedandhavehigherpositiveemotion
comparedtoplaceboeventhoughtheexercisesaystodoitforonlyone
week.Positiveinterventions,unlikenegativeones,tendtobeaddictive.
Oneofthedirtylittlesecretsofpsychotherapyresearchisthattheway
wemeasureitsenectivenessishowlongtheenectslastanertheendofthe
treatmentbeforetheymelttozero.Sadtosay,byandlargeinpsycho-
therapy, as in dieting, you get benents for a few months, and then they
melttozero.Interestingly,onecharacteristicofmanyofthepositiveexer-
cises is that they are self-sustaining. Unlike dieting, where its no fun to
keepturningdownchocolatemousse,whenyoustartwritingdownthree
things that went well today and why they went well, you tend to sleep
better,andyoudontgotosleepatnightthinkingabout,say,thenghtyou
justhadwithyourdean.Byandlarge,peoplekeepdoingtheexerciseaner
theweekisup.Teexercisesthustendtobeself-maintaining.
Hereisanotherexercise.Maritaltherapyisthemostdimcultformof
therapytodo,andithastheworstoutcomestatistics.Basically,inmarital
therapy,whatweteachpeopleishowtonghtbetter,hownottohavethe
samenghtoverandover.Whatyoutrytodo,essentially,ischangeinsuf-
ferable marriages into barely tolerable marriages. Tat is not what posi-
tive psychology is interested in. So about seven years ago, led by Shelly
Gable,maritalresearchersatUCLAbegantoaskthequestionnotofhow
couplesnghttogether,butofhowtheycelebratetogether.
Imaginethatyourspousehasjustbeenpromotedatwork.Whatdo
yousaytoherImaginea.x.table,whichisactivepassivebyconstruc-
tivedestructive. You might do active-destructive: Youve been pro-
motedYouknowwhattaxbracketthatsgoingtoputusintoYoumight
do what I did until I read the literaturenamely, passive-constructive:
Te Tanner Lectures on Human Values
238
Congratulations. Well deserved. You might do passive-destructive:
WhatsfordinnerButtheonlytypeofresponsethatworksisactive-
constructive:Wherewereyouwhenyourbosstoldyouthatyouhadbeen
promoted Exactly what did he say Why did you really think you had
beenpromotedYouknow,Ihavebeenreadingyournnancialreportsfor
thepastfewmonths,andthatlastreportyouwroteonthepensionplan
issimplythebestnnancialdocumentIhavereadinmytwenty-nveyears
inbusiness.WouldyourelivethewholeepisodewithmeTatisactive-
constructive responding. It turns out that practicing active-constructive
responding predicts increases in love and anection and decreases in
divorce. So active-constructive responding is a second exercise that is
quitewelldocumented now.
AthirdexercisecameoutoftheworkthatChrisPetersonandIdid.
Te VIA Signature Strengths Questionnaire (www.authentichappiness
.org),whichmorethanamillionpeoplehavetaken,tellsyouwhatyour
nvehigheststrengthsarefairness,kindness,socialintelligence,senseof
humor,andthelike.Onceyouhaveyoursignaturestrengths,yourassign-
mentisthefollowing:Tinkofsomethingthatyouhavetodoatschool
or at work every week that you dont like doing. Given that you have
found your signature strengths, think of a way of doing that task using
yourhigheststrength.
Letmeputalittleneshonthis.OnewomanIworkedwithwasawait-
ress. She hated waitressing, with the heavy trays and customers patron-
izingher.Hertaskwastoredennewaitressingusingherhigheststrength:
socialintelligence.Shedecidedthatshewouldmaketheencounterwith
her the social highlight of every customers evening. Notice that she is
goingtofailalmostallthetime.Sheis,however,continuallyputtingon
onerwhatsheisbestat.Inhercase,thetraysgotlighterandthetipsgot
bigger. In the case of random-assignment, placebo-controlled research,
sixmonthslateryouarelessdepressedandhappier(Seligmanet al. .cc,).
vvoxiwuiviuU.is:oovc.wiz.:iows:o w.:iows
Nowthatwehaveabouttwelvewell-documentedinterventionsthatwork
forindividuals,weaskedthequestion,Canyouhavepositiveinterven-
tionsinorganizationsWebeganwithschoolsandchildren.Wewentto
classroomsandtaughtindividualclassestechniquesofthesortthatIhave
describedabove.Wefoundinseveralstudiesthatwhenwetaughtten-to
twelve-year-oldsthetechniquesofpositivepsychologyandresilienceand
thenfollowedthemversuscontrolgroups,weroughlyhalvedtherateof
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[Sviicx.w] Flourish
depression and anxiety when the kids went through puberty (Gillham
et al. .cc-).
Sincetheteachinginthesestudieswasdonebygraduatestudents,we
thenaskedthequestion,couldweteachteacherstodothisSowedevel-
opedaten-daycourseforteachersandthenfollowedthestudentsofthese
teachersforthenexttwoyears.Wefoundthattheirstudentsshowedsig-
nincantly less depression, less anxiety, and, perhaps, better conduct for
the next two years (Seligman et al. .cc,). Could this work for a whole
schoolTeGeelongGrammarSchoolinAustralia(atraditionalBritish
boarding school) allowed us to try this. Twenty of my faculty went to
Australia, and we taught one hundred faculty from Geelong Grammar,
which has around twelve hundred students. Te faculty took ten days
tolearnthesetechniques.Tewholeschoolhasnowbeenimbuedwith
positiveeducation.Indeed,therearenownineteenreplicationsofthese
proceduresinschoolsacrosstheworld(Seligmanet al. .cc,).
Here is the story of the innection point in positive education. Two
years ago I was called to the Pentagon. Te chief of stan of the army,
George Casey, began by saying, Post-traumatic stress disorder, suicide,
depression, substance abuse, divorcewhat does positive psychology
have to say about that, Dr. Seligman I said that the distribution of
humanreactionstoextremeadversityisbellshaped.Onthefarlenhand
arepeoplewhofallapartunderextremeadversity.Teybecomehelpless,
they show what we now call post-traumatic stress disorder, they kill
themselves,ortheybecomemassivelydepressed.Inthegreatmiddleare
mostpeople,bydennition.Tesearepeoplewhoareresilient,inthesense
thatalthoughtheyhaveaveryhardtimeanertheawfulevent,withina
monthortwo,byourpsychologicalandphysicalmeasures,theyareback
where they were. And then a large number of people on the right-hand
side of the distribution show post-traumatic growth. Tat is, they onen
go through post-traumatic stress disorder, but a year later, by physical
andpsychologicalmeasures,theyarestrongerthantheywerebeforethe
adversity occurred. Tese are the people of whom Nietzsche said, If it
doesntkillme,itmakesmestronger (:,,c).
Mysuggestiontothechiefofstanwasthathemovetheentiredistri-
bution of the army in the direction of post-traumatic growth by teach-
ing them the skills of positive psychology. General Casey then actually
ordered that, from that day forward, resilience and positive psychology
would be taught and measured throughout the entire United States
Army. General Casey said to me, Te general stan has read your work
Te Tanner Lectures on Human Values
240
onpositiveeducation,andwelikeyourmodel.Tatis,welikethenotion
that you teach teachers these skills and then have the teachers teach the
students.Tatisthearmyway.Isaid,ItisHesaid,Well,sure,wehave
c,cccteachersinthearmy:thedrill sergeants.Sothejob,Dr. Seligman,
willbetotrainallthedrillsergeantsinthearmyinpositivepsychology.
Indeed,thisiswhattheUnitedStatesArmyisdoingnow.Tisproject
iscalledComprehensiveSoldierFitness.First,anewtestofntnesswas
developed.Teusualarmytestsareaboutweaknessesandriskfactors.But
ChrisPeterson,withCarlCastro,developedatestofftness,a:c,-itemtest
ofpsychologicalntness,socialntness,familyntness,andspiritualntness.
Sowehavemeasuresofthesepositivevariableson:.:millionsoldiers.Sec-
ond,thearmyhasdevelopedonlinecoursesthatyoucantakeforcollege
creditineachoftheseareas.Tird,thearmyistrainingthedrill-sergeant
teachers in master resilience training. Every month :,c drill sergeants
come to the University of Pennsylvania for ten days, and we take them
throughtheteachingmanuals.Teythengooutandteachthe troops.
SotheU.S. Armyisinthemiddleofaculturaltransformation.George
Caseyisavisionary.Herealizesthatthewarsthatwehavebeeninvolved
inlatelyarehumanwars,notmechanicalwars,andifyouwanttocreate
an army that can do its job and not have an epidemic of post-traumatic
stressdisorder,youneedapsychologicallyntarmy.Sopsychologicalnt-
ness has now been elevated to the same level as physical ntness in the
UnitedStates Army.
Te United States Army is the largest organization that we have
workedwith.ButhowaboutnationsIsitpossiblethatanentirenation
cannourishPolicyfollowsfromwhatwemeasure,andrightnow,what
wemeasureisessentiallyeconomic.InFebruary,IadvisedtheToryleader-
shipoftheUKthatshouldyoubeelected,youshouldtakeseriouslythe
measurementofwell-beinginBritaininadditiontoeconomicmeasures.
Youshouldholdyourselfaccountableforincreasesinwell-beingandnot
justincreasesinwealth.YoushouldmeasurePERMAhowmuchposi-
tive emotion, how much engagement, how much goodness in relation-
ships, how much meaning, and how much accomplishment the British
peoplehave.Indeed,theTorieswereelected,andDavidCameronsgov-
ernmentisdoingwhatIsuggested.
Using criteria similar to PERMA, Felicia Huppert and Timothy So
(.cc,)oftheCambridgeWell-BeingInstitutemeasuredaboutnnythou-
sandadultsintwenty-threeEuropeannations.Tissurveyjustusedsub-
jectivecriteria,thoughIamveryinterestedincombiningsubjectiveand
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objectivemeasuresofpositiveemotion,engagement,relationships,mean-
ing, and accomplishment. Huppert and So reported, for example, that
Denmarkisleadingthepackwithabout,,percentofadultsnourishing,
Britainisatabout:spercent,andRussiaataboutcpercent.Tisbegin-
ningtellsusthattheconceptofhumannourishingismeasurable.So one
can ask the question of changing the criterion by which government is
judgedfrommakinganationwealthiertoincreasingitswell-being.It is
commonlysaidintheUnitedStatesandGreatBritainthatthisgenera-
tionofyoungpeoplewillbethenrstgenerationnotaswellonasitspar-
ents.Tatmaybetrueeconomically,butitisnottrueoffourishing.
Tis leads to the moon shot of positive psychology: our goal is that
bytheyear.c,:,,:percentoftheworldspopulationwillbenourishing.
Tisgoalisamoreserioushumangoalthanmorepeoplesmiling,having
good relationships, and having meaning in life. Te evidence is that the
downstream enects are that people who are nourishing by PERMA cri-
teriaarephysicallyhealthier,moreproductiveatwork,andmorepeace-
ful than people who are not nourishing. Some of the human goals we
most cherishprosperity, health, and peacewhich we have not been
abletoachievehead-on,mightbeabletobemetindirectly:bybuilding
nourishing.
oUvviovvw:iwv xoxvw:
Tisbringsmetomyconcludingcommentonthepoliticsofnourishing.
ItisnotapoliticsofLenorRight,whicharethepoliticsofwhatmeansto
theconventionalendsofwealthandsecurity.Tisisapoliticsofa difer-
ent end.Inthispolitics,theendishuman fourishing:whatgovernmentis
about,inthisview,isincreasinghumannourishing.
When nations are poor and at war and in famine and in plague, it
is perfectly natural that governments primary concern should be about
defense and damage. Tis is the way it has usually been in human his-
tory. But there have been eras when a nation was wealthy, at peace, not
incivilturmoil,notinplague,notinfamine.Florencehadbecomeenor-
mouslywealthybythe:,cs,due,forthemostpart,toMedicibanking
genius. Tey asked the question, What are we going to do with our
wealthCosimotheElderwontheday,andFlorencedecidedtodevote
its resources and its surplus to beauty. Tey gave us what, two hundred
yearslater,wecalledtheRenaissance.
I am not suggesting that the time has come for us to do sculpture.
Rather, I am suggesting that we are at a Florentine moment. Te rich
Te Tanner Lectures on Human Values
242
nations of the world have come to a Florentine moment. Te question
is,WhatisourwealthforMyeconomistfriendsgenerallysaythatthe
pointofwealthistoincreasewealth.Idisagree.Tepointofincreasing
wealthistoincreasewell-being,toincreasethePERMAinthecitizensof
the nation.
InZarathustra,Nietzschearguedthathumandevelopmenthasthree
stages. Te nrst stage he called the camel. Human history for the most
parthasbeeninthisstage.Tecameljustsitsthereandmoans.Tesec-
ondstageNietzschecalledthelion,orsometimestherebel.Whatthelion
doesissayNo!notopoverty,notoracism,notodisease.Tisisbasi-
callywhatourpoliticsfrom:--chasbeen,apoliticsofsayingNotothe
disabling conditions of life. I think you have to be blinded by ideology
nottoseethatthispoliticshasbeenworkingandthattherehasbeenreal
humanprogress.Terearemoregoodthingsintheworldnowthanthere
weretwohundredyearsago.Tereisnotonlymorewealth,butalsoless
racism,lesspollution,morehumanrights,fewerbattlenelddeaths,more
democracy,andon and on.
ButthelionisnotNietzschesnnalstage.Nietzschewondered,what
ifthelionworked,andweactuallyweresuccessfulinsayingNotothe
disablingconditionsoflifeTisleadstothethirdstageofhumanexis-
tence,whichNietzschecalledthechild reborn.Inthisstage,wecanask,
WhatcaneveryhumanbeingafrmWhatdoeseveryparentwantfor
everychildTisisexactlywhatwehavetalkedabout today.
WecanallsayYestomorepositiveemotionin life.
WecanallsayYestomoreengagementwiththepeoplewelove,in
ourwork,inourleisure.
WecanallsayYestobetterrelationshipswith people.
WecanallsayYestomoremeaningin life.
WecanallsayYestomorepositiveaccomplishment.
WecanallsayYestohumannourishing.
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