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Advances in the theory and applications of positive psychology. TED Studies are curated video collections for students, educators and self-guided learners. In Understanding Happiness, expert explorers of the mind chart our understanding of how happiness is created and cultivated.
Martin Seligman talks about psychology -- as a field of study and as it works one-on-one with each patient and each practitioner. As it moves beyond a focus on disease, what can modern psychology help us to become?
- Martin Seligman: The New Era of Positive Psychology
- Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: Flow, The Secret to Happiness
- Dan Gilbert: The Surprising Science of Happiness
- Shawn Achor: The Happy Secret to Better Work
- Carol Dweck: The Power of Believing That You Can Improve
- Angela Duckworth: The Key to Success? Grit
- Lea Waters: Warning – Being Positive Is Not For The Faint-Hearted!
- Robyn Stratton-Berkessel: Playful Inquiry – Try This Anywhere
- Barry Schwartz: The Paradox of Choice
- Tali Sharot: The Optimism Bias
Martin Seligman
It’s impossible to understand positive psychology without knowing about its founder Martin Seligman. With 20 self-help books and over 250 research articles to his name, he is the creator of the PERMA framework that describes the five elements of the “good life” – genuine, long-term wellbeing and happiness. Seligman tells us in this talk that the current “disease model” of psychology isn’t good enough. He explains why we should move away from the damage-repair approach that’s been standard pra...
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
The serenity, absorption, and complete engagement we feel when we’re entirely wrapped up in something we love has a name in positive psychology: flow. Csikszentmihalyi coined the term “flow” in his 1975 book Beyond Boredom and Anxiety: Experiencing Flow in Work and Play, and in this talk, he explains the roots of happiness and how to find a meaningful life. Csikszentmihalyi describes how he became interested in “a life worth living” during his childhood experience of the Second World War and...
Dan Gilbert
Have you worked hard on becoming happier only to see your happiness level become stagnant? Dan Gilbert, the author of Stumbling on Happiness, explains his scientific research about predicting happiness. In this hilarious talk, Gilbert questions the all-too-common assumption that we’re searching for the thing that is happiness. He argues – and provides plenty of scientific evidence in support of this argument – that instead, we “synthesize” happiness. For humans, Gilbert explains, happiness is...
Shawn Achor
If you want to hear about how unicorns, fake graphs, and weirdos related to happiness, this funny and very personal TED talk is for you. In it, author Shawn Achor tells us how to increase happiness levels in organizations and ourselves, starting with a story about his little sister falling off a bunk bed. And having delivered lectures at the White House, NBA, and NFL, Achor is well acquainted with what happiness at work entails. But it’s not as simple as we might think, he argues. We often be...
Carol Dweck
What happens when we push ourselves outside of our comfort zones to learn something tricky or completely novel? Carol Dweck has spent most of her professional life researching the growth mindset, the idea that we can grow our skills and capabilities with perseverance and hard work. Her book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, provides plenty of research-based examples of extraordinary accomplishments, and this TED talk gets to the very heart of it all. In this talk, Dweck covers how we c...
Angela Duckworth
University of Pennsylvania professor Angela Duckworth was a seventh-grade math teacher when she put her finger on grit. This TED talk is an excellent introduction to the concept and how it’s been shown to relate to success. Duckworth describes herself as an ambitious child, but one who was never really gifted. So how did she become a bestselling author, emeritus professor, and celebrated researcher? With passion and perseverance, she explains – with grit. In this talk, she discusses what “doi...
Lea Waters
There is a reason why we are called “humankind,” argues Lea Waters, director of the Positive Psychology Centre at the University of Melbourne. This talk starts with a look at desensitization as Waters describes the moment she realized she wanted to be part of something bigger and better. In this video, she makes a strong argument for why we need to hear more positive news and shares how delving into the good side of human nature helped her struggle with depression. Waters invites us to consid...
Robyn Stratton-Berkessel
What’s the best thing that’s happened to you today? The language we use to ask questions can have a significant impact on the answers we get. Inquiring about what works in the world and the positive things that give us life are one way to create a whole new story, according to Robyn Stratton-Berkessel in this talk. In her career as a positivity strategist, her focus is on facilitating strength-based changeto develop high-impact, positive change in organizations and people. Playful inquiry is...
Barry Schwartz
Why are so many of us disappointed and depressed? Psychologist Barry Schwartz argues that living in a world with too many choices is a significant factor in our unhappiness. In fact, it’s the topic of his 2004 book of the same name. In this video, Schwartz suggests that the secret to happiness is living with lower expectations. But if it’s that easy, then why is it so difficult? Because, as he points out, choice is everywhere, in our supermarkets, our careers, and even in our identities. To g...
Tali Sharot
You’ve heard of negativity bias, but what about an optimism bias? Tali Sharot is a firm believer in the latter, and here’s where you can learn about some of her research on this apparently global phenomenon. Most of us are likely overestimating our chances of winning the lottery, as an example, while at the same time underestimating our likelihood of being in a car crash. For a positive psychology lecture, it sounds quite sobering. However, it’s precisely this optimism that can make us happy,...
Jul 21, 2008 · Martin Seligman talks about psychology -- as a field of study and as it works one-on-one with each patient and each practitioner. As it moves beyond a focus on disease, what can modern psychology help us to become?
After watching the collection of talks on Understanding Happiness, read a thoughtful recap of the major points in this TED Study, and learn where experts believe things are headed. The field of positive psychology has already helped us to better understand happiness.
May 6, 2020 · The following positive psychology books are three of our favorite classics that offer greater insight into the unique potential of psychology to support human flourishing. 1. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience – Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
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Martin Seligman talks about psychology -- as a field of study and as it works one-on-one with each patient and each practitioner. As it moves beyond a focus on disease, what can modern psychology help us to become?
