Contemporary Human Intelligentsia
Generations throughout history have left a standard of intelligence to which contemporary societies will always be juxtaposed. There is a constant concern to whether or not we are advancing as a human race. There has been restless debate of the current state of public intellect and what is it that makes one a public intellectual. There are many ideas as to what defines a public intellectual but as Professor Mack from the University of Southern California suggests; what defines a public intellectual is “[their] qualifications for getting and keeping the title. We need to be more concerned with the work public intellectuals must do.”
Mack then lists a qualification, “The public intellectual needs to puncture myth-makers of any era, including his own” (Stephen Mack. “The "Decline" of the Public Intellectual (?) The Brecher Brief. 31 Aug. 2013. Web. 11 Sept. 2013). It must not be assumed that the previous intelligentsia has come up with all the correct answers to the questions and problems that faced them in their work. They too were constantly questioning their findings and studied vigorously to improve the state of the their discoveries. Martin Seligman, an American psychologist and renowned public intellectual of our time has expanded a sector of the field of psychology called positive psychology.
Seligman’s interest sparked when he began to do research upon his established theory of learned-helplessness. He performed an experiment in which he exposed a dog to a small shock; while detaining it in a hammock so it would not move. Seligman took a box with a divider, and placed the dog on one side of the box to observe if the dog would attempt to escape its side when shocked. The dog showed no movement when it was shocked. It simply lay there helplessly. Seligman then placed another dog into the box; one that had not been previously shocked. This dog jumped from his side of the box to the other when it had been shocked. This experiment contradicts B.F. Skinner’s theory of operant conditioning; which claims that human behavior is operated by positive and negative reinforcement. The behavior of the conditioned dog in Seligman’s experiment was not a response to any given reinforcements. The dog simply felt that escaping the shock would be a trivial pursuit. The repeated shocks and inability to move out of the hammock taught the dog to become helpless (His Yen, “Learned Helplessness”).
Motivation will always drive humans into action except when one has felt so defeated that they have become accustomed to failure. Seligman’s experiment is proof that one’s thoughts determine their actions. The theory of learned helplessness has been applied to the state of depression. Depression is characterized by lack of motivation and feeling. These two characteristics are causes of learned helplessness (His Yen, “Learned Helplessness”). Seligman’s findings are a revolution in contemporary psychology because they challenge Skinner’s theory of operant conditioning, and they introduce a new approach to dealing with depression in the field of positive psychology.
Seligman’s aim for positive psychology was not only to find a remedy to alleviate people trapped in misery; which has been psychology’s only focus for the last century, but also to help those that do not suffer from misery to find fulfillment in their lives (Martin Seligman: The New Era of Positive Psychology, TED). It is necessary to nurture today’s intelligentsia and support genius because it is this group of people that are the most innovative and the most capable of generating advancement. It is a sensible prediction that one day this select group will have made enough technological and scientific advances to cure the remainder of the population; so to promote advancement as a species, all people must be accounted for.
Seligman proposes that there are three happy lives for all people, the pleasant life, the good life and the meaningful life. The pleasant life is lived by acquiring as much positive emotions as one possibly can and attaining the skills to amplify them. The good life is a life of engagement, one’s obligation to their work, in parenting, in love, or in anything that could bring them satisfaction if they perform deeds of high expectation. The meaningful life is carried out through knowing one’s best strengths and using them to take part in the service of something larger than them selves (Martin Seligman: The New Era of Positive Psychology, TED). It promotes selflessness, which then causes awareness and the sense of enlightenment. People who have achieved enlightenment gain harmony with oneself and everything around them. Seligman argues that his is what ultimately fulfills the life of a human being.
Seligman’s findings show that a life in the pursuit of pleasure almost has no contribution to long-term satisfaction. This is because statistics show that the skills needed to be able to enjoy this life are fifty percent heritable; meaning only fifty percent of people know how to attract the pleasures that promote a healthy happiness in their lives. A pleasant life is not modifiable; meaning the techniques we use to make ourselves feel better are not permanent solutions to resolving our unhappiness. A pleasant life can also become familiar; where one experiences the same pleasures so often that they begin to appear bland and lose its flavor. Lastly, Seligman claims that the pleasant life is not malleable, because the pleasure we experience is essentially out of our control (Martin Seligman: The New Era of Positive Psychology, TED).
This last idea is one that could be argued because there have been studies done about the human mind and the power it holds over it’s owner. Humans have been proven to endure many difficult obstacles and hardships because of their willpower to do so, and so it would seem plausible that one would have the mental strength to relish these pleasures for as long as they please; but it would take an immense amount of energy and effort to do so. Bertrand Russell, a British philosopher whom did most his work in the twentieth century once wrote, “ A life too full of excitement is an exhausting life, in which continually stronger stimuli are needed to give the thrill that has come to be thought an essential part of pleasure” (Russell 52). It is this draining sensation that does not permit the pleasant life to grant long-term satisfaction.
The good life and the meaningful life both have long-term satisfaction rates. Seligman calculated a function of the three different lives to show how much satisfaction is derived from each. The results show that the pleasant life offers marginal satisfaction while the good life and the meaningful life both were shown to grant .001 greater satisfactions. The good life offers a satisfaction known as flow. Flow is a type of contentment where one feels that time has stopped and they find themselves in bliss. One is unaware of their surroundings and they are entirely enveloped at the task at hand (Martin Seligman: The New Era of Positive Psychology, TED). The feeling of peaceful bliss is more salutary than experiencing feelings of pleasure because when one experiences pleasures of sorts, they are aware of what they are feeling in that given moment; thus, these feelings are intensified because of the fact. It may seem that a pleasant life is a preferable life to live because it seems to offer a lot more excitement and action; which would lead one to believe that they have sought fulfillment; but the intensity of the emotions can be overwhelming and can cause stress for the person experiencing them. Stress has been linked to being the cause of several critical medical conditions: heart disease, cancer, lung ailments, and cirrhosis of the liver, to name a few (WebMD, “Depression Health Center”). It is clear how living a pleasant life could escalate to becoming an unhealthy life to live. A good life offers a harmonious flow that sustains satisfaction in one’s life.
Those whom have an altruistic concern for the wellbeing of others are the only people capable of experiencing a meaningful life and gaining fulfillment. Seligman believes that the meaningful life is the life that grants the greatest satisfaction. (Martin Seligman: The New Era of Positive Psychology, TED). Mahatma Gandhi famously quoted, “the best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” Indeed, the meaningful life seems to be the most gratifying.
Seligman is a prime representation of the newest era of public intellectuals. He has pushed the envelope in the field of positive psychology by questioning the work of past psychologists and researching new ideas and ways to improve the quality of contributions psychology has given to society. He has given the present generation guidance to be able to lead lives filled with more contentment and satisfaction than had been possible before. There may come a day when another supersedes his success; but for now, Seligman remains the most progressive public intellectual in his field of study.
Works Cited
Goldberg, Joseph, ed. "How Stress, Anxiety, and Depression Affect Your Health." WebMD. N.p., 24 July 2012. Web. 13 Sept. 2013. <http://www.webmd.com/depression/stress-anxiety-depression>.
Mack, Stephen. "The 'Decline' of the Public Intellectual (?)." The Brecher Brief. Movable Type 3.17, 31 Aug. 2013. Web. 15 Sept. 2013. <http://stephenmack.com/blog/>.
Martin Seligman: The New Era of Positive Psychology. TED Ideas Worth Spreading. TED Conferences, July 2008. Web. 15 Sept. 2013. <http://www.ted.com/talks/ martin_seligman_on_the_state_of_psychology.html>.
Russell, Bertrand. The Conquest of Happiness. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1958. Print.
Yen, Duen Hsi. "Learned Happiness." Learned Helplessness. Penn Arts & Sciences, 22 Jan. 1998. Web. 13 Sept. 2013. <http://www.noogenesis.com/malama/discouragement/helplessness.html>.
Posted September 14, 2013
Generations throughout history have left a standard of intelligence to which contemporary societies will always be juxtaposed. There is a constant concern to whether or not we are advancing as a human race. There has been restless debate of the current state of public intellect and what is it that makes one a public intellectual. There are many ideas as to what defines a public intellectual but as Professor Mack from the University of Southern California suggests; what defines a public intellectual is “[their] qualifications for getting and keeping the title. We need to be more concerned with the work public intellectuals must do.”
Mack then lists a qualification, “The public intellectual needs to puncture myth-makers of any era, including his own” (Stephen Mack. “The "Decline" of the Public Intellectual (?) The Brecher Brief. 31 Aug. 2013. Web. 11 Sept. 2013). It must not be assumed that the previous intelligentsia has come up with all the correct answers to the questions and problems that faced them in their work. They too were constantly questioning their findings and studied vigorously to improve the state of the their discoveries. Martin Seligman, an American psychologist and renowned public intellectual of our time has expanded a sector of the field of psychology called positive psychology.
Seligman’s interest sparked when he began to do research upon his established theory of learned-helplessness. He performed an experiment in which he exposed a dog to a small shock; while detaining it in a hammock so it would not move. Seligman took a box with a divider, and placed the dog on one side of the box to observe if the dog would attempt to escape its side when shocked. The dog showed no movement when it was shocked. It simply lay there helplessly. Seligman then placed another dog into the box; one that had not been previously shocked. This dog jumped from his side of the box to the other when it had been shocked. This experiment contradicts B.F. Skinner’s theory of operant conditioning; which claims that human behavior is operated by positive and negative reinforcement. The behavior of the conditioned dog in Seligman’s experiment was not a response to any given reinforcements. The dog simply felt that escaping the shock would be a trivial pursuit. The repeated shocks and inability to move out of the hammock taught the dog to become helpless (His Yen, “Learned Helplessness”).
Motivation will always drive humans into action except when one has felt so defeated that they have become accustomed to failure. Seligman’s experiment is proof that one’s thoughts determine their actions. The theory of learned helplessness has been applied to the state of depression. Depression is characterized by lack of motivation and feeling. These two characteristics are causes of learned helplessness (His Yen, “Learned Helplessness”). Seligman’s findings are a revolution in contemporary psychology because they challenge Skinner’s theory of operant conditioning, and they introduce a new approach to dealing with depression in the field of positive psychology.
Seligman’s aim for positive psychology was not only to find a remedy to alleviate people trapped in misery; which has been psychology’s only focus for the last century, but also to help those that do not suffer from misery to find fulfillment in their lives (Martin Seligman: The New Era of Positive Psychology, TED). It is necessary to nurture today’s intelligentsia and support genius because it is this group of people that are the most innovative and the most capable of generating advancement. It is a sensible prediction that one day this select group will have made enough technological and scientific advances to cure the remainder of the population; so to promote advancement as a species, all people must be accounted for.
Seligman proposes that there are three happy lives for all people, the pleasant life, the good life and the meaningful life. The pleasant life is lived by acquiring as much positive emotions as one possibly can and attaining the skills to amplify them. The good life is a life of engagement, one’s obligation to their work, in parenting, in love, or in anything that could bring them satisfaction if they perform deeds of high expectation. The meaningful life is carried out through knowing one’s best strengths and using them to take part in the service of something larger than them selves (Martin Seligman: The New Era of Positive Psychology, TED). It promotes selflessness, which then causes awareness and the sense of enlightenment. People who have achieved enlightenment gain harmony with oneself and everything around them. Seligman argues that his is what ultimately fulfills the life of a human being.
Seligman’s findings show that a life in the pursuit of pleasure almost has no contribution to long-term satisfaction. This is because statistics show that the skills needed to be able to enjoy this life are fifty percent heritable; meaning only fifty percent of people know how to attract the pleasures that promote a healthy happiness in their lives. A pleasant life is not modifiable; meaning the techniques we use to make ourselves feel better are not permanent solutions to resolving our unhappiness. A pleasant life can also become familiar; where one experiences the same pleasures so often that they begin to appear bland and lose its flavor. Lastly, Seligman claims that the pleasant life is not malleable, because the pleasure we experience is essentially out of our control (Martin Seligman: The New Era of Positive Psychology, TED).
This last idea is one that could be argued because there have been studies done about the human mind and the power it holds over it’s owner. Humans have been proven to endure many difficult obstacles and hardships because of their willpower to do so, and so it would seem plausible that one would have the mental strength to relish these pleasures for as long as they please; but it would take an immense amount of energy and effort to do so. Bertrand Russell, a British philosopher whom did most his work in the twentieth century once wrote, “ A life too full of excitement is an exhausting life, in which continually stronger stimuli are needed to give the thrill that has come to be thought an essential part of pleasure” (Russell 52). It is this draining sensation that does not permit the pleasant life to grant long-term satisfaction.
The good life and the meaningful life both have long-term satisfaction rates. Seligman calculated a function of the three different lives to show how much satisfaction is derived from each. The results show that the pleasant life offers marginal satisfaction while the good life and the meaningful life both were shown to grant .001 greater satisfactions. The good life offers a satisfaction known as flow. Flow is a type of contentment where one feels that time has stopped and they find themselves in bliss. One is unaware of their surroundings and they are entirely enveloped at the task at hand (Martin Seligman: The New Era of Positive Psychology, TED). The feeling of peaceful bliss is more salutary than experiencing feelings of pleasure because when one experiences pleasures of sorts, they are aware of what they are feeling in that given moment; thus, these feelings are intensified because of the fact. It may seem that a pleasant life is a preferable life to live because it seems to offer a lot more excitement and action; which would lead one to believe that they have sought fulfillment; but the intensity of the emotions can be overwhelming and can cause stress for the person experiencing them. Stress has been linked to being the cause of several critical medical conditions: heart disease, cancer, lung ailments, and cirrhosis of the liver, to name a few (WebMD, “Depression Health Center”). It is clear how living a pleasant life could escalate to becoming an unhealthy life to live. A good life offers a harmonious flow that sustains satisfaction in one’s life.
Those whom have an altruistic concern for the wellbeing of others are the only people capable of experiencing a meaningful life and gaining fulfillment. Seligman believes that the meaningful life is the life that grants the greatest satisfaction. (Martin Seligman: The New Era of Positive Psychology, TED). Mahatma Gandhi famously quoted, “the best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” Indeed, the meaningful life seems to be the most gratifying.
Seligman is a prime representation of the newest era of public intellectuals. He has pushed the envelope in the field of positive psychology by questioning the work of past psychologists and researching new ideas and ways to improve the quality of contributions psychology has given to society. He has given the present generation guidance to be able to lead lives filled with more contentment and satisfaction than had been possible before. There may come a day when another supersedes his success; but for now, Seligman remains the most progressive public intellectual in his field of study.
Works Cited
Goldberg, Joseph, ed. "How Stress, Anxiety, and Depression Affect Your Health." WebMD. N.p., 24 July 2012. Web. 13 Sept. 2013. <http://www.webmd.com/depression/stress-anxiety-depression>.
Mack, Stephen. "The 'Decline' of the Public Intellectual (?)." The Brecher Brief. Movable Type 3.17, 31 Aug. 2013. Web. 15 Sept. 2013. <http://stephenmack.com/blog/>.
Martin Seligman: The New Era of Positive Psychology. TED Ideas Worth Spreading. TED Conferences, July 2008. Web. 15 Sept. 2013. <http://www.ted.com/talks/ martin_seligman_on_the_state_of_psychology.html>.
Russell, Bertrand. The Conquest of Happiness. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1958. Print.
Yen, Duen Hsi. "Learned Happiness." Learned Helplessness. Penn Arts & Sciences, 22 Jan. 1998. Web. 13 Sept. 2013. <http://www.noogenesis.com/malama/discouragement/helplessness.html>.
Posted September 14, 2013