Humans strive for much more than mere happiness

Martin Seligman, the man who developed the theories of learned helplessness and positive psychology, starts off a talk about his new book with this doozie:

Schopenhauer and Freud told us the best we could ever do in life was not to suffer. The aim of human life was not to be miserable. I think this view is empirically wrong, morally insidious, and a political disaster.

After studying happiness for years, he started to wonder why people continually do things that make them undeniably less happy: compete in crushing sports, pursue demoralizing dreams, and continue to have babies (children make you empirically more stressed, anxious, aggravated, and tired).

His new model for what humans strive for, and what creates well-being if achieved, is PERMA: Positive emotions, Engagement (aka flow), Relationships, Meaning (aka purpose), and Accomplishments.

Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being