Who coined the term positive psychology?

Who coined the term positive psychology?

• A. Martin Seligman
• B. Alfred Adler
• C. Abraham Maslow
• D. Carl Rogers

Answer: (C)

Positive psychology focuses on what makes life worth living—strengths, well-being, resilience, relationships, and meaning. The term was coined by Martin Seligman in the late 1990s as he urged psychology to move beyond diagnosing and treating illness toward studying positive human functioning. He helped shape the field’s direction, promoting research into happiness, flourishing, and well-being and later proposing frameworks like PERMA. The other figures mentioned—Alfred Adler, Abraham Maslow, and Carl Rogers—made influential contributions to motivation, self-actualization, and humanistic therapy, but they did not introduce this term. Martin Seligman is widely credited with coining it.

Positive psychology focuses on what makes life worth living—strengths, well-being, resilience, relationships, and meaning. The term was coined by Martin Seligman in the late 1990s as he urged psychology to move beyond diagnosing and treating illness toward studying positive human functioning. He helped shape the field’s direction, promoting research into happiness, flourishing, and well-being and later proposing frameworks like PERMA. The other figures mentioned—Alfred Adler, Abraham Maslow, and Carl Rogers—made influential contributions to motivation, self-actualization, and humanistic therapy, but they did not introduce this term. Martin Seligman is widely credited with coining it.