PERMA

Theory of Well-Being and PERMA Workshops

Traditionally, a major focus of psychology has been to relieve human suffering. Since World War II, great strides have
been made in the understanding and treatment of mental health disorders. Relieving suffering, however, is not the same
as flourishing. People want to thrive, not just survive.

The skills that build flourishing are different from the skills that alleviate suffering. Removing the disabling conditions is not
the same as building the enabling conditions that make life most worth living. (The words “flourishing” and “well-being” are
used interchangeably. We do not use the word “happiness” because it means different things to different people.)

Suffering and well-being are both part of the human condition and psychology should care about each. Human strengths,
excellence, and flourishing are just as authentic as human distress. People want to cultivate the best version of
themselves and live a meaningful life. They want to grow their capacities for love and compassion, creativity and curiosity,
work and resilience, and integrity and wisdom.

When Dr. Seligman was president of the American Psychological Association in 1998, one of his presidential initiatives
was the building of a field called Positive Psychology. Positive Psychology is the scientific study of the factors that enable
individuals and communities to flourish.

PERMA™ Theory of Well-Being

What is human flourishing and what enables it? Dr. Seligman’s PERMA™ theory of well-being is an attempt to answer
these fundamental questions. There are five building blocks that enable flourishing – Positive Emotion, Engagement,
Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment (hence PERMA™) – and there are strategies to increase each.

There are many different routes to a flourishing life. People will derive well-being from each of these five building blocks to
varying degrees. A good life for one person is not necessarily a good life for another. Positive Psychology is descriptive,
not prescriptive. Here is a brief description of each of the five building blocks of well-being:

Positive Emotion: This route to well-being is hedonic – increasing positive emotion. Within limits, we can increase our
positive emotion about the past (e.g., by cultivating gratitude and forgiveness), our positive emotion about the present
(e.g., by savoring physical pleasures and mindfulness) and our positive emotion about the future (e.g., by building hope
and optimism).

Unlike the other routes to well-being described below, this route is limited by how much an individual can experience
positive emotions. In other words, the experience of positive emotion is partly heritable and each individual's emotions
tend to fluctuate within a range. Some people are, by disposition, low in the extent to which they experience positive
emotion. Traditional conceptions of happiness tend to focus on positive emotion, so it can be liberating to know that there
are other routes to well-being, described below.

Engagement: Engagement is an experience in which someone fully deploys their skills, strengths, and attention for a
challenging task. According to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, this produces an experience called “flow” that is so gratifying that
people are willing to do it for its own sake, rather than for what they will get out of it. The activity is its own reward. Flow is
experienced when one’s skills are just sufficient for a challenging activity, in the pursuit of a clear goal, with immediate
feedback on progress toward the goal.

In such an activity, concentration is fully absorbed in the moment, self-awareness disappears, and the perception of time
is distorted in retrospect, e.g., time stops. Flow can be experienced in a wide variety of activities, e.g., a good
conversation, a work task, playing a musical instrument, reading a book, writing, building furniture, fixing a bike,
gardening, sports training or performance, to name just a few.

Relationships: Relationships are fundamental to well-being. The experiences that contribute to well-being are often
amplified through our relationships, for example, great joy, meaning, laughter, a feeling of belonging, and pride in
accomplishment. Connections to others can give life purpose and meaning. Support from and connection with others is
one of the best antidotes to “the downs” of life and a good way to bounce back. Research shows that doing acts of
kindness for others produces an increase in well-being.

From an evolutionary perspective, we are social beings because the drive to connect with and help others promotes our
survival. Developing strong relationships is central to adaptation and is enabled by our capacity for love, compassion,
kindness, empathy, self-sacrifice, teamwork, and cooperation.

Meaning: A sense of meaning and purpose can be derived from belonging to and serving something bigger than the self.
There are various societal institutions that enable a sense of meaning, such as family, religion, science, politics, work
organizations, justice, the community, social causes, among others.

Accomplishment: People pursue achievement, competence, success, and mastery for its own sake, in a variety of
domains, including the workplace, sports, games, hobbies, among others. People pursue accomplishment even when it
does not necessarily lead to positive emotion, meaning, or relationships.

The Benefits of Well-Being

Research demonstrates that well-being is not only valuable because it feels good, but also because it has beneficial real-
world consequences. Compared to people with low well-being, individuals with higher levels of well-being:

• Perform better at work

• Have more satisfying relationships
• Are more cooperative
• Have stronger immune systems
• Have better physical health
• Live longer
• Have reduced cardiovascular mortality
• Have fewer sleep problems
• Have lower levels of burnout
• Have greater self-control
• Have better self-regulation and coping abilities
• Are more prosocial

Research has identified optimism as one of the key contributors to well-being. Studies show that optimism brings many
benefits compared to pessimism, including:

• Less depression and anxiety

• Better performance at school, sports, and work
• Reduced risk of dropping out of school
• Better physical health outcomes, including fewer reported illnesses, less coronary heart
disease, lower mortality risk, and faster recovery from surgery.

Source : Center of Positive Psychology, University of Pennsylvania