Final answer:
Seligman's goal is to enhance happiness by emphasizing positive traits and peer-reviewed research supports interventions that foster a more resilient, optimistic attributional style. His work in positive psychology focuses on improving well-being through strengths and virtues.
Step-by-step explanation:
Martin Seligman's goal is to improve people's happiness by focusing on their positive traits. This approach is rooted in positive psychology, a field that Seligman is widely recognized for founding. Positive psychology differs from traditional psychology, which often focuses on mental illness and dysfunction, by emphasizing the strengths and virtues that contribute to improved well-being and happiness.
Seligman's research, including the concepts of learned helplessness and its counterpart, hopefulness, highlights the importance of cognitive attributions and their impact on our mental health. His work suggests that by fostering optimistic attributional styles, individuals may become more resilient against depression and more capable of experiencing lasting fulfillment. Therefore, interventions based on positive psychology aim to encourage people to reflect more positively on themselves and to leverage their strengths to enhance their overall quality of life.