*Could a psychological belief help explain why entire civilizations flourish or stagnate?*
Martin Seligman extends his research on helplessness, optimism, and agency into history, examining whether changes in people’s sense of control are associated with changes in human progress.
0:00 The Psychology of Human Agency
3:08 Agency and the Meaning of Progress
5:56 Reading the Minds of the Dead
15:26 Individual and Collective Agency in China
21:07 The Psychological Cost of Individual Agency
25:47 Agency and Modern Human Progress
29:41 AI, Deskilling, and Human Agency
*Martin E.P. Seligman* is the Zellerbach Family Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania and Director of the Penn Positive Psychology Center. A leading figure in positive psychology, his research focuses on well-being, resilience, learned helplessness, optimism, and depression.
*More from Martin Seligman on Closer To Truth:*
* Closer To Truth: The Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFJr3pJl27pLLkP0kHQKL9nZh35UkgkR_
* Understanding Consciousness – Closer To Truth – Core Topic: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFJr3pJl27pJKWEUWv9X56y_ut3xwFDv1
* Closer To Truth contributors: https://closertotruth.com/contributor/martin-seligman/
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Closer To Truth, created and hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn, presents the world’s greatest thinkers exploring humanity’s deepest questions. Discover fundamental issues of existence and sentience. Engage new and diverse ways of thinking. Appreciate intense debates. Share your own opinions. Seek your own answers.
 
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