Master of Applied Positive Psychology
Faculty
The Master of Positive Psychology (MAPP) program is overseen by the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania and by the University's College of General Studies (CGS). The program will draw on faculty and staff within the University of Pennsylvania's School of Arts and Sciences as well as preeminent local and international leaders in the field. Program faculty include:
Martin Seligman, Ph.D., Fox Leadership Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania and founding director of the Positive Psychology Center. A past president of the American Psychological Association, Dr. Seligman is the author of Authentic Happiness and (with Christopher Peterson) of Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification.
James Pawelski, Ph.D., Director of Education and Senior Scholar at the Positive Psychology Center. Dr. Pawelski has written articles on the theoretical underpinnings of positive psychology and is an expert on the application of positive psychology in personal, professional, and academic settings.
Angela Duckworth, Ph.D., Research Associate in the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Duckworth studies non-cognitive predictors of achievement. In recent studies, she has demonstrated the dramatic impact of self-control on academic achievement. Another area of research interest is grit, defined as passionate perseverance in the pursuit of a long-term goal. Grit has been shown to be a strong predictor of performance in especially challenging situations, such as West Point and the National Spelling Bee.
Jonathan Haidt, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia. Dr. Haidt studies morality and emotion. Among the psychology courses he teaches is a course on the concept of flourishing. Flourishing is also the title of his first book on positive psychology. His second book, The Happiness Hypothesis, was published in January 2006.
Christopher Peterson, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology at the University of Michigan. Dr. Peterson has been the director of clinical training and an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor (an award given to honor his contributions to teaching). Included on the Intercollegiate Studies Institute’s list of the 250 most highly cited psychologists and psychiatrists over the past 20 years, he is the author (with Martin Seligman) of Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification. His latest book is A Primer in Positive Psychology.
Karen Reivich, Ph.D., Research Associate in the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Reivich co-directs the Penn Resiliency Program, is an investigator on a grant from the Department of Education to teach positive psychology to 9th grade students, and lectures extensively to educators, parents, and business leaders on the topics of resilience, depression-prevention, and positive psychology.
Paul Rozin, Ph.D., Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. An expert in cultural psychology, Dr. Rozin is interested in such diverse topics as the way memories for pleasant events represent the actual experiences of these events, the reasons why the French have a healthier and happier relation to food than Americans do, and the greater potency of joys (as opposed to comforts) in contributing to a feeling that one's life is productive, happy, and worthwhile.
Judy Saltzberg, Ph.D., a licensed clinical psychologist who practices from a cognitive-behavioral perspective. A Founding Fellow of the Academy of Cognitive Therapy, she supervises therapists in training and has taught seminars in the Penn Resiliency program. She is interested in the application of positive psychology to clinical interventions.
Barry Schwartz, Ph.D., Dorwin Cartwright Professor of Social Theory and Social Action at Swarthmore College. Dr. Schwartz is the author of The Battle for Human Nature, The Costs of Living, and most recently, The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less. His research centers on the relation between choice and well being.
Ruut Veenhoven, Ph.D., Professor of social conditions for human happiness at Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands. Dr. Veenhoven's current research is on subjective quality of life. Major publications are: 'Conditions of Happiness' (1984), 'Happiness In Nations' (1993), 'Happy Life-Expectancy' (1997) and 'Quality-Of-Life In Individualistic Society (1999). He also published on love, marriage and parenthood. Dr. Veenhoven is director of the World Database of Happiness and editor of the Journal of Happiness Studies.