Everyone seems to be in the pursuit of happiness nowadays, but what if we had a model—like the PERMA model—to help guide us?
There are many ways to reach happiness, including training your mind for happiness, spending money on others, and following the guidelines presented here for well-being and happiness.
What are the actual elements that promote happiness within each of us and how can we foster communities that prioritize humans who thrive together?
Seligman’s theoretical model of happiness (PERMA) helps us understand these elements and what we can do to maximize each element to reach a life full of happiness.
Before you read on, we thought you might like to download our 3 Positive Psychology Exercises for free. These science-based exercises will explore fundamental aspects of positive psychology including strengths, values and self-compassion and will give you the tools to enhance the wellbeing of your clients, students or employees.
You can download the free PDF here.
This Article Contains:
Seligman’s PERMA Model
PERMA Model. Property of Wikimedia Commons.Martin Seligman, one of the founders of positive psychology, developed a five core element of psychological well-being and happiness.
Seligman believes that these five elements can help people work towards a life of fulfillment, happiness, and meaning.
Institutions can also use this model to develop programs that help people discover and use new cognitive and emotional tools.
We explore each of these elements below.
P – Positive Emotion
This element is, perhaps, the most obvious connection to happiness. Focusing on positive emotions is more than smiling: it is the ability to remain optimistic and view one’s past, present, and future from a constructive perspective.
A positive view can help in relationships and work, and inspire others to be more creative and take more chances. In everyone’s life, there are highs and lows; focusing on “the lows” does increase your chances of developing depression, although the equation for depression is very complicated.
Regardless, there are many health benefits to optimism and positivity.
How do we distinguish between pleasure and enjoyment for this? Pleasure is connected to satisfying bodily needs for survival, such as thirst, hunger, and sleep. Whereas enjoyment comes from intellectual stimulation and creativity.
When a child completes a complex lego car that requires their concentration, for example, they might beam with joy and satisfaction from their work.
This type of positive emotion is crucial. It can help people enjoys the daily tasks in their lives and persevere with challenges they will face by remaining optimistic about eventual outcomes.
E – Engagement
Activities that meet our need for engagement flood the body with positive neurotransmitters and hormones that elevate one’s sense of well-being.
This engagement helps us remain present, as well as synthesize the activities where we find calm, focus, and joy.
People find enjoyment in different things, whether it’s playing an instrument, playing a sport, dancing, working on an interesting project at work or even just a hobby.
When time truly “flies by” during an activity, it is likely because the people involved were experiencing this sense of engagement.
We all need something in our lives that absorbs us into the current moment, creating a ‘flow’ of blissful immersion into the task or activity. This type of ‘flow’ of engagement stretches our intelligence, skills, and emotional capabilities.
R – Relationships
Relationships and social connections are crucial to meaningful lives.
Too often, the pursuit of happiness has this Western bias of “individuality” where each person steers their personal happiness ship to shore. This is not realistic.
We are social animals who are hard-wired to bond and depend on other humans. Hence, the basic need for healthy relationships.
We thrive on connections that promote love, intimacy, and a strong emotional and physical interaction with other humans. Positive relationships with one’s parents, siblings, peers, coworkers, and friends is a key ingredient to overall joy. Strong relationships also provide support in difficult times that require resilience.
In an interview with Dr. Mitch Printein’s about his course on the psychology of popularity, Printein explained the research on pain centers in the human brain.
Basically, our pain centers become activated when we are at risk of isolation. From an evolutionary perspective, isolation is the worse thing we could do for survival.
These activation centers are like fire alarms in the body, discouraging people to continue feeling this pain, and ideally, reconnect socially with someone or a group. We need, neurologically, to know that we belong to a group; it helps us feel safe and valued, and has for millions of years.
M – Meaning
Having an answer as to “why are we on this earth?” is a key ingredient that can drive us towards fulfillment.
Religion and spirituality provide many people with meaning, as can working for a good company, raising children, volunteering for a greater cause, and expressing ourselves creatively.
Unfortunately, the media worships glamour and the pursuit of material wealth, impacting many people to feel like money is the gateway to happiness. While we do need money to pay for basic needs, once those basic needs are met and financial stress is not an issue, money is not what provides people with happiness.
Understanding the impact of your work and why you chose to “show up at the office” may help you enjoy the tasks and become more satisfied with what you do. Whether you work in an office or not, think of what you spend most of your time doing. What does that activity provide you with?
Check out Itai Ivtzan’s Awareness-Meaning Therapy if you want more resources on this weighty aspect of happiness. His video in that link on “Awareness is Freedom” has provided inspiration to reflect and change for thousands of people.
A – Accomplishments
Having goals and ambition in life can help us to achieve things that can give us a sense of accomplishment. You should make realistic goals that can be met and just putting in the effort to achieving those goals can already give you a sense of satisfaction when you finally achieve those goals a sense of pride and fulfillment will be reached.
Having accomplishments in life is important to push ourselves to thrive and flourish.
How to Apply the PERMA Model in Your Life
Being aware of the PERMA model might help you consider the meaning and fulfillment to your life. The next step is to integrate this model with your daily life.
As a start, we recommend you refer to the 5 elements of the model often. Find the things that make you happy and can make you fully engaged. You could even put goals on challenging yourself in the activities you enjoy.
Focus on your relationships with your family and friends, and find ways to connect with others, even if it does not come naturally to you at first. Find the meaning to your life and what gives you a sense of purpose. It’s different for everyone.
How might you apply any element of the PERMA model into your life? Have you found success in any parts of it? We would love to hear your ideas in our comments section below the infographic.
You can also download the printable version of the infographic here.
Still hungry for more information and how the PERMA model can enact the necessary change towards more meaning-rich lives? Then we recommend you watch this video below that provides greater context and information. Also, be sure to read this blog post about happiness quotes and the science behind them.
Watch Seligman Discuss His PERMA Model
We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don’t forget to download our 3 Positive Psychology Exercises for free.
If you wish for more, our Positive Psychology Toolkit© contains over 300 science-based positive psychology exercises, interventions, questionnaires and assessments for practitioners to use in their therapy, coaching or workplace.
- Prinstein, M. (2015). The Psychology of Popularity: An interview with Dr. Mitch Prinstein [Skype interview].
- Slavin, S. J., Schindler, D., Chibnall, J. T., Fendell, G., & Shoss, M. (2012). PERMA: A model for institutional leadership and culture change. Academic Medicine, 87(11), 1481. Here.
- The PERMA model. (n.a). Positive Psychology Melbourne.
- What is PERMA? The technical definition. (2012) Go Strengths! Here.
Hello!
Wondering if anyone of you know of any Perma intervention program using animal assisted therapy to prevent depression and loneliness on elderly population?
Thanks in advance
Hi Catarina,
I’m unfamiliar with any programs myself, but hopefully one of our other readers will be able to point you in the right direction. In the meantime, if you’re looking for some reading in the space from a research perspective, you might find the following articles by Crowley-Robinson et al (1998) and Yerbury & Boyd (2019) helpful.
– Nicole | Community Manager
Not sure if this helps but Openhouse Lgbt senior center in Sf offers a virtual animal assisted therapy program.
Virtual visit to Muttville!
Wednesday, February 17 2:30-3:30PM
Love dogs and want to feel some pure doggie-related joy? Join us for a monthly virtual visit to Muttville where we will watch the senior dogs gallivant around the headquarters, learn the stories of the dogs who are there, and spend some time enjoying the company of our community and some doggie companions.
Register with Ariel at ariel@openhouse-sf.org or (415) 503-4180.
I found this article very Informative ! during this tough times of covid-19 one needs to focus on goals and take care of health like basic diet and little bit of exercises.
I have had encountered Martin Seligman’s PERMA model before a year while learning on, science of Well-being. I found it more holistic than just seeking for happiness. We, as a human thrive for joy(in life) which mislead to happiness later.
On Meaning or purpose of life and our existence on earth seems more metaphysical, I believe Seligman’s Meaning or purpose to life do not ask us to seek spiritual master or associated to some religion, instead it asks: looking for a bigger picture of our connectedness to nature, every living beings and harmonizing relation to each other.
As a career counselor I work with quite a few people that have no idea what their goals in life are or why they should have them. Many of them seem to have little hope in things getting better for them. They have given little thought as to their strengths and how they can use them to have more self-assurance and get out of their very small comfort zones.
Working from where they are at and exploring their dreams, ambitions and hopes, opens the way for them to see that they do not need to feel stuck, that they can do great things, even hard things, with the right encouragement and support, and that the effort will produce even greater opportunities for them as they see begin to see themselves as achievers with a higher sense of self-worth.
Where does motivation fit in the PERMA model? can you explain?
Hi Salma,
Thanks for your question! My thinking is that any of the elements in PERMA may function as targets of our motivation. For instance, we are all motivated to pursue positive emotions, authentic connections, a sense of accomplishment, etc.
Thus, the elements in PERMA can be thought of as desired outcomes, and we as individuals can mobilize our motivation and engage in self-regulation to help reach these outcomes.
I hope that answers your question!
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hi Nicole, I’m developing an alarm app that aims to wake people up happier with positive thoughts and affirmation. Was wondering if you could share your thoughts on where to get more resources for this?
From our testing so far, the content cannot be too mentally strenuous. And a <1 minute speech is ideal. Simple affirmations and positive thoughts seem to be the most practical from our user feedback thus far.
Please let me know what you think:)
Hi Nicky,
That sounds like a great app idea! I can’t really point you to specific scientific articles about whether affirmations centering around certain themes are more or less effective than others (I’m not sure there is much research on this), but a first point of call may be to take a look at our article about positive daily affirmations. This article has a lot of resources and links to sources of affirmations and will point you to papers about the science and overarching theory behind positive affirmations, relating to self-efficacy and self-concept. You may also find some inspiration for specific affirmations in Zhanna Hamilton’s audiobook. Given that it’s in an audio format, I’d suspect some of these affirmations may be ideal for alarm clock audio.
Hope this helps!
– Nicole | Community Manager
Being a mental health occupational therapist, i believe motivation intertwines with engagement and meaning of perma model. Because what we find meaningful internally motivates us and reinforces the engagement.
I find the lecture very fascinating, in-depth, practical and useful. It will really be a great help for myself, family, friends and people who i care for. Thank you
I found this article very helpful, but I have some doubt or confusion. I understand that Relationship is an important key element for our survival. But, how can an introvert person, who draws energy from contemplative thinking and avoids socializing, incorporate this element (R) of the PERMA model into his life?
Thank you for the article.
Best Regards.
Hi Bhabani,
This is a great question! Indeed, it may seem paradoxical that introverts draw energy from contemplation and solitude, yet relationships feature in the PERMA model. However, introvert or extrovert, all of us require relationships and social connection — as humans, we’re just wired that way. While long stints of socializing may tire introverts, rich relationships still contribute to an introvert’s overall happiness. It’s just that they may need to take regular breaks and have time alone to ensure they are seeing the benefits of these relationships.
For more on this, have a read of this article.
Hope this helps!
– Nicole | Community Manager
Do you consider updating this information with PERMA+ where Seligman added Physical Activity, Nutrition, Sleep and Optimism to the original PERMA model? I’m also curious to know more about the research an validity behind this “+”.
Cheers from Sweden!
Martin Seligman was given a grant of $1,200,000 that produced a lot of scientific research. See his 2011 book “Flourish”. This has led to an enormous amount of research. It has branched out from PERMA, PERMA+ and PERMAH.
PERMA was a starting point. It now includes things like Kristin Neff’s Self-compassion, Michelle McQuaid’s positive workplaces and even they’ve found that while happiness makes us smile, it works in reverse that smiling makes us feel happy.
It has enlighten me in a wider aspect. Even though I knew these beforehand it gave me a really concrete explanation of how the positive psychology works. I can now apply these in my practical life as well as help those in need.
it made me conscious of the main switch of happiness and to feel life closely..I find myself prone to adapt all that because these may be the the thoughts already there in mind but now they are worded….an in some concrete shape before me…..like a writing on the wall….thanx a lot
After feeding my mind with PERMA i feel something enthusiastic,that i should engage myself self in somthing best , better not to worry about something and accomplish the meaning of what my life is.
Hi Yuvajani,
Glad you took something away from this reading. I agree that sometimes it’s best to just pick something you feel passionate about and go for it! Once you do, sometimes an understanding of purpose and higher meaning will become apparent later down the track.
Thanks for reading.
– Nicole | Community Manager
After feeding mind with model of PERMA my mental health changed from “thinking i’m with depression” to “now i can handle any illness” very helpful
Hi likhita,
So glad you’ve found success putting the principles of PERMA into practice. Keep up the good work!
– Nicole | Community Manager
Let’s see whether it works..
I am a student and wanted to improve my mental health and I think positive emotion and engagement are the best part of PERMA model.
Hi Chaudhari,
Congratulations on making a commitment to improving your mental health. I’m glad to hear that this model resonated with you. If you’d like some more materials to help you with your mental health goals, consider checking out this blog post where we walk through 26 science-backed mental health exercises.
– Nicole | Community Manager
I dreamed about this word last night, I didn’t have any idea of what its meaning could be.
Really helpful 🙂
Hi Ana,
So glad to hear you found our article helpful (and how interesting that it came to you in a dream!)
– Nicole | Community Manager
I love my job as an Activity Coordinator at an Adult Day Health Program. I get so excited to have my seniors actively involved in any project I set out for them. I have found that if I am losing a few i break out in a song like You Are My Sunshine or I just come out of my office singing (believe me I was NOT hired for my singing!) but the seniors react to it and I have even heard a few times …oh here she comes, what is she gonna do now? It makes my day to know I am keeping them engaged!
Reading this for a class, and thought this was wonderfully written! I was surprised to learn that our pain centers are activated when we are isolated in our lives.
Thank you!
I am a high school student and I used this for my student leadership program and it was very helpful and I found it interesting that there are so many things u can do to achieve ur goals” never give up ” 🙂
my teacher made me read this 🙂
What is the theoretical relationship between PERMA and the 24 Character Strengths of VIA? I find VIA a lot richer and finely textured and PERMA to be somewhat shallow, though much simpler (which might be the point). One question: We know positive emotions are based in part upon positive values (lived values) which is connected with VIA/24 strengths. Might the VIA framework be a way of parsing out Positive Emotions?
Hi Dana,
All great questions! I agree that PERMA is quite a high-level roadmap to pursuing happiness. I suppose a key difference between PERMA and VIA is that PERMA is a guide for driving behavior. That is, it can help us make decisions about where the channel our energy and how to behave that can lead to happiness. For instance, we can invest time in developing fruitful relationships or contributing to a greater cause to find meaning.
The five elements of PERMA apply no matter the person. But as you note, VIA may help you to drill down and discover how to pursue these 5 drivers of happiness in a way that is tailored to the individual. For instance, someone with Leadership as one of their strengths may find that they experience greater meaning (and greater subsequent happiness) when they can take up leadership positions, thereby behaving in accordance with this strength.
What do you think? 🙂
– Nicole | Community Manager
You can actually take the Free individual assessment at http://www.permahsurvey.com
This was so great. Very inspiring and interesting.
It is easy to understand the these steps and useful in our practical life too.. thanks for sharing.
I found it very useful and organized.. it’s just wonderful.. easy to apply for betterment
Awesome, thank you for the great article.
how do I learn to be happy with five children and an alcoholic wife
Hi Jonah,
I’m sorry to read that you are struggling. In situations where there are challenges within the family, the best thing you can usually do is reach out for outside support. A therapist is usually a good first point of call, as they can also connect you to additional services.
You can find a directory of licensed therapists here (and note that you can change the country setting in the top-right corner). You’ll also find that there are a range of filters to help you drill down to the type of support you need (e.g., family/marital).
I hope you and your family can find the help you need.
– Nicole | Community Manager
I am from Maharashtra India working as a lecturer I fill very useful prema technic thanks
AMAZING!
Thank you for showing this. I found this so inspiring to watch and I am now thirsty to find out more about this psychology model!
PP has totally transformed my life and am now looking to helping one person at a time. Thanks Prof Seligman. Off to make more disciples
This is a wonderful, inspirational talk.
Well this is the way to live, van you imagen half of the population never smiling or experince well being excelent theory,:)
And it is spot on how at least I enjoy life, fell fre to visit at my feel good service at nyaab.se and share a happy memory/ experience and get to Knowles me better on our story(soon aviable in English)
Thank you, this is inspirational!
Thank you so much for this. I work as psychologist in Italy and I’m going to use this with patients, especially in cases of recovery from surgical interventions and serious illnesses.
Thank you so much for all of this! We are building a Peer Recovery Model here in Southern California and hope to adopt some of this into our program for Coaching.
Thank you so much for doing this! The Orange County Recovery Community hopes to have a bigger representation next year.
Could you please reference Mariana’s last name? I need it for referencing. thanks
Sure Faye! Her last name is Pascha.
are you sure? she’s no longer part of the team though.
Hi
thank you for useful and intelligible text.
Amazing, I love learning about Positive Psychology and the resources available to use.
Thanks a lot!
thank you Mariana rawrrrr xD
When I initially qualified in psychology it was all about studying theories proposed by a group of dead Germans and learning how we may be able to fix people when they broke. It had parallels with medicine in the way that it has evolved to look at how to make the best of people so they are resistant to breaking. Martin Seligman has to be credited to this shift towards positive psychology. “Authentic Happiness” has to be one of the most influential publications in the field.
this is was a very helpful website I found out a lot about mental well being and mental health
ya my dude. relatable. thx helped mef or exam lollll
Dear All…
Nice informative write up…
Thank you…
Presently I am pursuing my MPhil at the Department of Philosophy… Mumbai University…
My research topic for my MPhil dissertation is Happiness…
Especially from an Indian perspective…
I will appreciate it if any or all of you could forward me relevant Links…to aricles… Journals… Books…
Regards…
Thanking you…
RAMANJIT GAREWAL
My email id is ramanjitji@gmail.com
Thank you Mariana!
This post has been updated on the 24th of February 2017. Please enjoy!
bonjour
ou pouvais je trouver ce modele en Français, exercice, approche….
merci
Bonjour Ines, je suis pas sure si ou où ce modele est disponible en Francais. Est-ce que tu as essayé Google.fr?
Dear all,
We have a training company in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Our work is PERMA inspired and we are looking for a measurement tool to use for big groups like communities and teams. Does anyone have contacts/experience with doing zero measurements and second measurements with PERMA? I would be incredibly grateful to hear from you. All the best, Leoni Over The Moon Amsterdam
I world watt to Know ir the PERMA MODEL can be put among the cognitive theory
Hello, I’m just curious about the scientific status of this PERMA model. Has it been validated scientifically? Thank you very much.
Arif
Clinical Psychologist
Lecturer at
Maranatha Christian University
BAndung – Indonesia
Hi Iman
The PERMA model is scientifically verified and peer reviewed – there are many published articles. Check out Dr Martin Seligman’s (Psych, University of Pennsylvania) website for more details.
Cheers!
Steve Milton
Coach
Hi,
I would argue that, firstly, as Seligman himself says, PERMA is not a theory of happiness. (Seligman even denies there are such meaningful theories with happiness as a unitary construct.)
I would also argue that PERMA as Seligman describes it is not just about ‘psychological wellbeing’. Rather, it’s about wellbeing itself, and aims to be a comprehensive list of objective goods. Psychological wellbeing would imply subjective states ontologically, albeit objective in existence. But wellbeing itself, or flourishing, is an objective state which is only partially instantiated by psychological factors.
Just my two-cents. 🙂
Best,
Joe
Hello, Joseph. Im just wondering, is it still okay if we use PERMA model to measure happiness? Because i found it in so many research about happiness, so im kinda confused about the differences between happiness and well being
Hi Yani,
I don’t know about the specific scope of PERMA (and whether it would be appropriate to use it for a happiness measure), but I can recommend the following scale by Lyubomirsky and Lepper as a widely used scale assessing subjective happiness.
Hope this helps.
– Nicole | Community Manager
Thank you for the summary Mariana!