Seligman Named Recipient of Inaugural TANG Prize

Martin E. P. Seligman Photo credit: Andrew J. Rosenthal

Martin E. P. Seligman, Director of the Positive Psychology Center and Zellerbach Family Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, has been named the recipient of the inaugural TANG Prize for Achievements in Psychology. The prize, awarded by the TANG Foundation in Toronto, Canada, was created to honor a scholar in psychology who is “internationally recognized” and whose work “has left an indelible mark on the field, particularly in its application to the psychological wellbeing of humanity.”

In a statement naming Seligman the prize recipient, the TANG Foundation applauded the role Seligman played in founding the field of positive psychology. This work has included major contributions to the study of interventions that aim to prevent depression. He is also known for identifying the phenomenon of learned helplessness and pursuing the study of its ramifications.

Seligman’s accomplishments have made him one of only a handful of researchers to receive both the APS William James Fellow Award for contributions to the basic science of psychology and the APS James McKeen Cattell Fellow Award for the application of psychological knowledge. He will be awarded the TANG Prize — including a cash prize of $100,000 CAD — on November 12, 2014, at a ceremony held at the University of Toronto.