Skip to Content Skip to Content

Positive Psychology

A simple way to boost math progress
Angela Duckworth lecturing a class with a white board.

“Our results showed that simple, low-cost nudges can help teachers support student progress in math,” says Penn psychology professor Angela Duckworth.

nocred

A simple way to boost math progress

Researchers from Penn’s Behavior Change for Good Initiative and their collaborators conducted a megastudy to investigate whether low-cost nudges–informed by behavioral science–could help teachers accelerate student progress in math.

3 min. read

The psychology behind the well-being benefits of libraries
New York Public Library

Researchers from the Humanities and Human Flourishing Project at the Positive Psychology Center helped the New York Public Library analyze results of a patron survey on the well-being benefits of libraries.

(Image: Courtesy of The New York Public Library)

The psychology behind the well-being benefits of libraries

Penn’s Humanities and Human Flourishing Project at the Positive Psychology Center helped the New York Public Library contextualize results of a patron survey on well-being.
Are we happy yet?
The New York Times

Are we happy yet?

Martin Seligman of the School of Arts & Sciences says that thinking about life through the lens of moment-to-moment moods is a recipe for depression and anxiety.

Studying the benefits of virtual art engagement
"Pennsylvania Landscape" painting by Charles Sheeler.

Charles Sheeler’s Pennsylvania Landscape (1925) was among the artworks from the Philadelphia Museum of Art that Katherine Cotter and James Pawelski included in virtual galleries for a study.

(Image: Courtesy of the Philadelphia Museum of Art)

Studying the benefits of virtual art engagement

James Pawelski and Katherine Cotter talk to Penn Today about their research into digital art galleries.
Tech leaders discuss AI and well-being at Vatican conference
National Catholic Reporter

Tech leaders discuss AI and well-being at Vatican conference

At a Vatican City conference on human flourishing and technology, James Pawelski of the School of Arts & Sciences spoke about connecting culture with physical and mental health.

Why hasn’t the new me shown up yet?
Psychology Today

Why hasn’t the new me shown up yet?

In his book “What You Can Change and What You Can’t,” Martin Seligman of the School of Arts & Sciences says that some personal qualities and habits can’t be changed without extreme difficulty.