Martin Elias Peter Seligman is an American psychologist, educator, and author of self-help books. Seligman is a strong promoter within the scientific community of his theories of positive psychology and of well-being. His theory of learned helplessness is popular among scientific and clinical psychologists.A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Seligman as the 31st most cited psychologist of the 20th century.