Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi will present "Flow and the
Quality of Life" on Thursday, Dec. 7, at 11 a.m. in Room 102 of VanderWerf Hall. Martin Seligman will present "Positive Psychology" on Friday, Dec. 8, at 3:30 p.m. in Wichers Auditorium of Nykerk Hall of Music.

The public is invited to both addresses.
Admission is free.

Csikszentmihalyi, a Hungarian-born polymath and
the Davidson Professor of Management at the Claremont
Graduate University, in Claremont, Calif., has been thinking
about the meaning of happiness since he was a child in
wartime Europe. His research and theories in the psychology
of optimal experience have been adopted in practice by
national leaders such as Bill Clinton and Tony Blair, as
well as top executives who run major corporations.

Csikszentmihalyi is the author of several popular
books about his theories, the bestselling "Flow: The
Psychology Of Optimal Experience"; "The Evolving Self: A
Psychology For The Third Millennium"; "Creativity"; and
"Finding Flow." "The Wall Street Journal" has listed "Flow"
among the six books "every well-stocked business library
should have."

Seligman is an expert in the areas of learned
helplessness, depression, optimism and pessimism. He is
currently Fox Leadership Professor of Psychology in the
Department of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania.

He is well known in academic and clinical circles,
and is a best-selling author. His bibliography includes 15
books and 150 articles on motivation and personality. Among
his better-known works are "Learned Optimism," "What You Can
Change & What You Can't," "The Optimistic Child,"
"Helplessness," and "Abnormal Psychology."

In 1996, Seligman was elected president of the
American Psychological Association, by the largest vote in
modern history. His primary aim as APA president was to
join practice and science together so both might flourish, a
goal that has dominated his own life as a psychologist. His
major initiatives concerned the prevention of ethnopolitical
warfare and the study of positive psychology.

Both psychologists will be on campus for an
invitation-only professional conference running at Hope on
Friday-Sunday, Dec. 8-10. The conference, "Positive
Psychology: Alternatives to Materialism," is examining the
issue of resource consumption and its effects on society,
particularly the way that increased consumption can lead to
materialism. Approximately 30 internationally-known
psychologists are scheduled to attend the event.

VanderWerf Hall is located on Graves Place (11th Street between Central and Colleges avenues. Nykerk Hall of Music is located in the middle of campus, between College and Columbia avenues along the former 12th Street. 

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