PERMA-FRANKL ESSAY
FBG – 9 (Stephen Oyebode)
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referenced at the bottom of each appropriate page.
Stephen O. Oyebode, 17 Nov 2021
Nigeria University of Technology and Management
Foundations of Leadership
Stephen Oyebode
Comparative Analysis of Seligman’s PERMA and Frankl’s Logotherapy
ABSTRACT
In some way, suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning (Frankl 1984,
p.88). Through their books, Viktor Frankl’s Man’s search for meaning propose that the
cardinal and strongest pillar of existentialism is finding meaning to one’s life (will-tomeaning), which contrasts Martin Seligman’s Flourish, that PERMA (positive emotions,
engagement, positive relationships, meaning and accomplishment) are the elements that
comprise a well lived life. This paper aims to perform a comparative analysis on the views of
both authors that lead to this conclusion.
INTRODUCTION
Seligman’s positive psychology approaches the subject of a happy life from an empirical point
of view. The aim being to outline measurable elements that contribute to the construct of
wellbeing as against just happiness. He argues that happiness or positive emotions (pleasant
life) can be operationalized and is only one of five variables for solving the wellbeing equation.
The other four are engagement or flow (engaged life), meaning (meaningful life), positive
relationships and finally accomplishments. These make up the PERMA acronym. He also
argues however, that the first two; positive emotions and flow are solipsistic and solitary
(Seligman 2011, p.12), while positive relationships and accomplishments are satisfactory
mental models that explain things people do for “their own sake” (Seligman 2011, p.14). In as
much as Seligman’s postulation of positive psychology and eventually ‘wellbeing’ speaks to
meaning, a large section of meaning is explained by Frankl.
Man’s search for meaning is a vivid description of Dr. Frankl’s experience in bestial
concentration camps where he was completely stripped to naked existence. His narration of his
thoughts alongside his experiences in these camps make for a better understanding of his
psychological trips through the devastating period. I posit that if Seligman’s analysis were often
a result of quantitative respondents where people often rate their satisfaction with life on a scale
(Seligman 2011, p.14), Frankl’s would serve as a qualitative analysis of existentialism. For a
man who lost his family, was faced with a higher probability of death each hour than the
average human, was subject to continuous harrowing and inhumane treatment and had every
cause to lose hope, how could he find life worth preserving? While PERMA recognizes the
luxury of choices and pleasantness of life, Frankl stripped them all away to the fundamental
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element that makes life worth preserving, the essential theme of existentialism; to live is to
suffer, to survive is to find meaning in the suffering (Frankl 1984, p.11).
Meaning as a central theme in the book, Man’s search for meaning is so deeply elucidated that
it tangentially and eventually produces all other four elements defined by Seligman’s PERMA.
For example, Frankl and some of his compatriots found meaning in Love for their wives and
they composed poems, made jokes, having a reason to create a pleasant condition forgetting
their despicable state (Frankl 1984, p.58-60). The meaning they found in the thoughts of their
wives and the humour they created were strong enough to lead to positive emotions. Positive
emotions however were not in and of themselves a thing that readily came to Frankl in the
camps. They were produced from the meaning he found in several things. For Frankl, meaning
in suffering and by extension, meaning to one’s life was the only way to survive precarious
situations.
Another perspective that PERMA brought to the existentialist discuss is positive relationships
and the concept that one can only find meaning, feel positive emotions and find
accomplishments in the presence of other people (Seligman 2011, p.23). I believe there is a
truth to that, however, positive relationship as an element is not as independent and meaning.
Also, positive relationships are a result of actions made due to finding meaning. In the pursuit
of happiness, I believe that the focus on meaning and service to what is bigger than one’s self
is transcendence and can produce all other elements of a flourishing life. There is a temptation
to think that happiness is the ultimate, Frankl posits that meaning occupies that position and
that even when all positive emotions and feelings are stripped off a man, having found meaning
in suffering, a man can overcome anything.
In retrospect, If the concentration camps were thought of as a game, the trick to winning
“getting out alive and free” will be patience, grit and resilience. Getting out will therefore be
seen as an accomplishment. Frankl couldn’t have survived without a fundamental tool; finding
meaning in suffering. This further buttress that although Seligman added accomplishment as
an element for ‘wellbeing’, meaning is used accomplish anything in situations when the choice
to accomplish is absent. It is one of the basic tenets of logotherapy that man's main concern is
not to gain pleasure or to avoid pain but rather to see a meaning in his life. That is why man is
even ready to suffer, on the condition, to be sure, that his suffering has a meaning (Frankl 1984,
p.136). Frankl suggests that the more a life gives itself to the service of others, the higher the
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accomplishment. The more one forgets himself - by giving himself to a cause to serve or
another person to love - the more human he is and the more he actualizes himself (Frankl 1984,
p.133).
Perhaps, the most salient argument that Frankl made is that a pleasant life is an outcome of a
meaningful life. Pleasure is, and must remain, a side-effect or by-product, and is destroyed and
spoiled to the degree to which it is made a goal in itself (Frankl 1984, p.145). I believe this is
not only true for a pleasant life but for an engaged life (flow), positive relationships and
accomplishments. I posit that the feeling of having;
a. a pleasant life - finding meaning in love and happiness,
b. an engaged life – finding meaning in work,
c. positive relationships – finding meaning in service,
d. accomplishment – finding meaning in success itself.
When we look at all the elements in PERMA, meaning is the only element with an intrinsic
power to influence a life to aspire to preservation. While Seligman tries to look at a wholistic
life as a satisfactory experience, Frankl considers life satisfaction even after most of life’s
pleasantness is stripped away. Another perspective is through the lens of logotherapy which
literally means meaning therapy. Man's search for meaning is the primary motivation in his life
and not a "secondary rationalization" of instinctual drives (Frankl 1984, p.121). Frankl suggests
that all four elements of Seligman’s wellbeing theory apart from meaning are instinctual drives.
I believe that these instinctual drives are at their very core merely “outcomes” of finding
meaning in different areas of man’s existence.
In a lot of ways, I believe authentic happiness and wellbeing theories are constructs of mental
health because they describe a state of being. Frankl’s man’s search for meaning and
logotherapy are however solutions to existential frustrations. Frankl described mental health as
the gap between what we are and what we ought to be (Frankl 1984, p.127). I find this definition
all encompassing. Closing this gap requires that man finds a reason to change himself, will-tomeaning.
CONCLUSION
The fundamental point of a life well lived above all else is belonging and service to something
that is believed to be bigger than one’s self, finding meaning to one’s existence.
REFERENCES
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1.
Frankl, V. (1984). Man’s search for meaning: An introduction to logotherapy (Revised
and Updated.). First Washington Square Press printing February 1985
2.
2.Seligman, M. E. (2012). Flourish: Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and
Wellbeing.
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