5/26/2023 0 Comments Define hedonic adaptation![]() It’s worth asking ourselves “Will this really make me happier?” Here’s a specific method that I like to use (if you’re mulling over a new purchase right now, try it out). Apply the Hedonic Treadmill to PurchasesĪ great time to apply this information is when we’re considering buying something. When we lose a job, a career, or even a loved one, we might be hurting for a long time. I’ll likely barely remember this experience in a year, and in 5 years, I’ll likely not remember it at all.Įven real tragedies affect our happiness level less than we think. In the long run, this event isn’t even a blip on the radar. So my car’s broken, and it’s going to cost me $700. Take the Long View of Negative Experiencesįirst of all, most bad things just aren’t all that bad. You can do it in about two minutes, and anyone capable of reading this blog has a lot to be grateful for.įeeling grateful shifts our focus from what we don’t have to what we do, and like squeezing all the juice from an orange, it’s a way of extracting maximum value from our circumstances. One of the quickest ways to increase our happiness is by choosing to feel gratitude. Cultivate Gratitude for Positive Experiences Let’s talk about three ways to put it to good use. ![]() This hedonic treadmill stuff isn’t just interesting it’s supremely useful. We might be miserable for a while, but we recover. In the long term, the bad things that happen to us tend not to diminish our happiness much. Is this kind of a bummer? There’s good news, too: the same thing happens with negative experiences. If you open a window, the thermostat adapts by turning on the AC, returning the room to the original temperature. Hedonic adaptation asks you to envision your happiness as hovering around a set point, like the setting on a thermostat. And another (this often consists of buying more and more stuff).Ī slightly different way of describing the same phenomenon is hedonic adaptation. Here’s the treadmill part: If we want to prolong that momentary increase in happiness, we need to have another positive experience. Eventually, though, we simply get used to it (“What, these old things?”), and our happiness level returns to where it was. In other words: When we have a positive experience, we get excited for a while (“Sweet, these shoes are on sale!”) and our happiness level briefly increases. Frederick and Loewenstein, as cited by Lyubomirsky Hedonic adaptation is the psychological process by which people become accustomed to a positive or negative stimulus, such that the emotional effects of that stimulus are attenuated over time In positive psychology, the hedonic treadmill (also called hedonic adaptation) refers to our tendency to return to the same level of happiness despite good or bad things occurring in our lives. Plus, it’s great fodder for conversation when things get quiet around the dinner table (just ask Sarah, who is definitely not sick of hearing about the hedonic treadmill and similar concepts). But understanding something called the hedonic treadmill really can help you prolong life’s joys and mute its sorrows. I wasn’t thrilled to get this news, but I happened to be writing an article about how we deal with positive and negative experiences. I consoled myself with the thought that this car repair was irritating, but unlikely to affect my long term happiness. Sarah and I have had our beloved Nissan Sentra since 2007, and after 170,000 uneventful miles, ol’ BOBPLEX finally needs some work. I just got off the phone with my mechanic, and he had some bad news for me. ![]() ![]() Happiness is not a “when” and a “where” it is a “here” and a ”now.”
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