Hedonic principle5/18/2023 Whatever it is, we acquire something material - something tangible - and for a moment it feels like we have accomplished something. Maybe it’s buying new toys for your child, even though you have baskets overflowing with them. Maybe it’s adding to your record collection or wardrobe, or upgrading your bike again and again. This cycle of hedonic adaptation effects all of us to varying degrees. The hedonic treadmill keep us from spending our way to increased happiness, but it’s also clear that our attempts to buy happiness can spoil erode the happiness we do have. We spend about $1000 each Christmas alone (which exceeds the amount most of us have in our emergency funds)! 76% of households live paycheck-to-paycheck.the average bank balance is less than five thousand dollars. ![]() Statistics about the average American’s savings are alarming: Financial distress is a leading cause of failed relationships. It can even jeopardize our health. Still, the majority of Americans don’t feel good about their finances: 72% of adults are stressed about money. “Retail therapy” is a term often used in jest, but the consequences of excessive consumerism can be very serious. Our good feelings slip away, and our well-being slinks back to its baseline. This new item makes us feel good for a bit, and then it doesn’t. Take, for example, our particular affinity for “retail therapy.” When we’re feeling stressed, sad, or upset, we find something to buy. Over the centuries we have even discovered some new ways to immerse ourselves in pleasure. Westerners, and Americans in particular, have taken the teachings of Gilgamesh to heart (and stomach). Day and night make merry These things alone are the concern of men.” This insistence that physical comfort be one’s primary concern hedonism in its purest form. In it, the following advice can be found: “Let your belly be full. Hedonism, or the belief that the attainment of pleasure should be the primary concern in life, stretches back even further than ancient Greece, to the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh - one of the oldest written stories known to man. In other words: Doing things that simply feel good isn’t enough to bring lasting happiness. In Nichomachean Ethics, Aristotle differentiated between hedonic (sensory-based) and eudaimonic (moral) well-being, and recognized that hedonic activities do not lead to long-term happiness the way eudaimonic pursuits do. The theory of hedonic adaptation has been kicking around in various incarnations since at least the times of Aristotle. The hedonic treadmill is a relatively new term for a very old idea. If this were a proper case study, the graph wouldn’t be nearly as neat and tidy, but the big picture would look similar. This is an overly simple example to illustrate the concept, but you get the idea. Our well-being returns to a set-point after good or bad events This conforms with the mathematical principle of regression toward the mean. With time, though, our well-being creeps back to its baseline. Over time, good and bad events cause temporary spikes or drops in our well-being. In the image below is a simplified example of the hedonic treadmill in action. That number will fluctuate with life’s ups and downs, while generally returning to this baseline. The average American reports a happiness level of 6.7 out of 10. Meanwhile, the Joneses have appeared to creep ahead again. We buy our new marble countertops, and for a few days, we feel like the Joneses! But, alas, the hedonic treadmill keeps moving and we stay in place. The Joneses, with their new cars and curtains, always seem to be enjoying the life we can’t quite settle into, no matter how hard we try (or how much we buy). ![]() It is the reason we can’t seem to keep up with the Joneses. ![]() While the hedonic treadmill may not be familiar to you by name, the principle behind it has long been a part of our popular culture. Despite the changes in fortune on both sides of the spectrum, both will return to his or her baseline happiness after a temporary rise or fall in well-being. In other words, every time we take a step forward, a treadmill moves right along with us, keeping us in place.Ī classic example is that of the lottery winner and a paraplegic. The theory of hedonic adaptation suggests that short term gains or losses in our happiness or well-being do not necessarily lead to lasting gains or losses in well-being, because we adapt to our circumstances. Then we will look at some ways to get off the hedonic treadmill altogether Buying things feels good, but the feeling doesn’t last.
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