Definition: A process where initial positive and negative perceptions fade, and emotions level out.
Example: A new house or things become old quickly, as we adapt to having them around us.
Reference: Leif Nelson & Tom Meyvis: series of experiments on how disruptions affect hedonic adaptation. Their results suggested that people suffer less when they do not disrupt bad experiences, and enjoy pleasurable experiences more when they break them up.
Insight: Humans can conceive of a future, but we cannot accurately predict how we will respond to it.
Insight: In moments of pain or loss, it is difficult to imagine that we can adapt to injuries or a new lifestyle, or that we might find joy in that new situation.
Insight: Adaptation can cause problems for effective decision making, because it hard to predict how we will adapt.
Insight: Over time, we tend to not be as happy or as sad as we thought we'd be when good or bad things happen to us.
Insight: As consumers we tend to escalate purchases, hoping that new or bigger things will make us happier, but the buzz wears off.
Principle: Space out pleasurable experiences.
Insight: We grow accustomed to good and bad, and do so more quickly that we anticipate.
Insight: Experienced happiness is often fleeting.
Insight: Hedonic adaptation means that we are poor at making decisions about our future happiness.
Insight: Experiences rather than things are more immune to hedonic adaptation - we can mentally revisit them in ways that we can't with material things.
Definition: People have a particular happiness level that we return to after good or bad events, a process called hedonic adaptation.
Insight: Hedonic adaptation helps us move on from tragedy; but also means that joy from positive events doesn't stick around for long.
Insight: Humans are so effective at adapting, we can often take things for granted.
Insight: We can raise our base level of happiness: "happiness is hackable."
Principles: (1) Practice gratitude; (2) practice forgiveness; (3) practice giving.
Insight: We adapt to pleasures and get used to them.
Insight: We can have too much of a good thing.
Insight: People are happier when they have small amounts of things regularly instead of a few big things less frequently.
Principle: Consume small amounts more frequently over big amounts less frequently.
Definition: The tendency to get accustomed to nice things.
Example: The joy of getting new things doesn't last.
Insight: Accumulation of wealth and material goods is not a sustainable way to promote long term happiness.
Insight: The fulfilment we get from giving to others tends not to decay.
Principle: Give to others.
Definition: When we get used to things, or change our reference point: we adapt to new circumstances.
Examples: Lottery winners or accident victims become used to their new situation.
Insight: We adapt to pleasure, or good and bad experiences.
Insight: We get used to good or bad luck.
Insight: As decision makers it is hard to predict the actual experience that outcomes will produce, and how we adapt to that.
Reference: Brickman and Campbell (1971) - hedonic treadmill - rapid adaptation to change causes improvements to be short-lived.
Definition: The tendency to take things for granted.
Insight: Gratitude, and appreciating what we have does not come easy for humans.
Insight: When good things happen or we get something new, our baseline expectations adapt to that new level.
Insight: If we can appreciate that nothing can be taken for granted or is guaranteed it can help reduce our baseline expectations.
Insight: Abundance can undermine our enjoyment of something - the more we become exposed to things, the more their impact diminished.
Key Insights & Principles
Happiness & Decision Making
Over time, individual events tend not make us as happy or sad as we think.
Humans can conceive of the future, but poor at predicting how we will respond to new circumstances.
We have a tendency toward escalating material purchases looking for happiness, but the good feelings quickly wear off.
We quickly get used to new things, and change our reference point.
Experiences rather than things are more immune to hedonic adaptation as we can more easily revisit them in our memories.
We often take things for granted.
Abundance can undermine our enjoyment of things.
Practice gratitude; forgiveness; and giving.
Space out pleasurable activities.
Consume small amounts more frequently over big amounts less frequently.
