This piece in American Psychologist documents five weaknesses of the “hedonic treadmill” hypothesis:
First,
individuals’ set points are not hedonically neutral. Second, people
have different set points, which are partly dependent on their
temperaments. Third, a single person may have multiple happiness set
points: Different components of well-being such as pleasant emotions,
unpleasant
emotions, and life satisfaction can move in different directions.
Fourth, and perhaps most important, well-being set points can change
under some conditions. Finally, individuals differ in their adaptation
to events, with some individuals changing their set point and others
not changing in reaction to some external event.
The sad highlight for me:
Authors
of a number of recent reviews have concluded that individuals with
spinal cord injuries are less happy than are people in the general
population, with effect sizes in the moderate to large range (Dijkers,
1997, 2005; Hammell, 2004). However, the studies cited in these reviews
are often published in rehabilitation journals and are rarely cited in
psychological literature on adaptation.Finally, Lucas (2005a)
used two large, nationally representative panel studies to examine
adaptation to the onset of disability. Participants in this study (who
were followed
for an average of seven years before and seven years
after onset) reported moderate to large drops in satisfaction and very
little evidence of adaptation over time. For instance,
those
individuals who were certified as being 100% disabled reported life
satisfaction scores that were 1.20 standard deviations lower than their
nondisabled baseline levels.
Thus, although people with paraplegia
and other individuals with disabilities usually are not subjectively
miserable, happiness levels do seem to be strongly affected by this
important life circumstance.
I’ve long been convinced that I would not adapt well to any grave misfortune. Maybe I’m not as weird as I thought.
READER COMMENTS
Lori
Jul 2 2010 at 2:53am
More likely you have a worldview that only works for the fortunate.
D
Jul 2 2010 at 10:13am
Another positive psychology tenant bites the dust. How lame.
agnostic
Jul 2 2010 at 12:38pm
“Another positive psychology tenant bites the dust”
Not just them either. It’s in Adam Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments. Someone who loses a leg will put himself in the minds of others, who will feel some sadness or pity or compassion but not lose lots of sleep over his lost leg. Sympathizing with these sentiments of others is supposed to give him a wake-up call and make him Stoically take it like a man.
It’s not always clear whether he’s being 100% serious in his empirical claims like that, or is just using them to teach the reader how he should respond to adversity.
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