What would make you happy? A new car? A new house? Better health? A better relationship? A financial windfall? Or none of the above?
According some psychologists, the correct answer is “none of the above.” They describe a “hedonic treadmill,” which inevitably returns people to their baseline level of happiness. The concept was first suggested by psychologists Philip Brickman and Donald Campbell in 1971 and has been supported by several studies. According to this theory, just as we experience sensory adaptation when our eyes adjust to a suddenly bright room, we experience emotional adaptation to life events. Thus, that new car may thrill you the first week or so, but in fairly short order you return to your old-car level of happiness.
What evidence is there that we’re stuck in happiness homeostasis? In an early study, lottery winners were found to be no happier than non-winners. Individuals who sustained spinal cord injuries had strong negative emotions a week after their accidents, but were happy two months later. Also, nationwide surveys in some countries found that increases in income weren’t associated with gains in life satisfaction.
The research support for the hedonic treadmill, never especially strong, has eroded some over the years. For one thing, economists Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers found that, on a sample of nations from which there is extensive survey data, life satisfaction increased as per capita GDP increased. There would have been no such increase if everyone adapted to changes in life circumstances, as the hedonic treadmill would have it. See Wolfers’ description of the findings here. Also, an article in the American Psychologist by Ed Diener, Richard Lucas, and Christie Napa Scollon presented evidence that happiness levels can change over time. For example, in a longitudinal study in Germany following individuals over a 17 year period, 24% of study participants had significantly changed levels of happiness over the course of the study. A study spanning five years before and five years after major life events found that three such events—being widowed, divorcing, and being laid off from work—resulted in long-lasting changes in life satisfaction. A fourth event—getting married—resulted only in short-term changes in life satisfaction followed by return to baseline.
Diener et. al. point out that the research findings that they summarize do hide individual differences in adaptation. For example, though on average people return to baseline after marrying, some research participants evidenced lasting improvements in their satisfaction level, while others showed long term declines.
The hedonic treadmill hasn’t been entirely discarded, but it certainly is not the universal phenomenon that Brickman and Campbell envisioned. Significant life events can sometimes result in a permanent change in one’s life satisfaction. Of equal interest, it now seems that at least some deliberate efforts to change life satisfaction can be successful. In fact, some psychologists have designed intervention programs of this sort. A book-length description of such a program is Sonja Lyubomirsky’s The How of Happiness. Happiness seekers, get off your treadmills!
Life Assays 
October 6, 2008 at 12:09 am
I can see where Brickman and Campbell are coming from when they talk about the “hedonic treadmill” especially when considering new cars. I have been through a few cars and I remember how excited I was at first and how everything in the car seemed to be perfect. However, as time passed I became either indifferent or upset with the car. When I first got my Camaro I was extremely happy with it and felt that I had the coolest car in the world. However, now it seems that every time I turn around I find something else about my car that either irritates me or that I feel could be better. Even though I understand what is being referred to as the “hedonic treadmill” I do not think that it is true in all circumstances. Last year I found out that I had to have major surgery done to my jaws. I was told that the surgery would greatly change my looks and that I would be happier afterwards. I had the surgery about four months ago and since the surgery I have been much happier. According to the “hedonic treadmill” however, I should have returned to a baseline happiness by now. However, I have not. I have been significantly happier since the surgery even though there have been things that I am not a hundred percent satisfied with. So I think that the “hedonic treadmill” may only be present in certain situations and that it will also vary from person to person. I think more significant changes will provide a person with a more stable increase in happiness. Also, those things that are not that significant or important to us will only provide us with a temporary increase in happiness. I think that the “hedonic treadmill” is truer when material items are involved.
October 7, 2008 at 2:24 pm
It’s interesting that your car didn’t lead to more than a momentary change in happiness but that the surgery seems to have brought about a more lasting change. You suggest, correctly I think, that some events in our lives are more significant to us and thus lead to more happiness. Perhaps one thing that makes some events resonate longer is how they relate to our sense of self. In your example, physical appearance is much more central to your sense of who you are than is your car.
Another relevant factor, one I discussed in a previous blog entry, comes from economist Robert Frank. He distinguished between positional and non-positional goods. Positional goods are ones that bring us satisfaction only if we possess them to a greater degree than those around us—that would include material possessions. Non-positional goods are those that give us happiness regardless of how much of them we have compared to others, for example good health, freedom, or intimacy. Acquiring more positional goods doesn’t make us happier, both because everyone else is also amassing such goods, leaving our relative position unchanged, and because our level of happiness quickly adapts to having such goods, so we think we need even more of them to be truly happy. Having some gain in non-positional goods is more likely to lead to lasting changes in happiness.
October 26, 2008 at 11:23 pm
I agree that physical appearance is much more central to your sense of self than your car but I don’t think changing your appearance will have a long effect on your happiness. I think that the surgery on your jaw still makes you happy because it was a big change. Other things such as boob jobs or liposuction probably have a lasting effect on happiness because they are a huge change in peoples lives. However, I was thinking about getting my hair cut and I was so excited because I thought it would make me feel better about myself. Unfortunately, I was only happy about it for a week or so and now I wish I would have never cut it. I also got a new car over the summer and I was very pleased with it but I always see better cars and wish I would have gotten something different. I’m not saying that my haircut and new car didn’t make me happy, I just think that we as a society are always wanting something better and different so it’s hard for us to be happy with what we have. It’s a constant struggle for everything to keep up in the material world.
October 28, 2008 at 1:15 am
Whitney,
Thanks for your comment. Perhaps the reason that we often aren’t happy with what we have is that we are, as you say, trying to “keep up in the material world.” As long as that’s our focus, we will always be falling behind someone. Perhaps we are better off both opting out of trying to keep up with others. Also, it may be better to focus on non-material rather than material goals. As we talked about in class today, contributing to the welfare of others seems to make much more of an impact on our happiness than does money.
October 31, 2008 at 8:20 pm
Oddly even to me, I still think of my car as ‘my new car’ even though it’s seven years old, has more than 180,000 miles on it, and is on its second engine.
I cut my hair off in the summer and let it grow in the winter. Folks talk at me about it like I’ve made some drastic decision about my life. Nah. I decided to be cool in summer and warm in winter.
I’m not saying I’ve got anything figured out. My point is that these things are all in how we frame them.
November 2, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Carl,
True. We all have frames we habitually set around events, typically without being aware we are doing so. To you, the frame I’m using may be obvious, but, to me, I’m seeing the world as it is.
November 12, 2008 at 10:45 pm
[…] to the BMWs and Lexuses (or even Hondas and Toyotas) owned by those around me. The theory of the hedonic treadmill fits material goods: acquiring them produces a temporary bump in happiness, but we soon return to […]