In other words, humans will step back on the hedonic treadmill to pursue other goals, hopes, and desires. It means despite such extreme events and emotional imbalances in human daily life, emotional equilibrium is eventually regained. Hence, euphoria dissipates, wrath calms, and grief ultimately regresses. The hedonic treadmill or hedonic adaptation is part of human nature that gives the ability to continuously adapt to ever-changing situations. What Does it Mean to be on the Treadmill? Their emotions will return to the individual baseline set point state of happiness over time. Therefore, the hedonic treadmill theory indicates that people will eventually recover from life-altering situations. The same goes when a person experiences a loss or a devastating setback feelings of loss and despair will dissipate in severity over time until a person returns to their baseline set point in time. When human beings experience good things, such as winning a lottery, buying a new house or car, or attain a long-awaited promotion, it induces an increase in happiness, which will later reduce to a normal personal baseline over time. The hedonic treadmill is evident in our daily lives. Also, people can adopt different baselines for different aspects of well-being, such as positive emotions and life satisfaction. However, it is most likely positive for most people but is not necessarily the same or at the same level for everyone. The baseline level of happiness or well-being is known as the set point and is not necessarily emotionally neutral. The hedonic treadmill is based on the idea that an individual level of happiness ultimately moves back towards where it was before either rising or falling in response to major life events.
The name hedonic treadmill was first mentioned in the 1971 Brickman and Campbell’s essay called “Hedonic Relativism and Planning the Good Society.” The hedonic treadmill is also known as hedonic adaptation.Īdaptation is the process by which the negative and positive effects on happiness fade over time. The hedonic treadmill is a theory based on the observation that there is a tendency for people to quickly return to a relatively stationary level of happiness or “set point” despite experiencing major positive or negative events or life changes.
Updated DecemWhat is the Hedonic Treadmill?
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