They also found that accident victims who experienced paraplegia also adapted to a large extent (although happiness did not recover completely to the level experienced by control participants). They found that lottery winners happiness levels match that of control participants within a year of winning, suggesting that happiness levels adapt to the increased wealth. For example, Gilbert and colleagues (1998) have argued that a “psychological immune system” accounts for adaptation, and that it functions outside of awareness, accounting for affective forecasting errors due to 'immune neglect.'Įarly evidence that well-being adapts to circumstances came from a classic study by Brickman, Coates and Janoff-Bulmann (1971). One possible reason for these misconceptions about circumstances and well-being is that people may overlook or underestimate the human capacity for adaptation to negative events. 1998) and even sporting event outcomes ( Wilson, Wheatley, Meyers, Gilbert, & Axsom, 2000). People have been shown to mispredict the emotional impact of finances (Brickman, Coates, & Janoff-Bulman, 1971 Kermer, Driver-Linn, Wilson, & Gilbert, 2006), aging ( Lacey, Smith, & Ubel, 2006), health ( Boyd, Sutherland, Heasman, Tritchler, & Cummings, 1990 Brickman, et al., 1971 Riis, et al., 2005 Sieff, Dawes, & Loewenstein, 1999 Smith, Sherriff, Damschoeder & Ubel, 2006 Ubel, Loewenstein & Jepson, 2005), environment ( Loewenstein & Frederick, 1997 Schkade & Kahneman, 1998), hiring and promotion decisions ( Gilbert, Pinel, Wilson, Blumberg, & Wheatley, 1998), election outcomes ( Gilbert, et al.

Over the last few decades, evidence has accumulated that most life circumstances do not affect well-being as dramatically as people typically think. However, a good deal of research suggests that people overestimate the influence of a wide range of life circumstances on well-being. What makes people happier? Money and success? Youth and beauty? Health and strength? Many people go to great lengths to gain or maintain these things, presumably based on expectations of enhanced well-being and happiness.

Hedonic adaptation