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UC Riverside UC Riverside Previously Published Works UC Riverside UC Riverside Previously Published Works Title Hedonic Adaptation to Positive and Negative Experiences Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2w73s294 ISBN 9780195375343 Author Lyubomirsky, S Publication Date 2012-09-18 DOI 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195375343.013.0011 Peer reviewed eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California ~.~ OXFORD LIBRARY OF PSYCHOLOGY OXFORD LlBRAR Y OF PSYCHOLOGY Pi,. EDITOR-IN-CHIEF EditoT-in-Chiej PETER E. NATHAN Perer E. Narhan A REA EDITORS The Oxford Handbook Clinical Psychology David H. Barlow of Stress, Health, and Cognitive NellroscienCl! Kevin N. Ochsner and Srephen M. Kosslyn Coping Cognitive Psychology Daniel Reisberg Edited by COllnseling Psychology Susan Folkman Elizabeth M. Alrmaier and Jo-Ida C. Hansen Developmental Psychology Philip David Zdazo Health Psychology Howard S. Friedman History ofPsychology David B. Baker industrial/Organizational Psychology Steve W. J. Kozlowski Methods and MeaSllTement Todd D. Little Nl!lIropsychology Kenneth M. Adams OXFORD Personality and Social Psychology Kay Deaux and Mark Snyder 2011 necessitates slowing down or thwarting it. In this CHAPTER The What, How, and Why ofHedonic Hedonic Adaptation to Positive and chapter, I first introduce the construct of hedonic Adaptation adaptation and several complex ides surrounding it. Hedonic adaptation is the psychological process by 11 Negative Experiences Next, I review empirical evidence on how people which people become accusromed to a positive or adapt to circumstantial changes, and speculate about negative stimulus, such that the emotional effects of why the rate and course of adaptation differ in that stimulus are a((enuated over time (Frederick & response to favorable versus unfavorable life changes. Loewenstein, 1999; see also Helson, 1964; Parducci, Sonja Lyubomirsky I chen discuss the relevance ofexamining adaptation 1995). The "stimulus" can be a circumstance (new co questions of both how to enhance happiness (in mansion in the hills), a single event (a pink slip), or a the positive domain) and to facilitate coping (in the recurring event (thrice-weekly dialysis), and it must negative domain). Finally, I present a new dynamic be constant or repeated for adaptation to occur. The theoretical model of the processes and mechanisms homeowner will experience hedonic adaptation as underlying hedonic adaptation, and, drawing from long as her mansion remains unchanged, the worker the positive psychological literature, the means by as long as he is unemployed, and the kidney patient which adaptation may be managed in the service as long as disease progression is kept at bay. If the new of managing stress and bolstering well-being. mansion is renovated to include a tennis COUrt, che Abstract The Hedonic Adaptation to Positive and Negadve employee is offered a new job 2 weeks from Monday, Experiences (HAPNE) model, developed in collab­ Empirical and anecdotal evidence for hedonic adaptation suggests that the joys of loves and triumphs or the dialysis creatment is extended, a brand new and the sorrows of losses and humiliations fade with time. If people's goals are to increase or maintain oration with Ken Sheldon, posits that adaptation adaptation process will unfold. well-being, then their objectives will diverge depending on whether their fortune; have turned for the proceeds via cwo separate paths, such that initial A question that is yet unresolved concerns better (which necessitates slowing down or thwarting adaptation) or for the worse (which calls for well-being gains or drops corresponding to a posi­ whether the stimulus to which one adapts must be activating and accelerating iC) . In chis chapter, I first introduce the construct of hedonic adaptation and tiveor negative life change (e.g., relationship start-up an actual situation (e.g., the situation of driving a its attendant complexities. Next, I review empirical evidence on how people adapt to circumstantial vs. break-up) are eroded over time. The first path particular car or being in a particular marriage or changes, and conjecture why the adaptation rate differs in response to favorable versus unfavorable specifies that the stream ofpositive or negative emo­ experiencing a particular offense) or the kllowledgt life changes. I then discuss the relevance of examining adaptation to questions of how to enhance tions resuldng from the life change (e.g., joy or or recognition of that situation (e.g., "I own a happiness (in the positive domain) and to facilitate coping (In the negative domain). Finally, I present a sadness) may lessen over time, reverting people's hybrid" or "I am married to an alcoholic" or "She new dynamiC theoretical model (developed with Sheldon) of the processes and mechanisms underlying happiness levels back to their baseline. The second, hedonic adaptation. Drawing from the positive psychological literature, I propose ways that people can fired me"). It is undoubtedly difficult, if not impos­ more counterintuitive path specifies that the stream fashion self-practiced positive activities in the service of managing stress and bolstering well-being. sible, to disentangle these cwo aspects-for example, of positive or negadve events resulring from the to separate being married (i.e., the complex scream Keywords: hedonic adaptation, happiness, subjective well-being, positive emotions. aspiration level. change may shift people's expectadons about the of experiences that make up a marriage) from variety. surprise positivity (or negativity) of their lives, such that one's identity and self-labeling as a married person, the individual now takes for granted circumstances and researchers have yet to do so. Another unre­ that used to produce happiness or is inured to cir­ solved question is whether reductions in emotional cumscances thac used co produce unhappiness. responses over time represent evidence of true adap­ "Man is a plian< animal, a ~ing who gers accustomed to anything." Notably, che HAPNE model has significant tation or merely relabeling-that is, giving a differ­ -FyodDr DD"DY"'Sky implications for stracegies thac people can use ro ent label to the same perception. As an illustration, intervene in che adapcacion process, chereby facili­ both before and after moving away from her family, cating coping wich scressors and making the mosc of a woman may rate her overall life satisfaction as a The chrill of viccory and che agony of defeac abace & Fujica, 1996). People have been found ro be criumphs. These implications are derived from three 6 on a 10-point scale. The second rating may indi­ wich time. So do the pleasure of a new spores car, notoriously bad ac forecasting its effects (Wilson & critical variables proposed by che model to affect the cate hedonic adaptation to the move (i.e., her origi­ the despondency afrer a failed romance, the delight Gilbert, 2003, 2005), and the possibility of itS rate of adaptacion. Specifically, people will adapt nal 6 initially dropped to a 4 but in due course over a job offer, and the distress ofa painful diagno­ power has even cast a pall on optimistic predictions more slowly to a particular change in their lives if rebounded back to 6), or it may reflect changes in sis. This phenomenon, known as hedonic adapta­ that everyone can become happier simply by chang­ they a((end to the historical contingency and tran­ her interpretation and use of the scale. For example, tion, has become a hot ropic lately among both ing his or her life for the bener (Lyubomirsky, 2008; sience of the change, and if that change produces a if her new reference group (her new-found col­ psychologists and economiscs (e.g., Diener, Lucas, Lyubomirsky, Sheldon, et aI., 2005). stream of experiences chac are variable and unex­ leagues and neighbors) is less happy as a whole, then & Scollon, 2006; Easterlin, 2006; Frederick & Hedonic adaptation occurs in response to both pecced. I draw from che Iiteracure in posicive psy­ her new 6 may be a resulc of her implicitly rating Loewenstein, 1999; Kahneman & Thaler, 2006; positive and negadve experiences. Not surprisingly, chology, as well as empirical support from my own her happiness (or unhappiness) against this group Lucas, 2007a; Lyubomirsky, Sheldon, & Schkade, however, if individuals' overarching goals are (0 laboratory, to propose ways chac people can exploit instead of the old, happier reference group. 2005; Wilson & Gilbert, 2007). It has been invoked increase or maintain well-being, then their objec­ understanding of these factors to fashion self-prac­ Multiple mechanisms are presumed to underlie to explain che relatively scrong cemporal stability of tives will diverge depending on whether cheir for­ ticed positive activities that will ultimately help hedonic adaptation, including cognitive processes well-being (e.g., Costa, McCrae, & Zonderman, tunes have recendy turned for the better or for them increase well-being in che face of positive (e.g., anention, goals and values, perceptions, aspi­ 1987) and why people tend to "recover" from both the worse. The negadve domain calls for activating events and facilicace coping and resilience in che face rations, explanations, and social and temporal com­ posidve and negative life events (e.g., Suh, Diener, and accelerating adaptation. The posidve domain of painful or traumatic ones. parisons), behavioral effortS (e.g., avoiding parricular LYUBOMIRSKY situarions or seeking solace from friends), and phys­ time (e.g., Diener er aI., 2006), I will assume mar me of published cross-secrional
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