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Hedonic motivation refers to the influence of a person's pleasure and pain receptors on their willingness to move towards a goal or away from a threat. Mar 17, 2017 In an economic context, 'hedonic' means of or relating to utility. (In a more general sense, hedonic is related in its etymology to hedonism, which is the search for pleasure.).
What Is the Hedonic Treadmill?
The hedonic treadmill is a metaphor for the idea that an individual's level of happiness tends to return to where it started—a “set point”—regardless of good fortune or negative life events the person experiences. The process by which positive or negative effects on happiness fade over time is called hedonic adaptation.
Starting a new romance, being promoted at work, or even winning the lottery may cause a brief burst of extra joy, but these events will not necessarily change people’s everyday levels of happiness in the long run. Instead, people often adjust their expectations to the new status quo and find themselves desiring even more to maintain the same level of happiness—hence the treadmill comparison.
Similarly, negative events such as losing a job, a home, or a loved one will not typically not keep a person depressed forever; eventually, one's mood will likely revert toward the happiness baseline. The hedonic treadmill can be a double-edged sword, offering protection from the impact of harmful environments while constraining potential gains in happiness over the long term.
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Can You Increase Your Level of Happiness?
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