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We Become Happier When We Stop Prioritizing Pleasure
How seeking eudaimonic over hedonic happiness makes us happier longer
Have you ever wondered why people who seem to have it all don’t seem much happier than you?
Think about anyone with fame or fortune — movie stars, sports stars, or bestselling authors. Except for the super bowl win or red carpet walks, they all seem just about as happy as the next person.
So why do we think if we had more of what they had we’d be any happier? We may for a short time, but we’d likely eventually just feel “normal” again.
Why is that so?
Because humans have evolved with an emotional regulatory mechanism called hedonic adaptation.
Researchers Frederick and Lowenstein define hedonic adaptation as:
“The psychological process by which people become accustomed to a positive or negative stimulus, such that the emotional effects of that stimulus are attenuated over time.”
In other words your emotions adapt and subsequently normalize to almost any life situation.
One famous study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology showed how lottery jackpot winners returned to their pre-lottery level of happiness within six…
