Hedonic Adaptation Research Articles

Boredom-Induced Switching Behavior in the Restaurant Industry: The Mediating Role of Attachment

While it is well documented that boredom with a particular product or service can result in switching behavior, the extent to which emotional attachment can affect this relationship is not well understood. The purpose of this research is to address this gap in the literature by exploring the role of place attachment in the relationships among boredom, satisfaction, and switching behavior in the domain of full-service restaurant patronage. The results indicate that while boredom can, in fact, result in switching intentions (particularly to unfamiliar alternatives), the reduction/elimination of boredom can actually lead to feelings of attachment that subsequently translate into lower levels of switching intention. The findings enhance the theoretical understanding of both restaurant switching behavior and hedonic adaptation in several important ways as well as provide meaningful implications for restaurant marketers interested in minimizing switching behavior attributable to repeat visitation and boredom.

Early-life adversity facilitates acquisition of cocaine self-administration and induces persistent anhedonia

Early-life adversity increases the risk for emotional disorders such as depression and schizophrenia. Anhedonia, thought to be a core feature of these disorders, is provoked by our naturalistic rodent model of childhood adversity (i.e., rearing pups for one week in cages with limited bedding and nesting, LBN). Drug use and addiction are highly comorbid with psychiatric disorders featuring anhedonia, yet effects of LBN on drug-seeking behavior and the reward and stress-related circuits that underlie it remain unknown. Here we examined the effects of LBN on cocaine intake and seeking, using a battery of behavioral tests measuring distinct aspects of cocaine reward, and for comparison, chocolate intake. We also examined activation of neurons within the pleasure/reward and stress circuits following cocaine in LBN and control rats. Early-life adversity reduced spontaneous intake of palatable chocolate, extending prior reports of sucrose and social-play anhedonia. In a within-session cocaine behavioral economic test, LBN rats self-administered lower dosages of cocaine under low-effort conditions, consistent with a reduced hedonic set-point for cocaine, and potentially anhedonia. In contrast, cocaine demand elasticity was not consistently affected, indicating no major changes in motivation to maintain preferred cocaine blood levels. These changes were selective, as LBN did not cause an overt anxiety-like phenotype, nor did it affect sensitivity to self-administered cocaine dose, responding for cocaine under extinction conditions, cocaine- or cue-induced reinstatement of cocaine seeking, or locomotor response to acute cocaine. However, high Fos expression was seen after cocaine in both reward- and stress-related brain regions of LBN rats, including nucleus accumbens core, central amygdala, and lateral habenula. In contrast, hypothalamic orexin neuron activation after cocaine was significantly attenuated in LBN rats. Together, these findings demonstrate enduring effects of early-life adversity on both reward- and fear/anxiety-related neural circuits, as well as anhedonia-like reductions in consumption of natural and drug rewards.

The Half-Life of Happiness: Hedonic Adaptation in the Subjective Well-Being of Poor Slum Dwellers to the Satisfaction of Basic Housing Needs

Subjective well-being may not improve in step with increases in material well-being due to hedonic adaptation, a psychological process that attenuates the long-term emotional impact of a favorable or unfavorable change in circumstances. As a result, people’s degree of happiness eventually returns to a stable reference level. We use a multicountry field experiment to examine the impact on subjective measures of well-being of the provision of improved housing to extremely poor populations in order to test whether they exhibit hedonic adaptation when their basic housing needs are met. After 16 months, we find that subjective perceptions of well-being improve substantially for recipients of improved housing but that, after, on average, eight additional months, 60% of that gain has dissipated. Extrapolation achieved through estimation of a structural model of hedonic adaptation suggests that the decay rate of the treatment effect is 20% per month. As a result, after 28 months of treatment exposure, we forecast that the entire treatment effect will have disappeared.

Keeping the magic alive: social sharing of positive life experiences sustains happiness

ABSTRACTSocial sharing of positive life experiences has been linked to increased intensity of positive emotion. Less is known about the relations among sharing, the perceived response of the listener, and the duration of positive emotion. We hypothesised that sharing an experience would sustain positive emotion when listeners responded in a manner that highlighted the appraised importance and remarkability of the experience, thereby slowing hedonic adaptation. College students who received a desirable exam grade (N = 165) reported their emotional response, appraisals, and sharing on the day they received their grade and again the following evening. Sharing was associated with longer episodes of positive emotion and more time spent thinking about the positive event. The association between sharing and emotion duration was greatest when sharing partners were perceived as highlighting the importance and remarkability of the event. This type of sharing also mitigated the fading of emotion intensity over time. These findings suggest that sharing sustains positive emotion by promoting appraisals that “keep the magic alive.”

Macroeconomic priorities revisited: the behavioural foundations of stabilization policies

The theoretical literature that neglects the benefits of stabilization policies (e.g., Lucas 1987, 2003) ultimately relies on the low impact of macroeconomic volatility on aggregate income and consumption. We argue that this conclusion is theoretically and empirically weak. Theoretically, the cost of volatility should be measured by including not only monetary magnitudes, but also those psychological costs whose relevance has been stressed by behavioural economics and that are correlated with the number of unemployment episodes. We refer here to implications for the experienced utility of loss aversion, the endowment effect and hedonic adaptation. Empirically, downturns more severely affect those who have less and who suffer greater well-being losses from each shock, magnifying the negative impact of recessions. It follows that the traditional analysis, which disregards the main causes of well-being losses determined by downturns, cannot represent a sound basis for dismissing policies aimed at preventing downturns (and/or their impact on the labour market).

Hedonic nondurability revisited: A case for two types.

Hedonic durability refers to the extent to which the hedonic impact of a change lasts, that is, how long the unhappiness from a loss (or happiness from a gain) will endure over time. The lesson from previous research on this topic has been that the long-term effect of most changes (e.g., larger incomes, bigger houses, shorter commutes) is negligible. The present research shows something different. Consistent with previous research, we observed a pattern of hedonic nondurability in which the impact of a change did not endure over time. However, we also observed a pattern of hedonic durability in which the impact of a change does endure over time. We demonstrate differential rates of hedonic durability for losses, both across variables (Experiment 1) and within different ranges of the same variable (Experiment 2). We also extend our research to show differential rates for gains (Experiment 3). To explain our results, we propose a distinction between preference types, arguing that comparison-independent (i.e., absolute) preference types are hedonically more durable than comparison-dependent (i.e., relative) preference types. This research offers a method for validating preference-type categorization as well as a novel paradigm for testing hedonic durability in the laboratory. Moreover, it yields theoretical insights for affective forecasting and adaptation as well as practical implications for the hedonic treadmill and the joyless economy. (PsycINFO Database Record

Does Loving Longer Mean Loving More? On the Nature of Enduring Affective Attitudes

This article provides a conceptual map of the affective terrain while focusing on enduring positive affective attitudes, such as love and happiness. The first section of the article examines the basic characteristics of affective attitudes, i.e., intentionality, feeling, and dispositionality, and classifies the various affective attitudes accordingly. An important distinction in this regard is between acute, extended, and enduring affective attitudes. Then a discussion on the temporality of affective attitudes is presented. The second section discusses major mechanisms that enable long-lasting affective attitudes to endure. These mechanisms include, (1) Hedonic adaptation, which reduces affective intensity, thereby enabling adaptation to a stable, average level of affective intensity; (2) Positive mood offset, which maintains a moderate level of positive mood in the absence of adverse stimuli; (3) The enduring mood of being dissatisfied, thereby keeping the agent’s interest high, and (4) Meaningful development, which underlies the continuation and enhancement of the affective attitude. Each of these mechanisms sustains, in its own unique way, the balance required for enduring affective attitudes. The third section applies the above considerations to two major enduring positive affective attitudes: the mood of lasting happiness and the enduring emotion of profound romantic love. Time is typically a necessary condition for the creation and enhancement of such love (and other enduring affective attitudes). However, it is not a sufficient condition. So only in some cases, but not in all, does loving longer mean loving more.

Aspirations of Migrants and Returns to Human Capital Investment

Migrants are believed to have higher aspirations than non-migrants. Furthermore, studies find that migration itself leads to even higher aspirations. One conventional explanation found in the literature is that migrants adapt their aspirations to their income relative to that of a new reference group. As this process continues migrants are miserably trapped on a hedonic treadmill. Alternatively, migration can be viewed as an investment in capabilities that can expand the aspirational window through the awareness of even better opportunities that lead to higher aspirations. If cities are viewed as places where migrants can accumulate human capital, the increase in aspirations after migration may be explained from an angle of expected returns to the human capital investment. Using two waves of Indonesian Family Life Survey (2000, 2007), this study presents tests of these two possible explanations about the change in aspirations after migration. To this end, this study uses a variable constructed by a difference between a migrant’s current level of subjective well-being and her future aspired level of well-being. The results cast doubt on the view that post-migration aspirations make migrants miserable in their migration destinations. Instead, this study finds ample evidence to support the view that migrants move to urban areas in order to accumulate human capital, looking forward to returns to their investment.

Car ownership and hedonic adaptation

Using panel data from the UK, we study the long-term effect of purchase decisions of automobiles on individuals’ happiness. We find a significant and sizable decrease in individual happiness in the years after a car purchase. We develop a model of hedonic adaptation that can explain these results. Applying the model to the data indicates a strong degree of habit persistence of around 80%, and that within five years after a purchase, around one third of the happiness increase is dissipated due to hedonic adaptation.

Income and Well-Being: Relative Income and Absolute Income Weaken Negative Emotion, but Only Relative Income Improves Positive Emotion.

Whether relative income or absolute income could affect subjective well-being has been a bone of contention for years. Life satisfaction and the relative frequency of positive and negative emotions are parts of subjective well-being. According to the prospect theory, hedonic adaptation helps to explain why positive emotion is often so hard to be maintained, and negative emotion wouldn’t be easy to be eliminated. So we expect the relationship between income and positive emotion is different from that between income and negative emotion. Given that regional reference is the main comparison mechanism, effects of regional average income on regional average subjective well-being should be potentially zero if only relative income matters. Using multilevel analysis, we tested the hypotheses with a dataset of 30,144 individuals from 162 counties in China. The results suggested that household income at the individual level is associated with life satisfaction, happiness and negative emotions. On the contrary, at a county level, household income is only associated with negative emotion. In other words, happiness and life satisfaction was only associated with relative income, but negative emotion was associated with relative income and absolute income. Without social comparison, income doesn’t improve happiness, but it could weaken negative emotion. Therefore, it is possible for economic growth to weaken negative emotion without improving happiness. These findings also contribute to the current debate about the “Esterling paradox.”

How to Forecast Behavioral Effects on Mobile Advertising in the Smart Environment using the Technology Acceptance Model and Web Advertising Effect Model

This paper proposes and then verifies a model that can be used to forecast the effects of behavior on mobile advertising based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Web Advertising Effect. The objective of this research is to probe the relationship between the cause and effect of the entertainment, informativeness, usefulness, capacity to accommodate smart-environment technologies, Hedonic Adaptation Model (HAM), etc. that mobile advertisements provide, as well as the attitudes toward advertisements in general. In order to accomplish this goal, the research was verified using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), and the results are as follows. First, the informativeness of mobile advertising has a positive effect on the recognized ease of use. Second, the entertainment and informativeness of mobile advertising has positive effects on the recognized usefulness. Third, the recognized ease of use has a positive effect on the recognized usefulness. Fourth, the informativeness of mobile advertising causes a positive effect on smart-environment technologies. Fifth, the entertainment and informativeness of mobile advertising cause positive effects on the HAM. Sixth, smart-environment technologies cause positive effects on the HAM. Seventh, the recognized usefulness causes a positive effect on the value of mobile advertising and the intention of use. Eighth, the HAM has a positive effect on the value of mobile advertising and the general attitudes toward it. Ninth, the value of mobile advertising has a positive effect on the attitudes toward advertising. Tenth, the attitudes toward mobile advertising have a positive effect on the intention of use.

When It Could Have Been Worse, It Gets Better: How Favorable Uncertainty Resolution Slows Hedonic Adaptation

Thankfully, most product consumption experiences are positive. Unfortunately, however, those positive experiences are not always guaranteed, and defects creep into the consumer experience. Though its assertion runs counter to most prescriptions, the current research proposes that exposing consumers to the mere possibility of negative experiences occurring in a consumption sequence increases consumers’ happiness with those experiences over time. Six studies demonstrate this effect and further show that it is driven by hedonic responses as a result of favorable uncertainty resolution. That is, with the mere possibility of a negative experience, a consumer who actually experiences a positive outcome is likely to feel relief or pleasure from not having to experience the negative outcome. This research enriches existing literature on hedonic adaptation and uncertainty and has significant implications for consumer behavior.

O Impacto da Interação Social na Adaptação Hedônica do Consumidor

Resumo Este artigo analisa se a interação com amigos, em situações de compra e consumo, é capaz de influenciar o nível de prazer que prevemos que vamos sentir e o prazer que efetivamente sentimos com um produto após a compra. Ou seja, estuda-se o efeito da sociabilização do consumidor no processo de previsão da adaptação e na adaptação hedônica real subsequente. Foram realizados três experimentos (um deles dividido em duas partes) independentes e complementares em ambiente online (Mechanical Turk) e em laboratório. Os resultados confirmaram a hipótese de que a previsão da adaptação é menor nas situações de consumo que envolvem a interação social, quando comparadas àquelas sem interação social. A sociabilização do consumidor exerceu influência, também, sobre a adaptação hedônica real, confirmando a hipótese de que a adaptação é menor nas situações de consumo envolvendo sociabilização. Em conjunto, evidenciou-se que, quando há interação social, os consumidores preveem e vivenciam mais prazer do que quando não há interação social. Esta pesquisa estende a teoria na área de comportamento do consumidor, especialmente sobre a adaptação hedônica, além de trazer implicações para empresas e consumidores, apontando uma forma prática de redução da adaptação hedônica em situações de consumo: a interação social.

Does Happiness Adapt to Increase in Income? Evidence from Pakistan Socio-economic Survey (1998-2001)

The fact that happiness does not increase as income increases over time [the Easterlin Paradox (1974)] has puzzled a number of scholars for a number of decades. The latest research on this topic [Easterlin, et al. (2010)] concludes that happiness increases with an increment in income in the short term but it adapts to this income increment in the long term. The objective of this research is to test whether happiness adapts to income increase in the short term using two-period panel Pakistan Socio-Economic Survey [PSES (1998-2001)]. The paper makes use of a unique question on happiness asked in PSES to resolve two issues simultaneously: unavailability of happiness question in period 1 and potential inconsistency of responses to general happiness question. The paper applies Random Effect Ordered Probit model to investigate the hedonic adaptation effect using various formulations used in the happiness economics literature. The results show positive and statistically significant impact of income change on happiness with weak evidence of adaptation to income since it is statistically insignificant. The result is consistent with the studies that show no adaptation during a short period. Among several reasons for hedonic adaptation, falling positive emotions and rising aspirations are discussed along with causes of happiness and policy implications. The significance of the present research lies in the fact that it is the first study in Pakistan that tests the hedonic adaptation to income and hence contributes to the evidence on happiness dynamics. JEL Classification: I31, D60, C25 Keywords: Happiness, Adaptation, Income, Panel Ordered Probit Model

여행자의 행복감은 어떻게 지속되는가?

Research on happiness needs to be conducted in consideration of temporal flow. Happiness after traveling is not sustained and is gone from memory after a little while. On the other hand, it would remain as an everlasting memory. This paper is a study of the factors that prolong tourists’ happiness and generate memories. In order to do that, we tried to understand the meaning of travel from the viewpoints of pleasure and hedonic adaptation. Pleasure and hedonic adaptation have played an important role in the survival of mankind. Hedonic adaptation basically inhibits happiness. However, when Experiencing, most of the people had different adaptation rates than in previous research, Attention, uncertainty, social comparison, cognitive interpretation(meaning), and emotional response were obtained as factors that inhibit hedonic adaptation through the study of previous research. Travel is an experience involved deeply in these factors and the subjective well-being of travel could last for a long time as a result. Moreover, it can be said to be held among our good memories. In order to promote the study of subjective well-being through travel, the five factors will also be worth studying.

What Predicts Positive Life Events that Influence the Course of Depression? A Longitudinal Examination of Gratitude and Meaning in Life

Decades of research have shown that positive life events contribute to the remission and recovery of depression; however, it is unclear how positive life events are generated. In this study, we sought to understand if personality strengths could predict positive life events that aid in the alleviation of depression. We tested a longitudinal mediation model where gratitude and meaning in life lead to increased positive life events and, in turn, decreased depression. The sample consisted of 797 adult participants from 43 different countries who completed online surveys at five timepoints. Higher levels of gratitude and meaning in life each predicted decreases in depression over 3 and 6 months time. Increases in positive life events mediated the effects of these personality strengths on depression over 3 months; however, not over 6 months. Goal pursuit and positive emotions are theorized to be the driving forces behind gratitude and meaning in life’s effects on positive life events. We used the hedonic treadmill to interpret the short-term impact of positive life events on depression. Our findings suggest the potential for gratitude and meaning in life interventions to facilitate depression remission.

The Influence of Negative Surprise on Hedonic Adaptation

After some time using a product or service, the consumer tends to feel less pleasure with consumption. This reduction of pleasure is known as hedonic adaptation. One of the emotions that interfere in this process is surprise. Based on two experiments, we suggest that negative surprise – differently to positive – influences with the level of pleasure foreseen and experienced by the consumer. Study 1 analyzes the influence of negative (vs. positive) surprise on the consumer’s post-purchase hedonic adaptation expectation. Results showed that negative surprise influences the intensity of adaptation, augmenting its strength. Study 2 verifies the influence of negative (vs positive) surprise over hedonic adaptation. The findings suggested that negative surprise makes adaptation happen more intensively and faster as time goes by, which brings consequences to companies and consumers in the post-purchase process, such as satisfaction and loyalty.

As time goes by ... maintaining longitudinal satisfaction: a perspective of hedonic adaptation

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to improve our understanding of how firms can maintain longitudinal satisfaction. Previous research on longitudinal satisfaction demonstrates that the product attributes weight on satisfaction shifts over time. However, the existing literature lacks an understanding of the intervening mechanism. Inspired by the hedonic adaptation theory, this research first argues that the shift depends on the attribute’s variability. Then, it posits that hedonic adaptation might play a mediation role in connecting the attribute’s weight and longitudinal satisfaction. Finally, the research incorporates consumer intentional activities into the antecedents of longitudinal satisfaction.Design/methodology/approachThe authors test a series of hypotheses across two studies. Using the Slope-shift Parameter Theory and Structural Equation Modeling, data collected from smartphone owners in four MBA classes (Study 1) and eight business venues in China (Study 2) are analyzed to confirm the research model.FindingsThe findings suggest that hedonic adaptation occurs during the ownership process. It is revealed that both the attribute’s variability and consumption behavior play important roles in sustaining long-term satisfaction, confirming the mediating effects of hedonic adaptation on the relationship above.Originality/valueThe hedonic adaptation theory is applied to study the mediating role of product attribute variability and consumption behavior in sustaining customer satisfaction over time. Three contributions are offered: First, hedonic adaptation occurs during the ownership process; second, the attribute’s variability and consumption behavior both play important roles in sustaining longitudinal satisfaction; third, the mediating effects of hedonic adaptation are confirmed for the relationship between attribute’s variability and sustaining satisfaction and consumption behavior and sustaining satisfaction.

Affective forecasting about hedonic loss and adaptation: Implications for damage awards.

In tort lawsuits, plaintiffs may seek damages for loss of enjoyment of life, so-called hedonic loss, which occurred as a result of an accident or injury. In 2 studies, we examined how people judge others' adaptation and hedonic loss after an injury. Laypeople's forecasts of hedonic loss are relevant to concerns about whether jurors appropriately compensate plaintiffs. Longitudinal data of subjective well-being (e.g., Binder & Coad, 2013) show that hedonic loss is domain-specific: Many physical impairments (e.g., strokes) inflict less hedonic loss than many persistent yet invisible ailments (e.g., mental illness and conditions that cause chronic pain). We used vignette methodology to determine whether laypeople (n = 68 community members and 65 students in Study 1; 87 community members and 93 students in Study 2) and rehabilitation professionals (n = 47 in Study 2) were aware of this fact. In Study 1, participants' ratings of hedonic loss subsequent to a physical injury and a comparably severe psychological impairment did not differ. In Study 2, ratings of short- and long-term hedonic loss stemming from paraplegia and chronic back pain showed that neither laypeople nor professionals understood that hedonic loss is domain-specific. These findings imply that observers may forecast a future for people who suffered serious physical injuries as grimmer than it is likely to be, and a future for people who experience chronic pain and psychological disorders as rosier than is likely. (PsycINFO Database Record

Development and application of the hedonic adaptation theory

Development and application of the hedonic adaptation theory