On the causes and consequences of Hedonic Adaptation

Perez Truglia, Ricardo Nicolas (2009): On the causes and consequences of Hedonic Adaptation.

Abstract

Sensations have both discriminative and affective components. The affective component faces special restrictions when fulfilling warning and defense roles (e.g. pain, fever). As a result, Nature must design self-regulatory utility functions (i.e. hedonic adaptation). Our evolutionary theory gives deeper foundations to the existing models of Robson (2002) and Rayo and Becker (2005). But only our theory can accommodate the wide variation in rates of adaptation across sensations. Indeed, identifying such variation is crucial for the welfare and policy implications. Finally, we provide an application to the psychological defenses, whose predictions are consistent with the region-β paradox (Gilbert et al., 2004).

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: hedonic adaptation; evolution; expectations; decision utility; experienced utility
• Subjects: D - Microeconomics > D0 - General > D03 - Behavioral Economics; Underlying Principles; B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B5 - Current Heterodox Approaches > B52 - Institutional; Evolutionary; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I0 - General > I00 - General

References

Clark, A.; Diener, E.; Georgellis, Y. and Lucas, R. (2008), "Lags And Leads in Life Satisfaction: a Test of the Baseline Hypothesis," The Economic Journal, Vol. 118, pp. 222-243.

Cometto-Muniz, J. E., and Cain, W. S. (1992), "Sensory irritation: Relation to indoor air pollution," Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Vol. 641, pp. 137-151.

Dar, Reuven; Ariely, Dan and Frenk, Hanan (1995), "The effect of past-injury on pain and threshold and tolerance," Pain, Vol. 60, pp. 189-193.

Di Tella, R.; Haisken-De New, J. and MacCulloch, R. (2007), "Happiness Adaptation to Income and to Status in an Individual Panel," NBER Working Paper, No. W13159.

Diener, E.; Sandvik, E. and Pavot, W. (1991), "Happiness is the frequency, not the intensity, of positive versus negative affect," in F. Strack, M. Argyle, and N. Schwarz (Eds.), "Subjective Well-Being." NewYork: Pergamon Press.

Eaton, S. B.; Shostak, M. and Konner, M. (1988), "The Paleolithic prescription." New York: Harper & Row.

Ehrlich, P. R. (2000), "Human Natures: Genes, Cultures and the Human Prospect." Washington D.C.: Island Press.

Festinger, L. (1957), "A theory of cognitive dissonance." Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Frederick, Shane, and Loewenstein, George (1999), "Hedonic Adaptation," in Daniel Kahneman, Edward Diener, and Norbert Schwarz, eds., "Well-being: The foundations of hedonic psychology." New York: Russell Sage Foundation Press.

Freud, A. (1937), "The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defence." London: Hogarth Press and Institute of Psycho-Analysis.

Gerard, Harold B. and Mathewson, Grover C. (1966), "The effects of severity of initiation on liking for a group: A replication," Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Vol. 2, pp. 278-287.

Gilbert, D.T.; Pinel, E. C.; Wilson, T.D.; Blumberg, S.J. and Wheatley, T.P. (1998), "Immune Neglect: a source of durability bias in affective forecasting," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 75, pp. 617-638.

Gilbert, D.T. and Ebert, J.E. (2002), "Decisions and revisions: The affective forecasting of changeable outcomes," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 82, pp. 503--514.

Gilbert, D.T.; Lieberman, M.D.; Morewedge, C. and Wilson, T.D. (2004), "The peculiar longevity of things not so bad," Psychological Science, Vol. 15, pp. 14--19.

Graham, Liam and Oswald, Andrew (2006), "Hedonic Capital," IZA Discussion Paper, No. 2079.

Helson, H. (1964), "Adaptation-level theory." New York: Harper & Row.

Hirayama, A.; Yamada, K.; Tanaka, Y.; Hirata, N.; Yamamoto, M.; Suemori, T.; Momose, H.; Shiomi, T.; Ozono, S. and Hirao, Y. (1995), "Evaluation of sexual function in adults with myelomeningocele," Acta Urologica Japonica, Vol. 41, pp. 985-989.

Jones, K.; Shainberg, L. and Byer, C. (1979), "Drugs and Alcohol." New York: Harper & Row.

Kahneman, D. and Snell, J. (1992), "Predicting a Changing Taste: Do People Know What They Like?" Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, Vol. 5 (3), pp. 187-200.

Kahneman, D.; Wakker, P. and Sarin, R. (1997), "Back to Bentham? Explorations of Experienced Utility," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 112 (2), pp. 375-405.

Kahneman, D. (2000), "Experienced Utility and Objective Happiness: A Moment-Based Approach," Ch. 37 in Kahneman D. and Tversky A. (Eds.) "Choices, Values and Frames." New York: Cambridge University Press and the Russell Sage Foundation.

Laibson, David (1997), "Golden eggs and hyperbolic discounting," Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 62, pp. 443-477.

Laibson, David (2001) "A Cue-Theory of Consumption," Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 66 (1), pp. 81-120.

Larsen, J.; A. McGraw, Peter and Cacioppo, J. (2001), "Can People Feel Happy and Sad at the Same Time?" Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 81 (4), pp. 684-696.

LeDoux, Joseph (2002), "Synaptic self." London: Penguin. Loewenstein, George and Schkade, David (1999), "Wouldn't It Be Nice? Predicting Future Feelings," in Daniel Kahneman, Edward Diener, and Norbert Schwarz, eds., "Well-being: The foundations of hedonic psychology." New York: Russell Sage Foundation Press.

Loewenstein, G.; O'Donoghue, T. and Rabin, M. (2003), "Projection Bias In Predicting Future Utility," Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 118 (4), pp. 1209-1248.

Madonick, M.J. (1954), "Insensitiveness to pain," Neurology, Vol. 4 (7), pp. 554-557.

McKay, S. and Barrows, T.L. (1992), "Reliving birth: maternal responses to viewing videotape of their second stage labors," Journal of Nursing Scholarship, Vol. 24 (1), pp. 27-31.

Merskey, H. and Evans, P.R. (1975), "Variations in pain complaint threshold in psychiatric and neurological patients with pain," Pain, Vol. 1, pp. 73-79.

Montague, Read (2006) "Your brain is almost perfect." London: Penguin. Nesse, R. and Williams, G. (1994), "Why we get sick: The new science of Darwinian medicine." New York: Vintage. Nesse, R.M. (2005), "Evolutionary Psychology and Mental Health," in Buss, David (Ed.), "Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology." New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons.

Oswald, A. and Powdthavee, N. (2008), "Does happiness adapt? A longitudinal study of disability with implications for economists and judges," Journal of Public Economics, Vol. 92, pp. 1061-1077.

Patterson D.R.; Everett, J.J.; Bombardier, C.H.; Questad, K.A.; Lee, V.K. and Marvin J.A. (1993), "Psychological effects of severe burn injuries," Psychological Bulletin, No. 113 (2), pp. 362-78.

Perez Truglia, R. N. (2009), "On the genesis of addiction." Work in progress, Harvard University.

Peters, M.L. and Schmidt, A.J.M. (1992), "Differences in pain perception and sensory discrimination between chronic low back pain patients and healthy controls," Journal of Psychosomatic Research, Vol. 36, pp. 47-53. Richards, J.M. and Gross, J.J. (2000), "Emotion regulation and memory: The cognitive costs of keeping one's cool," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 79, pp. 410--424.

Riis, J.; Loewenstein, G.; Baron, J.; Jepson, C.; Fagerlin, A. and Ubel, P.A. (2005), "Ignorance of Hedonic Adaptation to Hemodialysis: A Study Using Ecological Momentary Assessment," Journal of Experimental Psychology General, Vol. 134 (1), pp. 3-9.

Robson, Arthur J. (2001a), "Why would nature give individuals utility functions?" Journal of Political Economy, No. 109, pp. 900--914.

Robson, Arthur (2001b), "The Biological Basis of Economic Behavior," Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. 39, pp. 11-33.

Robson, Arthur (2002), "Evolution and Human Nature," The Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 16 (2), pp. 89-106.

Samuelson, Paul (1947), "Foundations of Economic Analysis." Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Samuelson, Larry (2004), "Information-based Relative Consumption Effects," Econometrica, Vol. 72, pp. 93-118.

Sandvik, E.; Diener, E. and Larsen, R.J. (1985), "The opponent process theory and affective reactions," Motivation and Emotion, Vol. 9, pp. 407-418.

Sanfey, A. G.; Loewenstein, G.; McClure, S. M. and Cohen, J. D. (2006), "Neuroeconomics: cross-currents in research on decision-making," Trends in Cognitive Sciences, Vol. 10 (3), pp. 109-116.

Sapolsky, R. (1999), "The Physiology and Pathophysiology of Unhappiness," in Kahneman, D.; Diener, E. and Schwarz, N. (1999), pp. 453-69.

Schultz, W.; Dayan, P. and Montague, P.R. (1997), "A neural substrate of prediction and reward," Science, Vol. 275, pp. 1593-1599.

Scitovsky, T. (1976), "The joyless economy: The psychology of human satisfaction." New York: Oxford University Press.

Sheldon, K.M. and King, L. (2001), "Why positive psychology is necessary," American Psychologist, Vol. 56 (3), pp. 216-217.

Seligman, Martin E.P. (2002), "Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment." New York: Simon and Schuster.

Smith, Adam (1790), "The Theory of Moral Sentiments." London: Richard Griffin and Co.

Smith, T. and Tasnádi, A. (2007) "A Theory of Natural Addiction," Games and Economic Behavior, Vol. 59 (2), pp. 316-344.

Smith, T. (2004), "The McDonald's Equilibrium: Advertising, Empty Calories, and the Endogenous Determination of Dietary Preferences," Social Choice and Welfare, Vol. 23, pp. 383--413.

Snell, J.; Gibbs, B.J. and Varey, C. (1995), "Intuitive hedonics: Consumer beliefs about the dynamics of liking," Journal of Consumer Psychology, Vol. 4, pp. 33--60.

Sternbach, R. A. (1963), "Congenital Insensitivity to Pain," Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 60 (3), pp. 252-264.

Taylor, S.E. (1991), "Asymmetrical effects of positive and negative events: The mobilization-minimization hypothesis," Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 110, pp. 67--85.

Tremblay, Léon and Schultz, Wolfram (1999), "Relative Reward Preference in Primate Orbitofrontal Cortex," Nature, Vol. 398, pp. 704-708.

Tyc, V. L. (1992), "Psychosocial adaptation of children and adolescents with limb deficiencies: A review," Clinical Psychology Review, Vol. 2, pp. 275-91.

Wegner, D.M.; Erber, R. and Zanakos, S. (1993), "Ironic processes in the mental control of mood and mood-related thought," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 65, pp. 1093--1104.

Weinstein, N. D. (1982), "Community noise problems: Evidence against adaptation," Journal of Environmental Psychology, Vol. 2, pp. 87-97.

Wilson, T.D. and Gilbert, D.T. (2005), "A model of affective adaptation," Working paper, University of Virginia and Harvard University.

Wormith, J. S. (1984), "The controversy over die effects of long-term imprisonment," Canadian Journal of Criminology, Vol. 26, pp. 423-437.

Yadid, G.; Overstreet, D.H. and Zangen, A. (2001), "Limbic dopaminergic adaptation to a stressful stimulus in a rat model of depression," Brain Research, Vol. 896 (1-2), pp. 43-47.

Young, P.T. (1959), "The role of affective process in learning and motivation," Psychological Review, Vol. 66, pp. 104-125.