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Week 10 [11-17.01.2021] - „The hedonic treadmill"

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Who has never asked himself a question like Chaim Topol - what if I were a rich man? But is winning a lottery a real short way to happiness?



Questions:

1. Have you ever heard about "the hedonic treadmill"? What do you think about this effect?
2. Do you spend more money on new things, or on new experiences?
3. Have you ever been dreaming about winning the lottery? What would you buy or do after hitting the jackpot?



Comments

Karol Sołtysiak said…
1. I've heard about it before and understanding it has changed my perception of how I feel. Often when I'm down, I think to myself that someday I will definitely feel much better compared to this exact moment. When I first heard about the "the hedonic treadmill" phenomenon, my well-being was compared to an air-conditioning system in a room which constantly aims to keep the temperature at the same level.

2. I manage my finances very wisely and try to buy things consciously. I realized that (at least in my case) buying new things also translates into experiences. When I buy a toy for myself, I play with it. When I buy a new car for myself, every moment spent in it should be a cool experience. I have the feeling that being happy with a new thing does not go away when you are aware of what comforts and pleasures you can experience regularly compared to alternatives.

3. I wouldn't say that I dreamed about it, but I was wondering what I should do in such a situation. I want to believe that I would be responsible enough to put the entire amount into my savings account and wait a whole month for my emotions to subside. I think I'm a bore about that. Anything above 1 million zł would be in the savings account from which I would regularly draw interest. I wouldn't throw a party, I wouldn't buy a sport car, but my regular paychecks, I'd spend on enjoying myself each month. Sometimes that pleasure would be to go on a short vacation, sometimes a new phone. A bit of one and a bit of another :)
14 January 2021 at 10:10
Przemysław Baka said…
@Karol Sołtysiak
Thanks a lot for your comment. Regarding the third part I completely agree with you that clever managing will be the best option when you win at the lottery. Savings account is a really interesting idea, but I think I would look for some kind of investments. For example I could buy a flat/flats and rent it/them to someone. I will have a monthly earning from this, and the rest of my winning will be on my account.
14 January 2021 at 15:57
Viktor Ryś said…
1.
I haven't, but after watching the video it seems to be an obvious mechanism in human psychology. I think it's good that we always return to base levels of hapiness, because
some people couldn't then let go of there traumas and that would be unfortunate for them. I wonder however what about people dealing with depressions is the state of sorrow their default baseline?


2.
Currently I think I'm spending more money on new things and not experiences, but it's most likely that the covid pandemic made us stay home, so experiencing the world became more difficult.


3.
I think all of us did. I think i'll go with the boring answer, so investing it in some goods that won't loose value over time.
15 January 2021 at 21:33
Przemysław Baka said…
@Viktor Ryś
Thanks for your comment, I totally agree with you that it's good for people that have experienced bad things in life. I've tried to find out how hedonic treadmill effect works with people suffering from depression, but I haven't found anything.
I also agree that during the pandemic times there are more possibilities of buying than doing something new. About third point, I would say that it's not boring at all, but rather a thoughtful and clever option.
16 January 2021 at 10:58
Illia Kalinin said…
1. Have you ever heard about "the hedonic treadmill"? What do you think about this effect?

I have heard about it, It is quite funny that people feel similar emotions from such a different things. From my point of view it is extremely useful to make detoxification of dopamine level in order to experience the same amount of happiness from the same things every time.

2. Do you spend more money on new things, or on new experiences?

It is really hard to say because during the last few months I built myself a new PC to get more experiences from everyday routine.



3. Have you ever been dreaming about winning the lottery? What would you buy or do after hitting the jackpot?


Sure, the last time I dreamed about it I wanted to buy an extremely expensive car and to face unhappiness in a few months, but after this video I will definitely share this money with other people or make something can improves other people lives :)
17 January 2021 at 19:20
Przemysław Baka said…
@Illia Kalinin
Thanks for your comment. I see your point, thanks to the effect even small things can always make us happy. During this time it's quite difficult to „buy" a new experiences, so new PC can also be a way to get them. About last point, it's really gorgeous attitude and I really like it, helping other people will always be „in fashion".
17 January 2021 at 20:35
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