![]() ![]() But even at the time I had a niggly feeling that I was buying things not because I needed them, but to get a rush. I know I’m in good company here and that worldwide online shopping went through the roof during the pandemic. And the thrill of spending wasn’t really enough to offset the downside of a significant credit card balance. Which is to say I bought lots of stuff, some of which I needed, some of which was simply extra. Being confined to home with lots of time for online escapades, I dove a little deeper into comfort shopping than was perhaps prudent. Girly cliché? Oh well, there’s worse things.īut during the pandemic things got a little, shall we say, more amplified. Truth be told I’ve always been a spender rather than a saver and I’ve always loved buying clothes and makeup. This article was first published on 2nd December 2014.I love a good comfort shop. Kerry Maxwell, author of Brave New Words Last week … The word's use in hedonic treadmill is based on its common metaphorical reference to a situation which is frustratingly boring, repetitive and has no long-term benefits. Though today the word treadmill usually conjures up images of high-tech machines for improving fitness, treadmills were originally used as disciplinary instruments in prisons. ![]() The word treadmill dates back to the early 1800s and in its literal sense describes a piece of equipment that you walk or run on whilst staying in the same position. The adjectives hedonic/hedonistic relate to the idea of (continually pursuing) pleasure, and are often associated with temporary sources of happiness like new purchases, which initially give you a sense of well-being but then lose their appeal over time. Campbell, and the concept is also sometimes known as the hedonistic treadmill or hedonic adaptation. The expression hedonic treadmill was coined in 1971 by psychologists P. Such situations are therefore equally unable to deliver a permanent increase in happiness.īuzzWord archive Background – hedonic treadmill ![]() It's also been observed, for instance, that acquiring a new skill or overcoming a challenge might give us a rush of positive feeling along the way, but once we've mastered it, the thrill of achievement very quickly fades. But it's not just material pleasures that keep us on that treadmill. The hedonic treadmill is one way of explaining the much-cited wisdom that money can't buy happiness, or, in other words, that the richer we get, the more our desires correspondingly increase, so that we're never permanently happy. ![]() Like a hamster on a wheel, we're stuck on the hedonic treadmill, running faster and faster, but getting nowhere. The upshot is that we are, in essence, never quite satisfied. Expectations tend to adapt to conditions, so that when things improve, our expectations correspondingly rise. One explanation for this offered by social scientists is that happiness doesn't depend on objective conditions, but rather on our own expectations. Though most of us experience occasional 'peaks' in contentment, the term hedonic treadmill characterises the fact that these are usually temporary, and that people have a tendency to remain at a relatively stable level of happiness despite the good things that periodically happen in their lives. Though it doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, the expression hedonic treadmill refers to one of life's most fundamental paradoxes – the fact that happiness is transitory in nature. Like a hamster on a wheel, we're stuck on the hedonic treadmill, running faster and faster, but getting nowhere We are, in essence, never quite satisfied. If you can identify with an experience like this, and I'm guessing that, though the context may vary widely, most people can, then we share the common experience of plodding along on the hedonic treadmill. In the first few weeks after the transformation was complete I'd go in to make the first cuppa of the day and my heart genuinely did a little leap – this new room was actually making me happier! And then, slowly, almost imperceptibly, the feelings waned and using it just became … normal. For many years I tolerated my tired and impractical kitchen and then, eventually, joy! It received a makeover, and became the thing of beauty and convenience I'd longed for. ![]()
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