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The hedonic treadmill, also known as hedonic adaptation, is the observed tendency of humans to quickly return to a relatively stable level of happiness despite major positive or negative events or life changes. According to this theory, as a person makes more money, expectations and desires rise in tandem, which results in no permanent gain in happiness. Brickman and Campbell coined the term in their essay "Hedonic Relativism and Planning the Good Society" (1971).〔in M. H. Apley, ed., ''Adaptation Level Theory: A Symposium,'' New York: Academic Press, 1971, pp 287–302〕 During the late 1990s, the concept was modified by Michael Eysenck, a British psychologist, to become the current "hedonic treadmill theory" which compares the pursuit of happiness to a person on a treadmill, who has to keep walking just to stay in the same place. The concept dates back millennia, to such writers as St. Augustine, cited in Robert Burton's 1621 Anatomy of Melancholy: "A true saying it is, ''Desire hath no rest'', is infinite in itself, endless, and as one calls it, a perpetual rack, or horse-mill." The Hedonic (or Happiness) Set Point has gained interest throughout the field of positive psychology where it has been developed and revised further.〔Lykken, David, and Auke Tellegen. "Happiness Is A Stochastic Phenomenon." Psychological Science 7.3 (1996): 186-189. Print.〕 Given that hedonic adaptation generally demonstrates that a person's long term happiness is not significantly affected by otherwise impactful events, positive psychology has concerned itself with the discovery of things that can lead to lasting changes in happiness levels. ==Overview== Hedonic adaptation is a process or mechanism that reduces the affective impact of emotional events. Generally, hedonic adaptation involves a happiness “set point”, whereby humans generally maintain a constant level of happiness throughout their lives, despite events that occur in their environment.〔Kuhn, Peter J; Kooreman, Peter; Soetevent, Adriaan; & Kapteyn, Arie. (2008). The Own and Social Effects of an Unexpected Income Shock: Evidence from the Dutch Postcode Lottery. Department of Economics, UCSB. UC Santa Barbara: Department of Economics, UCSB. Retrieved from: http://escholarship.org/uc/item/07k895v4〕 The process of hedonic adaptation is often conceptualized as a treadmill, since one must continually work to maintain a certain level of happiness. Others conceptualize hedonic adaptation as functioning similarly to a thermostat (a negative feedback system) that works to maintain an individual’s happiness set point. One of the main concerns of positive psychology is determining how to maintain or raise one’s happiness set point, and further, what kind of practices lead to lasting happiness. Hedonic adaptation can occur in a variety of ways. Generally, the process involves cognitive changes, such as shifting values, goals, attention and interpretation of a situation.〔Frederick, Shane; Loewenstein, George Kahneman, Daniel (Ed); Diener, Ed (Ed); Schwarz, Norbert (Ed), (1999). Well-being: The foundations of hedonic psychology. , (pp. 302-329). New York, NY, US: Russell Sage Foundation, xii, 593 pp.〕 Further, neurochemical processes desensitize overstimulated hedonic pathways in the brain, which possibly prevents persistently high levels of intense positive or negative feelings.〔Solomon, R. L., & Corbit, J. D. (1974). An opponent-process theory of motivation: I. Temporal dynamics of affect. Psychological Review, 81, 119-145〕 The process of adaptation can also occur through the tendency of humans to construct elaborate rationales for considering themselves deprived through a process social theorist Gregg Easterbrook calls "abundance denial".〔Easterbrook, Gregg. ''The Progress Paradox: How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse'' (Random House, 2003). ISBN 0812973038〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「hedonic treadmill」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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