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Beyond the hedonic treadmill: Revising the adaptation theory of well-being.
Abstract
According to the hedonic treadmill model, good and bad events temporarily affect happiness, but people quickly adapt back to hedonic neutrality. The theory, which has gained widespread acceptance in recent years, implies that individual and societal efforts to increase happiness are doomed to failure. The recent empirical work outlined here indicates that 5 important revisions to the treadmill model are needed. First, individuals' set points are not hedonically neutral. Second, people have different set points, which are partly dependent on their temperaments. Third, a single person may have multiple happiness set points: Different components of well-being such as pleasant emotions, unpleasant emotions, and life satisfaction can move in different directions. Fourth, and perhaps most important, well-being set points can change under some conditions. Finally, individuals differ in their adaptation to events, with some individuals changing their set point and others not changing in reaction to some external event. These revisions offer hope for psychologists and policy-makers who aim to decrease human misery and increase happiness.
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“This suggests that expectations and reference points are not static, but dynamic (Diener et al., 2006).”
From Measuring Subjective Wellbeing: Recommendations on Measures for use by National Governments (2012) · cites this paper as Diener et al., 2006
In the citing paper
“Instead, set points for emotional well‐being can vary, shift over time, and differ across emotional and cognitive dimensions of well‐being.”
From "I don't grieve as much as I used to": A qualitative study on parents of children with rare and undiagnosed conditions navigating grief in the context of uncertainty. (2025) · cites this paper as Diener et al., 2006
In the citing paper
“Recent psychological theories, including revisions to the hedonic treadmill model, suggest that individuals do not always return to a fixed baseline of well‐being after major life events (Diener et al., 2006).”
From "I don't grieve as much as I used to": A qualitative study on parents of children with rare and undiagnosed conditions navigating grief in the context of uncertainty. (2025) · cites this paper as Diener et al., 2006
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“In this case, the relationships between objective circumstances and subjective evaluations of community wellbeing would also be meditated by psychological processes (see Cummins 2000; Diener et al. 2006; Evans and Huxley 2002; Michalos 1985; Schwarz and Strack 1999).”
BackgroundGreco, G., Fabbri, C., Dutt, V., & Powell-Jackson, T. (2025) · Journal of Happiness Studies · doi:10.1007/s10902-025-00975-4 · Cited by 2
“…for example, people who are better off might raise their expectations so as to fit a higher reference group, and are thus most likely to report lower level of subjective wellbeing compared to worse off groups (Diener et al., 2006 ); and context effects (Deaton & Stone, 2016 ; Schwarz et al., 1987).”
Intelligent automation and hospitality employees’ health: risks and mitigation strategies
Yuan, B., & Zhang, T. (2025) · International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management · doi:10.1108/ijchm-12-2024-1941 · Cited by 3
Wang, X.-Z., Zhang, P., & Yu, G.-L. (2025) · Journal of Youth and Adolescence · doi:10.1007/s10964-025-02282-w · Cited by 2
“This finding may reflect the greater stability of well-being, which is more strongly influenced by enduring personality traits and environmental resources, and its relative insensitivity to short-term stress fluctuations (Diener et al., 2006).”
Wang, H., Wang, D., Yu, J., & Wang, J. (2025) · Frontiers in Public Health · doi:10.3389/fpubh.2025.1642496 · Cited by 2
“…well-being in later life is commonly understood as a multidimensional self-assessment of overall life circumstances and emotional health, combining a cognitive-evaluative component (life satisfaction) with an affective component (positive feelings and lack of depressive symptoms) (50, 51).”
Let’s Get Together: Toward an Integration of Personality Psychology and Distinct Emotions Research
Mercadante, E., Weidman, A. C., & Tracy, J. L. (2025) · Perspectives on Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/17456916251349819 · Cited by 2
“Set points vary widely between individuals and also within individuals for the three components of subjective well-being (Diener et al., 2009).”
Son, H., Ahn, E., & Kim, J. (2025) · European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry · doi:10.1007/s00787-025-02790-x · Cited by 2
“This highlights the need for further research to explore the nuanced potentially time-lagged relationship between maternal WFC and children’s EF [ 33 ].”
Modeling Heterogeneity in the Long-Term Trajectories of Individuals’ Well-Being
Wollast, R., Phillips, J. B., Bracegirdle, C., Spiegler, O., Sibley, C. G., Lacourse, É., & Sengupta, N. K. (2025) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/01461672251331654 · Cited by 1
“For example, it would imply that the logic of the “hedonic treadmill” theory of well-being (Diener et al., 2006), in which each person has a set point of well-being that they return to over time, can be applied to the population level.”
Leisure travel and life satisfaction in a Dutch sample
Nissen, A. T., Bleidorn, W., Lenhausen, M. R., & Hopwood, C. J. (2025) · Personality Science · doi:10.1177/27000710241309801 · Cited by 3
“Setpoint theories like the hedonic treadmill posit that changes in life satisfaction in response to vacationing should return to baseline levels upon adjusting back to normal life (Diener et al., 2006).”
Yıldız, M. A., Aksan, A. T., & Duy, B. (2024) · Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy · doi:10.1007/s10942-024-00574-x · Cited by 2
“These components are independently measured within subjec - tive well-being (Diener, 1984; Diener et al., 2009a, 2009b; Diener et al., 2009; Moore & Diener, 2019; Pavot & Diener, 2008).”
The Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Satisfaction with Healthcare Services in Türkiye
Ugur, Z., & Durak, A. (2024) · Health Policy and Technology · doi:10.1016/j.hlpt.2024.100888 · Cited by 2
Gómez-Emilsson, A., & Percy, C. (2023) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1127221 · Cited by 2
Cha, J. (2023) · IASDR 2023: Life-Changing Design · doi:10.21606/iasdr.2023.542 · Cited by 2
“Throughout life, a person's life satisfaction tends to increase, while positive emotions tend to decrease (Diener et al., 2009).”
Deep-seeded Clustering for Emotion Recognition from Wearable Physiological Sensors
Conceiccao, M. A., Dubois, A., Haustein, S., Miranda, B., & Azevedo, C. L. (2023) · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2308.09013 · Cited by 2
“…be imprecise as, on one hand, a specific stimuli may evoke a combination of emotions rather than a unique affective state, and, on the otber hand, self-reported psychological assessments are exposed to bias [Diener et al., 2006] [Reynolds and Suzuki, 2012] [Bota et al., 2019] [Shu et al., 2018].”
Brygoła, E. (2018) · Polish Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.24425/119481 · Cited by 2
Frey, R., & Balmer, D. (2023) · Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology · doi:10.1007/s10823-023-09485-3 · Cited by 2
“Subjective well-being can be defined as the happiness and satisfaction a person attains in their life, which is related to the body, mind, and context in which they live (Diener et al., 2009).”
BackgroundThe value of time, with and without a smartphone
Randriamaro, M., & Cook, J. (2022) · Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization · doi:10.1016/j.jebo.2022.05.008 · Cited by 2
McEntyre, K., Shiver, V., & Richards, K. (2022) · Studying Teacher Education: journal of self-study of teacher education practices · doi:10.1080/17425964.2022.2048645 · Cited by 2
“Positive and negative changes within an individual’s life may initially result in higher or lower perceived well-being, but the individual typically adjusts over time, resulting in ‘return to baseline’ levels of emotion (Diener et al., 2006, p. 311).”
BackgroundStudent’s Well-Being in the E-School Environment: Selected Research Results
Buczak, A., & Łukasik, I. M. (2021) · International Journal of Research in E-learning · doi:10.31261/ijrel.2021.7.2.11 · Cited by 1
“…unpleasant emotions.10 Subjective IJREL.2021.7.2.11 p. 2/20 well-being consists of cognitive assessments and affective reactions, both positive and negative, that people experience in connection with their lives, themselves, and the events and circumstances in which they live (Diener et al, 2006).”
BackgroundInfluentialThrough the looking glass: perceiving risk and emotions toward cosmetic procedure engagement
Sood, A., Quintal, V., & Phau, I. (2021) · Journal of Services Marketing · doi:10.1108/jsm-11-2020-0473 · Cited by 2
UNA DEFENSA DE LAS AXIOLOGÍAS CENTRADAS EN EL SUFRIMIENTO
Marrero, A. B. (2021) · Agora papeles de Filosofía · doi:10.15304/agora.41.1.7416 · Cited by 2
Easterlin paradox revisited: Do increases in income bring higher levels of income satisfaction?
Mentus, V., & Vladisavljević, M. (2021) · Sociologija · doi:10.2298/soc2102220m · Cited by 2
“5 See also: Diener et al. 2006. respondents from Germany and find strong adaptation to income changes, and complete adaptation to income increases within four years.”
BackgroundStates and Situations, Traits and Environments
Asendorpf, J. B., & Rauthmann, J. F. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108264822.007 · Cited by 10
Flynn, E., Hovasapian, A., & Levine, L. J. (2020) · The Wiley Encyclopedia of Health Psychology · doi:10.4135/9781506307633.n33 · Cited by 2
Fernández, M. E., Damme, L. V., Daset, L. R., & Vanderplasschen, W. (2020) · Avances en Psicología Latinoamericana · doi:10.12804/revistas.urosario.edu.co/apl/a.6933 · Cited by 6
Why Is Happiness Adaptation to Poverty Limited?Preprint
Luo, J. J. (2019) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.3382594 · Cited by 1
Wang, L.-S., Liu, T., Chen, Y., Zhong, R., Zhang, H.-Y., & Dai, M.-H. (2019) · NeuroReport · doi:10.1097/wnr.0000000000001201 · Cited by 2
Germeys, L., & Leineweber, C. (2018) · SLEEP · doi:10.1093/sleep/zsy255 · Cited by 4
Das Sozio-Oekonomische Panel als Datenbasis für die Arbeits- und Organisationspsychologie
Giesselmann, M., Staneva, M., Schupp, J., & Richter, D. (2018) · Zeitschrift für Arbeits- und Organisationspsychologie A&O · doi:10.1026/0932-4089/a000273 · Cited by 2
LA VIE DE COUPLE ET LE BONHEUR
Bouffard, L. (2017) · Revue québécoise de psychologie · doi:10.7202/1040774ar · Cited by 2
L’efficacité des interventions favorisant le bonheur : une synthèse
Cobb, A. M., Stone, B. M., & Parks, A. C. (2017) · Revue québécoise de psychologie · doi:10.7202/1040074ar · Cited by 4
Valuing environmental and social quality impacts on Subjective Well-Being
Bravi, M., & Sichera, M. (2016) · Aestimum · doi:10.13128/aestimum-18722 · Cited by 2
“On that subject, the OECD definition can be considered to be fairly complete: Good mental states, including all of the various evaluations, positive and negative, that people make of their lives and the affective reactions of people to their experiences (OECD 2013: 8; Diener et al. 2006).”
BackgroundThe Influence of Negative Surprise on Hedonic Adaptation
Kieling, A. P., Brei, V., & Vieira, V. (2016) · Brazilian Business Review · doi:10.15728/bbr.2016.13.3.6 · Cited by 2
Metadata
- Authors
- Diener, E., Lucas, R. E., & Scollon, C. N.
- Affiliations
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (US)
- Michigan State University (US)
- Singapore Management University (SG)
- Venue
- American Psychologist
- Published
- 2006-05
- Volume
- 61
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 305-314
- ISSN
- 0003-066X (ISSN-L)
- 1935-990X
- OpenAlex
- W2052283723
- Cited by
- 1,946
- References
- 71
- Citations by year
- 2026: 82 · 2025: 98 · 2024: 99 · 2023: 129 · 2022: 123 · 2021: 99 · 2020: 155 · 2019: 85 · 2018: 95 · 2017: 96 · 2016: 89 · 2015: 126 · 2014: 107 · 2013: 102 · 2012: 124
- FWCI
- 75.31
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- American Psychologist (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Singapore Management University Institutional Knowledge (InK) (Singapore Management University) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Optimism, Hope, and Well-being
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Aging and Gerontology Research
- Keywords
- hedonic treadmill, adaptation theory, well-being, life satisfaction, emotions, temperament, individual differences, happiness policy, subjective well-being
- MeSH terms
- Adaptation, Psychological, Happiness, Humans, Psychological Theory, Quality of Life
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