Beyond the hedonic treadmill: Revising the adaptation theory of well-being.

“Finally, Emmons and McCullough (2003) found that interventions to increase thoughts of gratitude increased levels of positive affect.”

“However, Diener and Biswas-Diener (2002) reviewed studies showing that national levels of wealth strongly predict the subjective well-being of nations, whereas change in wealth is inconsistent in its effects across studies.”

“from work ( Lucas, Clark, Georgellis, & Diener, 2004 ), and individuals who divorced (Lucas, 2005b) all reported long-lasting changes in life satisfaction after these life events.”

“For example, in our study on reaction and adaptation to marriage (Lucas et al., 2003), we relied on laboratory studies of emotional reactivity (e.g., Larsen & Ketelaar, 1991) to predict that the happiest individuals should react most strongly to positive life events.”

“Theoretically, this stability may be explained by the revised Adaptation Theory of Well-being (Diener et al., 2006 ).”

“Hedonic adaptation offers contextual background for why short-term positive feed-back may not translate into sustained improvements in well-being (Diener et al., 2006; Sheldon et al., 2010).”

“The finding that PA level explained a small variance in QoL, whereas SP health and fitness accounted for a substantial 27.3%, aligns with the well-established “discrepancy hypothesis” in well-being research (Diener et al., 2006).”

“Hedonic adaptation describes the tendency to return toward a baseline of subjective wellbeing after positive or negative events (Diener et al., 2006).”

“Crucially, however, the vast majority of individuals uprooted during this first stage of the Russian aggression did not cross international borders immediately but instead remained within Ukraine as internally displaced persons (Perelli-Harris et al., 2024; Mikheieva & Kuznetsova, 2023).”

“Hedonic adaptation introduces dynamic, non-linear responses (Diener et al., 2006; Kubiszewski et al., 2020).”

“Parallel to the arrival fallacy, RFB may temporarily buffer relational disappointment with expectations of future fulfillment (Diener et al., 2006; D. T. Gilbert et al., 1998).”

“…are already visible, though rarely theorised explicitly, across multiple strands of the literature: repeated exposure to pleasurable experiences leads to attenuated affective responses over time, limiting their cumulative impact on well-being (Brickman & Campbell, 1971 ; Diener et al., 2006 ).”

“Diener et al. [18], Sirgy [19], Unanue et al. [20], and Kim et al. [15] all locate life satisfaction within this broader well-being framework.”

“The treadmill ensures that each achievement returns the individual to baseline 25,26”

“The result is an asymmetric truncation of within-person change that mechanically produces a negative association between baseline level and subsequent change for adolescents starting near the ceiling (Diener et al., 2006).”

“In addition, adaptation theory and the set-point theory of happiness suggest that individuals may psychologically adjust to favorable or unfavorable life conditions over time and tend to return to a relatively stable level of well-being despite external changes [21].”

“While powerful, these models are limited as they typically overlook the psychological dimensions of adaptation, which are critical for long-term progress and well-being 20 .”

“Although there is evidence that individuals can fully adapt to certain (substantial) shocks (Anusic et al., 2014), evidence is also present for the contrary (Diener et al., 2009).”

“While major life transitions and events, such as marriage, may induce temporary increases or decreases in SWB, such fluctuations are transient, with individuals typically reverting quickly to their fixed SWB set points (Brickman & Campbell, 1971; Diener et al., 2006; Lykken & Tellegen, 1996).”

“The first is hedonic well-being, akin to life satisfaction, and entails subjective pleasure and satisfaction derived from achieving goals (Diener et al., 2006).”

“These perspectives converge in Diener’s model of well-being [27,28], which frames psychological health as a functional balance between cognitive life satisfaction and positive affect.”

“For instance, hedonic adaptation theory suggests that people adjust to life changes over time, returning to a baseline level of happiness (Diener et al., 2009).”

“…’ self-reported well-being often rebounds toward pre-incarceration levels within months (John Bronsteen et al., 2009; Sunstein, 2008); amputees and chronic-pain patients frequently regain baseline happiness following adjustment, a process that mindfulness can accelerate (Diener et al., 2006).”

“The hedonic treadmill model suggests that individuals experience a temporary surge in positive emotions when they achieve goals or encounter positive events, though this emotional boost tends to diminish over time (Diener et al., 2006).”

“In the context of a prolonged macroeconomic crisis, however, widespread unemployment may shift individuals’ reference points, making lower life satisfaction levels feel closer to “normal” and thus reducing the perceived gap from one’s baseline (see Diener et al., 2006).”

“Thus, subjective well-being, a new concept, emerges, which is defined as a good state of mind that includes all evaluations, posi - tive or negative, that people make of their lives(Cachón-Rodríguez et al. 2025), as well as the affective reactions of people to their experiences (Diener, 2006 ).”

“Multidimensional well-being may reflect more stable aspects of functioning that are less immediately affected by these proximal stressors (Diener et al., 2006).”

“However, as individuals adjust to prevailing standards, the competitive pressure subsides, and welfare stabilizes—a process known as hedonic adaptation (Frederick and Loewenstein 1999 ; Diener et al. 2006).”

“…validated assumptions of set-point theory (Cummins & Wooden, 2014) and can be explained by a genetically predetermined set-point of subjective well-being, which is constantly temporarily disturbed and reestablished according to the principle of homeostasis (Bonanno, 2004; Diener et al., 2006).”

“The affective dimension consists of positive affect (PA) or the presence of pleasant emotions, and negative affect (NA) which relates to the presence of negative emotions in response to an individual's experiences or events (Diener et al., 1999, 2006; Eddington & Shuman, 2008; Pavot & Diener, 1993).”

“Meanwhile, students often avoid disclosing struggles due to the cultural expectation that athletes should exhibit sto-icism and ‘mental toughness’ (Diener, Lucas, and Scollon 2006).”

“Each individual maintains a habitual or regular emotional state (i.e., a set point) when not stimulated, often near a neutral or low-arousal emotional status (Diener, Lucas, & Scollon, 2009; Helson, 1964).”

“According to adaptation theory, individuals adjust to new circumstances over time (Diener et al., 2009).”

“These patterns represent specific underlying adaptation pathways during this transitional period and align with the “set-point theory of happiness”, which suggests that an individual’s SWB tends to fluctuate around a stable set-point (Diener et al., 2006 ).”

“Hay ciertos autores que lo vinculan con la satisfacción del alumno en el contexto educativo (e.g. Diener et al., 2009) y otros autores que lo relacionan con las oportunidades de buscar metas significativas que ofrecen los centros educativos a los estudiantes (e.g. Keyes, & Annas, 2009).”

“While other well-being theories focus on life-satisfaction and happiness (e.g., Diener et al., 2006; Fredrickson, 2004), the PERMA model extends these for a more holistic view (Seligman, 2012).”

“While it can be argued that the hedonic treadmill phenomenon will likely reduce the perceived costs automatically over time (Diener et al. 2006 , external support may help to overcome the initial barrier of behavioral change.”

“This rapid recovery pattern in subjective wellbeing aligns with an extensive (though somewhat contested) body of literature around the homeostatic tendency of subjective wellbeing, (Diener et al. 2006; Luhmann and Intelisano 2018).”

“The two-month timeline for diary data collection aligns with Diener et al. (2006), who suggest that this duration is sufficient to capture significant fluctuations in well-being.”

“Finally, the adaptation phase refers to a period following spousal loss where the surviving partners ’ well-being may return to pre-loss levels of well-being (Diener et al., 2006; Lucas, 2007a).”

“…The concept of psychological well-being is understood in two ways: as hedonistic well-being, i.e. focused on pleasure and gaining satisfaction [12], or as eudaimonic well-being, which considers authenticity in life, the pursuit and achievement of goals and the development of good qualities as…”

“…the COVID-19 pandemic) necessitates recognition of how the nature of interruptive stressors may function differentially by gender and may shift over time, as well as consideration of how individuals may differentially adapt to sustained changes over longer periods (e.g., Diener et al., 2006).”

“…[i.e., the absence of symptoms of physical discomfort or emotional distress and the presence of elevated positive feelings and life satisfaction (10, 11)], and (c) desire-satisfaction [i.e., a state marked by fulfillment vs. frustration in attaining objects or experiences to which we are attracted…”

“…cognitive judgements of life satisfaction have tended toward stability in adulthood and resistance to situational influence (Diener & Larsen, 1984; Diener et al., 2006; Fujita & Diener, 2005; Lucas et al., 2004), the emotional components of well-being have been revealed to be much more vulnerable…”

“These results could be related to the hedonic treadmill model (Diener et al. 2006); negative emotions may have a more prolonged impact than positive emotions and may have a slower return speed to individuals’ original mental health level.”

“This contrasts previous literature, which poses an adaptation to traumatic events, where the scores of victims approach those of non-victims after some time (Bonanno et al., 2002; Bonanno et al., 2004; Brickman et al., 1978; Diener et al., 2009; Lucas et al., 2003; Suh et al., 1996).”

“Due to the prevalent paradigm of subjective well-being, individuals may adjust to nearly any occurrence in life, including handicap; this phenomenon is known as hedonic adaptation in academic literature (Lucas, 2007b; Diener et al., 2006).”

“On one hand, yes, major positive events usually provide hedonic benefits; on the other hand, they are often shorter-lived than people anticipate (Brickman et al., 1978; Diener et al., 2006; Wilson et al., 2000).”

“One of the notable phenomena during the processes is the happiness treadmill effect, where external stimuli, whether positive or negative, are transient, and people return to their baselines of happiness after a while (Diener et al., 2006).”

“…akan menjejaskan tahap kepuasan hidup sementara waktu, namun kepantasan individu menyesuaikan diri dengan persekitaran baharu akan mengembalikan tahap kepuasan hidup mereka daripada perspektif kehidupan, emosi dan juga ekonomi secara berperingkat (Diener et al., 2006; Elgar 2011; Dolan, 2014).”

“Although some have raised questions about adaptation-level theory (Diener et al., 2006), tests of it and context effects for environmental experience offer support.”

“These authors continued the discussion of Diener et al. (2006) on weaknesses of the adaptation theory of the hedonic treadmill (Brickman & Campbell, 1971) by means of bivariate statistical analysis.”

“For instance, research on the hedonic treadmill suggests that 176 individual standards may change and positive events will be taken for granted, when positive 177 events have occurred frequently before [33].”