Week 4: overcome biases Flashcards
What is hedonic adaptation?
The idea that we get something that makes us happy, but then we get used to it, and happiness goes away
Why do we adapt to the things that make us happy at first?
Because it sticks around, and doesn’t change. It’s not dynamic.
Why does an experience make us happier than things or stuff?
Counterintuitively, because it ends, and we are left with a memory that we can share, or reexperience through our imagination
How do experiences make us happy?
When we plan for them the anticipation makes us happy. The experience itself. Then afterwards, sharing or Re-experiencing.
What is savoring?
It means to step outside our own experience to review, and appreciate what we have; it means to be mindful, say, when in your car, and appreciate that it’s a hybrid, energy efficient car.
What is the effect of not being mindful during an experience?
By getting out of the present moment, we lose sight of our enjoyment by telling ourselves we don’t deserve it, or it could have been better, or we make unflattering social comparisons
What is negative visualization?
Imagining life without the thing that made you happy, which puts us back in the happy frame of mind when we first purchased it.
What are two negative visualization tactics?
One is to imagine we are just about to lose that thing, and consequently what we will miss; another is that we imagine what it was like before we had it, and consequently appreciate having it right now
What is resetting our reference points? Or gratefulness?
It’s the act of listing out five or more things we are thankful for.
What happens when we actually tell someone we are thankful for them?
When we not only list out someone we are grateful for, but tell them, it boosts our happiness, and it improves their life also; such as thanking an employee who then applies themself even more inspiredly
What is the main problem with the reference points we compare ourselves against?
They are often outside our control, and get into our thinking surreptitiously, via social media, or our friends and family, or the cafeteria personnel put foods side-by-side that we aren’t prepared for
Do humans think in terms of absolutes?
No, we compare to reference points
What is does ‘concretely re-experiencing’ mean?
It means going back to a reference point before our current situation, and seeing our life from that perspective again; or choosing a worse current reference point to compare to ours.
What is the Stop Technique?
When you catch yourself doing these bad comparisons, and you literally say, “Stop!”; which does a stop-think on it.
How can we take control of our social comparisons?
We can turn off certain social media feeds, which we see as upward comparisons. Or, we could just turn off Facebook, or Instagram, for example.
