Hedonic Adaptation: How Do We Modulate Our Search For Well-being?
We live in a world where it is increasingly easier to obtain “pleasure”, even if this pleasure is ephemeral and slips through our fingers like sand in the desert. On the other hand, life also puts us in situations that cause us suffering, and sometimes we have no choice but to accept it.
Hedonic adaptation is a concept that encompasses these two elements: pleasure and adaptation. It is a tendency for people to return to a previous state of pleasure, no matter how many obstacles and difficult situations they have to face.
In this article we will see in detail what this concept consists of and reflect on its implications and repercussions on human beings.
What is hedonic adaptation? It is defined as the ability that people have to adapt to the different situations that we experience throughout life, whether good or bad. To illustrate this, let’s give an example: we want a motorcycle, and we want the best on the market. We buy it.
We feel great satisfaction and pleasure (hedonism) when doing it, especially the first days. But little by little, and as the weeks go by, we get used to the motorcycle, to the situation (which is no longer new), and to the initial sensation. What has happened? We have adapted to it; a hedonic adaptation to the situation has occurred.
In other words, hedonic adaptation is the tendency that people have to return to a relatively stable level of pleasure and happiness, despite the events and situations, both positive and negative, that we experience in our lives.
Hedonism
Before entering the curious world of hedonic adaptation, we are going to talk about the basis on which it is based: hedonism.
What is hedonism? It is a philosophical doctrine, which is based on the idea that the objective in a person’s life is the pursuit of pleasure and the avoidance of suffering. Hedonism emerged in Greece, and its main promoter was the philosopher Epicurus. For this reason, hedonism is also called “Epicureanism”.
Epicurus, specifically, maintained that the search for pleasure should be done through the search for wisdom; Thus, we see how the term has changed slightly, since today we consider hedonistic a behavior of constant search for pleasure through the senses, that is, through food, sex, drink… in short, through of “material” things (materialism).
Hedonic adaptation in negative situations
As we saw in the introduction, hedonic adaptation occurs in both positive and negative situations.
Thus, the nature of the human being allows him to adapt both to situations that provide well-being and to those that cause suffering (logically, this can vary from one person to another, but in general hedonic adaptation consists of that).
Let’s give another example to illustrate hedonic adaptation in negative life situations. If, God forbid, a person suffers a traffic accident and loses an arm, surely his initial reaction will be one of suffering and despair.
However, as time passes, It is likely that he will adapt to this new situation that he has had to live in (hedonic adaptation), and even to find pleasure again in another way, in other things, etc. There are even people who overcome these traumatic situations and who also emerge stronger from them: we know this phenomenon (or trait) as resilience.
Mind and brain
The human brain is configured to adapt to the environment and the very different situations in which a person may be involved. In other words, the brain is programmed so that we survive the environment.
Many times, it is the mind itself that plays tricks on us, making us believe that we will not be able to face or overcome a certain situation, when that is not the reality.
The key is in the mind, which has a lot of power; In fact, The mind is a kind of muscle that we can train and learn to master so that it is not the one that dominates us, through negative and catastrophic thoughts.
What does happiness depend on?
Talking about the hedonic adaptation that all people experience at some point in our lives leads us to ask ourselves the following question: what does our happiness depend on? For each person, this question will have a different answer, since each person relies on a series of things to “achieve” happiness.
However, we can affirm that, as a general rule, Happiness depends on health, since if we lack health, it is of little use to have many possessions or many social relationships… although these elements will help improve our well-being, the truth is that by enjoying health you live better, because you can truly enjoy life.
This does not mean that people who are not in good health cannot enjoy life; They will simply have to face their situation, and acquire a series of coping strategies that allow them to face difficulties without ceasing to seek that happiness or well-being, largely through hedonic adaptation.
On the other hand, it is important to keep in mind that happiness It doesn’t depend so much on the things that happen to us in life, but rather on how we react to them, how we take them and how we face them. Therein lies the key to personal well-being; that is, within us, and not outside.
The concept of happiness
In psychology, the concept of happiness takes on many meanings, and in fact it is not exactly the same to talk about well-being as it is about happiness, pleasure, enjoyment… As a result, we can ask ourselves the following: What is happiness? Is it something that can be “achieved”?
Opinions vary greatly on these issues, although it is true that for many, happiness is not so much something that is “achieved,” but rather something that is enjoyed at specific moments in life. If we talk, however, about a more generalized state of pleasure or joy, perhaps it is better to use the term “wellbeing” or “quality of life”.
In search of pleasure
Human beings, like many animals, seek pleasure in their lives; many even, constantly. It is a natural mechanism of the human being, and on which hedonism is based. Who likes to suffer? We could say, without risk of being wrong, that practically no one (unless it is someone with a fetishistic or sadomasochistic disorder, for example).
On the other hand, joy, pleasure, satisfaction, enjoyment… We like all this, and that is why we crave it and look for it. If we move away from it, what happens? This process of hedonic adaptation is reactivated, which in a certain way is a survival mechanism.
Thus, our body, our mind and our brain, They act in unison to return us to that original, relatively pleasant state, or at least, emotional tranquility.
That is why even if traumatic situations or events happen to us (or simply negative everyday events), we generally survive them, we overcome them and we manage to reorganize our lives and our emotions. That’s what the hedonic adaptation we talked about is about.
