The Hedonic Treadmill: From Consumerism to Minimalism

Then we will look at some ways to get off the hedonic treadmill altogether

The theory of hedonic adaptation suggests that short term gains or losses in our happiness or well-being do not necessarily lead to lasting gains or losses in well-being, because we adapt to our circumstances. In other words, every time we take a step forward, a treadmill moves right along with us, keeping us in place.

The classic example is that of lottery winners and recent paraplegics. Despite the drastic changes in fortune, members of both groups tend to return to his or her baseline happiness after a temporary rise or fall in well-being.

While the hedonic treadmill may not be familiar to you by name, the principle behind it has long been a part of our popular culture. It is the reason we can’t seem to keep up with the Joneses. The Joneses, with their new cars and curtains, always seem to be enjoying the life we can’t quite attain, no matter how hard we try (or how much we buy).

We buy our new marble countertops, and for a few days, we feel like the Joneses! But, alas, the hedonic treadmill keeps moving and we stay in place. Meanwhile, the Joneses have appeared to creep ahead again.

Mapping happiness

The average American reports a happiness level of 6.7 out of 10. That number will fluctuate with life’s ups and downs, while generally returning to this baseline.

In the image below depicts a simplified example of the hedonic treadmill in action.  Over time, good and bad events cause temporary spikes or drops in our well-being. With time, though, our well-being creeps back to its baseline. This conforms with the mathematical principle of regression toward the mean.

This is an overly simple example to illustrate the concept, but you get the idea. If this were a proper case study, the graph wouldn’t be nearly as neat and tidy, but the big picture would look similar.

Origins of the hedonic treadmill

The hedonic treadmill is a relatively new term for a very old idea.

The theory of hedonic adaptation has been kicking around in various incarnations since at least the philosophers of ancient Greece, where Plato, the Stoics, and the Epicureans all recognized that chasing certain pleasures leads to no sustainable gains to our well-being.

In other words: Doing things that simply feel good isn’t necessarily enough to bring lasting happiness.

Hedonism, or the belief that the attainment of pleasure should be the primary concern in life, stretches back even further than ancient Greece, to one of the oldest written stories known to us, the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh: “Let your belly be full. Day and night make merry […] These things alone are the concern of men.” This insistence that physical pleasures ought to be our primary aim is hedonism in its most recognizable form.

The hedonic treadmill today

Today, we bask in hedonistic glee.

Westerners, and Americans in particular, have taken the teachings of Gilgamesh to heart (and stomach). Our bellies are full. One-in-six of us makes very merry. Over the centuries we have even discovered some new ways to immerse ourselves in pleasure.

Take, for example, our particular affinity for “retail therapy.” When we’re feeling stressed, sad, or upset, we find something to buy. This new item makes us feel good for a bit, and then it doesn’t.

The hedonic treadmill keeps moving. Our good feelings slip away, and our well-being slinks back to its baseline. . .  so then we go buy something else.

Excessive consumerism

“Retail therapy” is a term often used in jest, but the consequences of excessive consumerism can be very serious. Financial distress is a leading cause of failed relationships. It can even jeopardize our health. Still, the majority of Americans don’t feel good about their finances: nearly half of adults are stressed about money.

Statistics about the average American’s savings are alarming:

• 42% of Americans have no emergency fund
• about 43% of people have savings of less than five thousand dollars
• 78% of households live paycheck-to-paycheck.

Americans spend about $900 each Christmas alone!

The hedonic treadmill prevents us from spending our way to increased happiness, but it’s also clear that our attempts to buy happiness can spoil erode the happiness we do have.

This cycle of hedonic adaptation effects all of us to varying degrees. Maybe it’s adding to your record collection or wardrobe or upgrading your bike again and again. Maybe it’s buying and endless supply of new toys for your children even though they have baskets overflowing with them.

Whatever it is, we acquire something material — something tangible — and for a moment it feels like we have accomplished something. With that feeling comes a temporary rush of positive emotion. But as we know, the feeling doesn’t last.

Extreme minimalism

Consumerism and its footing on the hedonic treadmill is ‘old-shoe’ by now. But what happens when the treadmill gets put in reverse? Is there an equal and opposite end to too much consumption?

I would argue that, yes, there is, and it is hiding within the minimalist movement has arisen in the past decade: Normcore. Tiny houses. Tidying up.

Minimalism is a modern take on simple living. It is the stripping away of material excesses to focus on intangibles such as mental and emotional health, spirituality, or increased self-sufficiency, among other motivators.

There can be little doubt that reducing the clutter in one’s life can be a powerful exercise to reduce stress and improve relationships. Decreasing one’s horde of objects can also lead to other benefits such as:

• less cleaning
• easier moving
• reduced allergies.

But just like consumerism can get out of hand, so too can minimalism.

In my therapy practice, I’ve worked with enough folks of all ages in the midst of a major purge of belongings to know this trend has some serious legs.

Minimalism as a compulsion

So what happens when you have stripped away the excesses of life?

Results will vary. Some go on to find time and energy for their passions and other meaningful pursuits. For others, the answer is to strip away even more! But simplifying is a means to an end, and not an end itself.

The end goal of minimalism to confront, process, and overcome difficult emotions; to improve our relationships and health, or to give us more time to do the things that really matter. Theoretically, removing physical distractions can make it easier. True, it might help, but the quest to remove all distractions can just as easily become another distraction.

If you’ve found yourself in this predicament, then believe it or not, you may still be stuck on the hedonic treadmill. Your material compulsion is inverted, but your focus is still very much material-based. Compare the following states statement :

“If I can get rid of one more _____, then I’ll finally have the freedom to start living.”

and:

“If I buy one more ______ then I’ll finally have what I need to start living.”

See the connection?

This compulsion — “I haven’t simplified enough” — can lead some folks on such a purge that before they know it they are proclaiming, “Only one hundred items remain!” Granted, one hundred is a big number. You probably don’t need one hundred books, or movies, or pairs of jeans.

We probably don’t need one hundred pairs of pants, or one hundred drinking glasses. But when counting one’s possessions down to every paper clip, one hundred adds up quickly. In that case, you’d better hope you don’t meet the wrong end of a change machine!

Minimizing to this extent may not be so different from destructive over-consumerism (ie, maxing out credit cards) — instead of buying buying buying, the extreme minimalist is focusing his or her energy on reducing reducing reducing.

With every item discarded, the minimalist is rewarded with a brief sense of pleasure. But that feeling passes and the quick fix is to chuck a few more items to the curb. This is the hedonic treadmill.

Avoidance-by-way-of-stuff

No matter where you fall on the consumer spectrum — from the professional consumer to the most Spartan minimalist, you’re not going to see lasting change as a result of your relationship with stuff.

This is, perhaps, hedonism under the guise of self-improvement– avoiding uncomfortable emotions by focusing one’s energy on one’s material possessions. Whether it’s the accumulation of stuff or the purging of it, putting the focus on our stuff may just be a way to avoid examining our internal selves.

Minimizing one’s way to happiness may be just as futile as spending our way to happiness if we don’t also develop the wisdom that enables us to use wisely the things we do have. Worse, sometimes minimizing means spending — big spending. Tiny houses evoke a romantic notion of simplicity and freedom, but the reality can be different.

Emotional distress is often a motivating factor behind a compulsion to gain or get rid of material possessions. But feng shui aside, shuffling objects around will not resolve our deeper emotional issues.

The philosopher Plato came to this conclusion when he mapped out three levels of self-knowledge, with the highest being the knowledge that material possessions are neither good or bad, but their goodness or badness derives from how we use them.

If you find yourself on the hedonic treadmill, I’d suggest taking a break for a few weeks and instead focus on something other than gaining or reducing your number of possessions.

Getting rid of that one extra box of stuff is going to provide you with no more long-term happiness than buying that one extra box of stuff, because material changes –in either direction — do not impact our internal states for more than a few fleeting moments.

How to get off the hedonic treadmill

Anxiety and depression are usual suspects that keeps the hedonic treadmill turning. They are the power cord to the machine. In an effort to pacify our fears or lift our mood, we send ourselves on the hunt for short-lived happiness. But wouldn’t it be great to give up the wild goose chase and address the problem at its root? Here are a few simple ways to relax and refocus:

Breathe

Breathing through the diaphragm is a great way to reduce anxiety almost instantly. When you get anxious, your sympathetic nervous system activates, causing a spike in adrenaline as you prepare for fight-or-flight.

By deep breathing through the diaphragm, you will tell your body to override this fight-or-flight response. This will help you to refocus to the present, rather than the future or the past. A guided meditation that incorporates diaphragmatic breathing can be a great way to spend a half-hour

Use visualization

Calming visualization accomplishes much of what deep breathing does, though it adds a focus-point that you might find helpful if deep breathing alone isn’t working for you. Find a quiet place to sit, and visualize yourself letting go of your anxiety or depression.

Imagine each worry or negative thought leaving your body as you exhale. Visualize yourself healing, and you will begin to heal.

Practice acceptance

If you’re feeling anxious or depressed, don’t try to fight it. Emotional avoidance can be harmful. At the least, it is unproductive. Accepting your emotions can actually help to reduce their intensity.

Think about the monster in your closet when you were a kid. Didn’t it feel good when someone opened the door for you, to show you there was nothing there? Facing our emotions can have a similar effect. Instead running from them, explore them, and you might find they aren’t as scary as you were imagining.

Cultivate gratitude

Practicing gratitude several times per week has been consistently shown to increase life satisfaction. Developing a consistent habit of expressing gratitude is perhaps one of the easiest ways to improve well-being — saying a quick (but sincere) thank you to someone takes mere seconds. The following list of gratitude exercises may help to generate some ideas as to how to being cultivating gratitude.

Be nonjudgmental

Now that you’ve worked on accepting your emotions, take a nonjudgmental attitude towards them. Ask yourself two questions: What you are feeling, and what thought are you having that is leading to the feeling?

Once you have identified these two things, turn them into a statement such as: I am having the thought  ________, and it is making me feel ________.  This is called using filter words, which create distance between you and your thoughts and emotions by mindfully observing how your thoughts have influenced your emotional state.

Gaining insight into this process can help with letting go of negative thoughts.

Use positive self-talk

We are creatures of habit, and if we get into bad mental habits, our mental health will suffer, just like our physical health suffers from bad physical habits. Positive self-talk, then, is like putting in a day at the gym.

I find in my practice again and again that many people with harmful self-talk habits are incredibly nice to others. The solution? Reverse the golden rule: Don’t say anything to yourself that you wouldn’t say to someone else.

Do something for others

If you’re feeling compelled to engage in a negative habit, focus that energy on something else. Reach out to and nurture your support system. There is research to suggest that there is a link between doing good and feeling good.

Do something free

Financial distress is a leading cause of stress and relationship failure. The hedonic treadmill can lead you into a negative cycle of consumerism. Want a way out? Here’s a list of 70-something things to do that are virtually free.

You may find that after spending a few minutes on yourself, the stuff you do and don’t have won’t bother you so much. The hedonic treadmill appears to be baked into our biology — we all have a happiness baseline that we return to after positive and negative events.

Gaining insight into hedonic adaptation and how it affects us can help us to roll with life and not make rash decisions.

---

References:

• Brickman & Campbell (1971). Hedonic relativism and planning the good society. New York: Academic Press. pp. 287–302.
• Diener, E ; Lucas, R. ; Scollon, C. (2006). Beyond the hedonic treadmill – Revising the adaptation theory of well-being. American Psychologist. Vol.61(4), pp.305-314
• Sheldon, K.; Lyubomirsky, S (2006). “Achieving Sustainable Gains in Happiness: Change Your Actions, not Your Circumstances” (PDF). Journal of Happiness Studies. 7 (1): 55–86.

Photo credit:

• Top photo by RhythmicQuietude at en.wikipedia http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
• Photo of minimalist room by Brad Javernick
• All other photographs licensed under Creative Commons zero.

Learn more

Subscribe to the monthly newsletter to receive summaries of new articles.

Articles

Experiences Over Things, But Should We Be Spending At All?

Stress and the American Dream

Pluralistic Ignorance: Why We Reluctantly Accept Christmas Consumerism

Blaming: Finding Fault in the Wrong Places