Thinking Fast and Slow - Study Notes - Version 2: 38

Chapter 38: Thinking About Life

graph seems to show that life satisfact’n declines after marriage, apparently fr. adaptation, routine
· but answers to q’s re life satisfaction ß not fr. careful thought, rather current mood, or small sample of ideas coming easily to mind (e.g. signif. event near in time, health of loved one, an achieve’t)
· graph can be seen as showing likelihood that people will think of recent or forthcoming marriage when asked about their life — idea diminishes in time
· finding: exper’d well-being mostly unaffected by marriage, balancing effect (pros and cons)
· one factor in low correlation betw circumst’s & life satisf’n is genetic dispos’n
· youthful goals impt in life satisf’n — setting difficult goals as youth à unhappiness later — esp performing arts
· well-being shd not be viewed only as exper’d well-being — def’n of well-being must incl goals + exper’d well-being + retrospective life satsif’n

· answers to q’s about one’s life are so fast that they must use heuristics, i.e. substit’n & WYSIATI — answ infl’d by anything you happen to be attending to
· focusing illusion — nothing in life is as impt as you think it is when thinking about it
· permanent life circumstances have little effect on well-being — e.g. climate (even tho people believe climate is impt) — e.g. How much pleasure do you get fr. your car? While driving you think of other things, pleasure only comes when you think about your car, S1 has subst’ted & answ’ed “How much pleasure do you get fr. your car when you think about it?”
· normally we don’t think abt climate, paraplegic abt disability, simply seems normal, except when brought to attention
· people used to their burdensome condition may hv normal exper’d well-being, but low life satisf’n because the q focuses them (their rememb. self) on their condition
· miswanting — bad choices ß poor emotional forecasting, exagg. future effect of change in circumstances, prospects illusory — focusing illusion biased toward goods & experiences that are initially exciting, duration neglect

· signif of time — for the exper. self life is a series of moments, each w. a value —value of an episode (a hedonimeter total) is simply sum of values of its moments
· but the mind represents episodes w the rememb. self, wh. tells stories & makes choices, w/o properly rep’ing time — in storytelling mode, an episode is rep’d by a few critical moments, esp beginning, peak, & end — duration is neglected
· e.g. cold hand exp’t, prospect theory (focus on transition to new state rather than on waning of excitement), decision util.
· the mind is good w stories, but not process time well
· the word happiness has various meanings

· “She thought that buying a fancy car would make her happier, but it turned out to be an error of affective forecasting.”
· “His car broke down on the way to work this morning and he’s in a foul mood. This is not a good day to ask him about his job satisfaction!”
· “She looks quite cheerful most of the time, but when she is asked, she says she is very unhappy. The question must make her think of her recent divorce.”
· “Buying a larger house may not make us happier in the long term. We could be suffering fr. a focusing illusion.”
· “He has chosen to split his time between two cities. Probably a serious case of miswanting.”