SYNONYMS AND RELATED EXPRESSIONS
hedonic treadmill
noun phrase
A model of adaptation in which gains or losses in happiness may fade as people become accustomed to changed circumstances.
Local English device voice, when available. This is not a recorded dictionary pronunciation.
Adaptation in happiness
No close substitute is listed for this sense. The expressions below help explain the idea.
Related words and expressions
These extend or explain the idea and may require a different sentence structure.
Usage distinction
Return to topHedonic adaptation names the broader process. The treadmill metaphor does not mean that every person returns to an unchanging happiness level.
CHECK THE MEANING IN CONTEXT
See hedonic treadmill in use
The discussion uses the hedonic treadmill to examine adaptation without assuming that everyone's happiness returns to a fixed level.
A separate discussion of the hedonic treadmill considers how the reader's initial happiness with a larger book collection may fade as that collection becomes familiar.
Compare an alternative with the original word in each passage. Shared meanings do not make every pair interchangeable.
Synonym reference scope and sources
The groups distinguish the senses selected for this study entry. Closest synonyms and broader related expressions have separate labels. The listed sources support lexical selection; not every phrase is a direct quotation from a source.
- Diener, Lucas, and Scollon, Beyond the hedonic treadmill: Revising the adaptation theory of well-being (2006)
- Diener, Lucas, and Scollon: Beyond the hedonic treadmill
- Diener, Lucas, and Scollon: Revising the adaptation theory of well-being
How the synonym reference was prepared / WordNet 3.0 license