← all facts
cognition
Nothing is as important as you think it is.
People misjudge the long-term impact of life events because they focus too heavily on them at the moment.
When asked to predict the happiness of others, people exaggerate the significance of single factors like climate or income. By hyper-focusing on one aspect, you lose sight of the myriad factors that maintain your baseline happiness.
Life satisfaction is rarely as contingent on a single change as you suspect.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Schkade and Kahneman (1998)
- What the check found
- The claim accurately captures the essence of the focusing illusion described in the 1998 Schkade and Kahneman study.
- Confidence
- Well replicated
Related
One of these every day, and every one names the study it came from. When a finding is contested, it says so.