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decision making
You exaggerate the importance of your current life focus.
The focusing illusion occurs when you place too much weight on one aspect of life while ignoring others.
A 1998 study found that when asked to imagine living in California, people consistently overestimated the happiness of Californians by ignoring the mundane aspects of daily life. You tend to treat the variable you are currently thinking about as the primary driver of your overall well-being.
Your current obsession is rarely the true cause of your satisfaction.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Schkade and Kahneman (1998)
- What the check found
- The claim accurately reflects the definition and the illustrative 1998 study by Schkade and Kahneman.
- 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.