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peak end rule
You judge an experience by its strongest moment and ending.
A 1993 study showed people preferred a longer, painful experience if it ended on a milder note.
We do not average the total duration of an event. We fixate on the most intense emotional peak and the final impression left behind. This causes us to misremember entire experiences.
The end of your day carries more weight in memory than the rest of it.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Kahneman, Fredrickson, Schreiber, and Redelmeier, 1993, Psychological Science
- What the check found
- The claim accurately reflects the findings of the 1993 Kahneman et al. study on the 'peak-end' rule using colonoscopy patients.
- 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.