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memory
You remember only the intensity and the conclusion of events.
Kahneman’s study showed that people evaluate experiences by their peak moments and their ending rather than the average or total duration.
Participants who kept their hand in freezing water for 60 seconds preferred to repeat the process when an extra 30 seconds of slightly warmer water was added. They ignored the longer overall duration of pain and focused on the less painful ending.
Your memory of a vacation is skewed by the best day and the flight home.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Kahneman, Fredrickson, et al. (1993)
- What the check found
- The claim accurately attributes the Peak-End rule to the 1993 study, although the freezing water experiment is often discussed alongside the colonoscopy study (2003) as the definitive proof of duration neglect.
- 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.