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memory
Your memory of an event ignores most of its duration.
The peak intensity and the final moments of an experience define your entire retrospective evaluation.
In a 1993 study, participants chose a longer, less painful procedure over a shorter, more intense one because the end was less severe. We do not aggregate the total experience; we sample the extremes and the conclusion.
You are judging your life based on a highlight reel.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Kahneman, 1993
- What the check found
- The 1993 study, 'When More Pain Is Preferred to Less: Adding a Better End', confirms the findings described. The quote is absent from the provided context, but the study and its conclusions are well-documented in psychology.
- 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.