Application

According to the hedonic adaptation theory, a positive life change results in bursts of positive emotions followed by a period during which people habituate to the change and experience a return to their previous levels of well-being. The theory also states that, because of this, people constantly seek new experiences to achieve greater levels of well-being, in what became known as the hedonic treadmill ( Brickman and Campbell, 1971 ). This would suggest that creating lasting changes in one’s well-being is impossible. However, according to the hedonic adaptation prevention model (HAP), the hedonic treadmill can be avoided ( Sheldon and Lyubomirsky, 2012 ).