What does «adaptación hedónica» mean in Spanish?
- In psychology, observed tendency of human beings to quickly return to a relatively stable level of happiness despite major positive or negative events or changes in life. According to this theory, as a person earns more money, expectations and desires increase accordingly, which does not result in a permanent gain in happiness. Brickman and Campbell coined the term in their essay "Hedonic Relativism and Planning the Good Society" (1971). The concept goes back centuries, to writers such as St. Augustine, quoted in Robert Burton's 1621 Anatomy of Melancholy: "A true saying is: Desire has no rest, it is infinite in itself, without end...". In the late 1990s, the concept was modified by British psychologist Michael Eysenck into the current hedonic treadmill theory that compares a person's pursuit of happiness to walking on a treadmill, i.e., he or she must keep walking just to stay in the same place.