• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
  • WordPress
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
Science Update

Science Update

Sharing Science | Satisfying Curiosity | Debunking BS

  • Spotlights
  • Reality Check
  • Why Is It?
  • Radio Archives
  • Sciup @ School
Home » Radio Archive » Daily Show » Adaptive Happiness

Adaptive Happiness

July 12, 2006
https://podcast.scienceupdate.com/060712_sciup_adap.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window

BOB HIRSHON (host):
The surprising nature of happiness. I’m Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.

Only three weeks after Hurricane Katrina, self-reported happiness in the battered Gulf states had generally returned to normal. This may seem unbelievable, but not to University of Michigan economist Miles Kimball, who reported the findings. He says it’s a classic example of hedonic adaptation.

MILES KIMBALL (University of Michigan):
This is something that psychologists have been studying a lot. Hedonic adaptation is just that in terms of people’s emotions, people get over things, and they often get over things fairly quickly.

HIRSHON:
His research shows that our day-to-day happiness is generally driven by very recent news. And he’s found that world events, like the Pakistan earthquake, can affect us almost as strongly as more personal gains and losses. But even extreme highs and lows tend to be short-lived, and easily erased by another reversal of fortune. I’m Bob Hirshon, for AAAS, the science society.

Category: Daily ShowTag: Social & Behavioral Sciences, Terrorism & War
Previous Post:Dinosaurs Evolved
Next Post:Drool Stress Test

Sidebar

Radio Program Archives

Want to learn more about the brain? The environment? Here you can browse the topics that come up regularly on Science Update.

Search the Archives

Categories

  • Daily Show
  • Station Download
  • Weekly Show

Find By Tag

  • 2020
  • Acoustics & Sound
  • Aging
  • Animal Behavior
  • Anthropology
  • Archaeology
  • Astronomy & Space
  • Biology
  • Brain Science
  • Bugs
  • Chemistry
  • Children & Families
  • cicadas
  • Climate & Weather
  • Communications
  • Computer Science
  • Economics & Business
  • Education
  • Energy
  • Engineering & Technology
  • Environment & Conservation
  • Genetics & Evolution
  • Geology
  • Marine Science
  • Materials Science
  • Mathematics
  • Medicine & Health
  • Microbiology
  • Nanotechnology
  • Nutrition & Food Science
  • Paleontology & Dinosaurs
  • Physics
  • Plants & Agriculture
  • Political Science
  • Reality Check
  • Social & Behavioral Sciences
  • Sports & Fitness
  • spotlight
  • Spotlight Bugs
  • Terrorism & War
  • Why Is It? Questions
  • Wildlife
  • Year in Review

Find By Date

Science Update
  • About Science Update
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • YouTube

Recent Posts

Mayan Honeybee hives
House sparrow wearing top hat rides aboard a red fireworks rocket

Copyright © 2023 · Springtail Media LLC · All Rights Reserved · Powered by Pongos