Two weeks ago I had one of the best days of my life: I spent the day getting tattooed! The day itself was perfect not only because I was finally getting my second tattoo—which I had looked forward to for months—but it was wonderful to spend the day with my tattoo artist, in her bright plant-filled studio, beautiful soundtrack music playing in the background. Most importantly, I was extremely happy with the final result.
Interestingly, in the days afterward, I found myself feeling sad that this could have been my last tattoo, and my mind wandered to thoughts of a potential third tattoo. How quickly my initial elation had begun to be ‘clouded’ by creeping negative thoughts.
Then I remembered that I actually teach about this very topic in the Health and Social Psychology Master. Namely, a central question of our class on positive emotions is: How can we hold on to the boost in happiness that follows from positive life events?
According to the hedonic adaptation prevention (HAP) model, everyone has their own “set point” of happiness, and positive life events only temporarily increase happiness because people inevitably get used to them and return to their set point. Luckily, this “hedonic adaptation” can be prevented—or at least delayed—if people consciously engage in efforts to “keep the fire fed,” through two routes:
First, the bottom-up route requires people to consciously interact with the change in ways that cause positive emotions. In the case of my tattoo, I need to clean it and apply ointment twice a day, which is a good time to stop and appreciate it.
Second, the top-down route requires people to resist the temptation to look to the “next best thing” because this diminishes the joy from the original change. Instead, people should make an effort to consciously appreciate and savor the positive change. For example, when taking care of my tattoo, I can remind myself of how grateful I am for it, and that I am lucky to have met a great tattoo artist.
Research shows that happiness is for a large part (50, 60 percent) shaped by factors outside our control (e.g., genetics, circumstances), but 40 percent is in our own hands. So remember, the next time you take a nice holiday, publish an article you are proud of, attend an inspiring conference, or obtain a grant: keep the fire fed.
Jessica Alleva, assistant professor at the Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience