Hedonic Adaptation and Its Pertinence in Development Studies - Term Paper Example

Behavioral Economics 05 August 2008 Hedonic Adaptation and its Pertinence in Development Studies Hedonic adaptation is a person's ability to preserve his or her level of happiness by adapting to changed circumstances. This can also be interpreted as the ability of a person to adjust to a state of de-growth of his life's circumstances by compromising his hopes, needs, expectations and aspirations. Since we are dealing with the effects adaptation has to the economic behavior of an individual, we will look at this situation from that standpoint. A person's ability to adjust to a state of de-growth economically means his ability to adapt to poverty and deprivation or demotion by suppressing his wants, hopes, desires and even ambitions. Hedonic treadmill is a variant of the term hedonic adaptation, which compares an individual's "pursuit of happiness to a person on a treadmill, who has to keep working just to stay in the same place" (Wikipedia). Factors Affecting Adaptation Social etiquette or stipulations or expectations can be a factor that molds the ability to adapt in individuals, and hence, in the community as a whole. The human beings obey or conform to certain unwritten axioms of the society which are considered to be the acceptable norms of the community. This leads to his or her voluntary suppression of certain needs or aspirations as a matter of course. This can also be caused by biases or prejudices that prevail in the society, for example, those that are based on genders, age groups, social status, hierarchies, income levels, etc. Religious principles, beliefs or way of life can also lead to an individual's conforming to certain expectations and thereby compromising on his wants, achievements and aspirations as well as his choices. If a human being can actually be happy with his misfortunes based on his religious beliefs, for example, of his or her miseries being God-given or his or her state being the will of God, etc., then his mental status would actually be happy. This means that even the unemployed, the beggar and the exploited can feel happy and satisfied with their lot. However, this may facilitate the study of human well-being and development unfavorably. In adjusting to a worse life situation, an individual's adaptation is downwardly directed. That is, he or she adjusts to being happy being in a circumstance worse than he or she used to be in. This kind of adaptation is harmful or damaging in that it influences the individual to avert from making rational or reasonable choices. This, naturally, affects development and its applications aversely. This is a conclusion more from an economic or a materialistic point of view, but when you take into consideration an extremely economically backward and thoroughly deprived community, "it is only prudent to wonder how much suffering and misery there would be in the absence of adaptation" (Clark 8). Another form of adaptation is that which is a result of inadequate know-how or awareness. When an individual is not equipped with adequate knowledge, his or her choices, naturally, will not be rational, reasonable or optimum for him or her. In such cases the utility concepts cannot be ideal for conducting development studies and practices. The parameters may change for situations where the individual is able to gather knowledge and where he or she is not. However, with modern-day advancements in the technology of communication, the disparity in the capability levels of acquiring information is going to be less and less. An individual who is in an extremely lowly situation, with most of the essentials of life not being fulfilled to any decent degree whatsoever, if he has adapted to his situation without complaints, as it usually happens in most of the low-economic groups, and he is resigned to be happy with the little pleasures that is available to him, he may not appear to be highly deprived in terms of utility. In such cases, the concepts of utility may not be the reliable or adequate bases for studying human well-being. From all of the factors mentioned above, it can be concluded that the inequalities among individuals of any community, including disparities along the lines of social status, religion, economic level, gender, etc., and their obvious effect on the extent and the degrees to which the individuals adjust to become happy in their life situation, make the development studies based on the concepts of utility unreliable. It is at this juncture that the capability approach becomes more valuable in the study of human well-being and development. Capability Approach The limitations of the utility concepts of well-being have led to arguments in favor of the capability approach. The capability approach considers the capability or the freedom of human beings to make choices of what they value most and be what they wish to. In other words, it considers the intangible factors that a human being might value as against mere tangible resources. This means that the capability approach has human beings, and not material things, as the nucleus around which the program for development is evolved. Well-being, here, is studied with respect to the capability of the people and their freedom to achieve their aspirations. This, in turn, leads to the consideration of the development of individual capabilities to bring about an overall development, including economic, of the community. The capability approach has in the recent times provoked a great deal of constructive thinking not only in the fields of economics, psychology and social sciences, but in the field of philosophy too. The capability approach has also been responsible to a considerable extent in the conception of the computation of the human development index which provides a fuller index of development as compared to the GNP. However, there have also been studies that have brought out some grave negative effects of the capability approach to development studies as well. The capability approach poses the possibility of the voice of the powerful being heard more than that of the underprivileged. Also, with the democratic element that is intrinsic in the capability approach, there is also the risk of the majority being heard more than the individual values. This, again, leads us to the conclusion that both Amartya Sen's "capability approach and utility construed in terms of happiness or desire fulfillment may be vulnerable to adaptation" (Clark 15). Not only aspirations and values along with capabilities and choices adapt, but individuals may develop compensating abilities in the face of hardship. "It is worth emphasizing that the direction of the adaptation process is reversed here: the disadvantaged and the deprived adjust their abilities upwards (instead of their desires downwards) to compensate for their relative disadvantage" (Clark 16). Another drawback in the study of adaptation and making of development policies, is the absolute ignorance or lack of knowledge of the thinkers and the policy makers as regards the intensity of the hardships of the poor and the deprived. This can only be overcome by involving the poor in the process of development. This method has been adopted in the recent times to a great extent, which has revolutionized the development studies and development process. Since adaptation plays a key role in working towards human well-being and development, the extent, degree and evidence of adaptation have to be closely studied before using the results to evolve a development process. More extensive and in-depth studies of adaptation in the recent times, however, have shown that the effects of adaptation need not be so far-reaching and so peremptorily negative. Though there is evidence to show that people suppress their aspirations in the face of poverty and deprivation, there is also plenty of evidence "to suggest that people adjust aspirations upwards in the light of previous achievements or social comparisons with others" (Clark 20). Individuals, to make themselves feel better, may seek favorable or upward social comparisons. The outcome of a social comparison depends on how far the individual feels close to or can identify with the comparison target. Moreover, happy people and unhappy people respond in different ways, with the former promoting happiness and positive self-views while the latter reinstating their unhappiness and negative self-views. Thus they differ "in how they distort or manipulate social comparison information, how they use such information and how they respond to it" (Lyubomirsky, Tucker, Kasri 513). Happy individuals are less affected by social comparisons than unhappy individuals and they are "less vulnerable to unfavorable social comparison information" (Lyubomirsky, Ross 1142). Income and Happiness The relationship between income and happiness or satisfaction has been evidenced to be weak, with happiness increasing at a diminishing rate with increasing income. "The apparent association between income and happiness tends to weaken if controls for other variables (such as unemployment, education and health) are introduced" (Clark 20). This is because more intangible factors like relationships, status, respect for others, etc. also influence happiness. Another reason for diminishing satisfaction with increasing income is that the aspirations also increase due to constant upward comparisons with those who are at a higher social and economic level and "tend to exceed the level of income reached" (Clark 23). Hedonic adaptation plays a role here also, with people adapting themselves to higher consumption and the satisfaction wearing off in a short period of time. On the contrary, happiness has been found to be a great contributor to an individual's success at his or her workplace. It has been found that people with a "preponderance of positive emotions enjoy more beneficial outcomes in the workplace than those who experience lower levels of positive emotions" (Boehm, Lyubomirsky 3). Components of Happiness Man (and woman) is constantly trying to pursue happiness in this world. This is true for human beings in every corner of the world, at any point in time, in every age group, in all life situations, whether poverty-stricken or affluent, whether deprived or privileged and so on and so forth. The benefits of happiness can be categorized broadly under three heads - social rewards (like more meaningful relationships, more friendships, better social interactions, stronger social support, etc.), self-actualization (more creativity, better quality, higher productivity, higher income, etc.) and personal benefits (better health, greater longevity, improved traits, etc.). To improve happiness, we need to work on the components of or the contributors to happiness. The largest contributor is the genetical set point or range, that is, the pre-disposed level of happiness, which is determined by traits inherited from one's parents. "Current estimates suggest that this genetically determined set range accounts for 50% of an individual's happiness (Global Equity Strategy). However, the set point is only the baseline level of happiness that would prevail in the absence of several other contributors. The next component of an individual's happiness is his or her life circumstances. The life circumstances would include demographic and geographic factors and gender, age and ethnicity. Life circumstances would also include a person's life status and his or her personal history. The other contributors to happiness would include marital status, job, job security, income, health, religion, etc. "In general, married, well paid, secure, healthy and religious believers are more likely to report themselves as being happy than the rest of us" (Global Equity Strategy). From the above mentioned facts, one can easily deduce that money is not the first and foremost contributor to happiness. Indeed, it is one of the last in order and lowest in ranking among the contributors to happiness and satisfaction. However, all of the above factors put together can still not bring sustainable increases in happiness. This is where hedonic adaptation raises its head, limiting an individual's ability to achieve and improve long-run happiness due to changing life circumstances. Intentional activity, the third component of happiness, is a positive method to counter the effects of hedonic adaptation. Intentional activity is the deliberate activity that an individual can choose to do. Intentional activity can be categorized into three - behavioral activities (like exercising regularly, socializing, etc.), cognitive activity (deliberately looking at the positive side of things) and volitional activities (striving for meaningful causes). Applications The study of hedonic adaptation has been of significance for various branches of study including psychology, sociology, philosophy, and economics. Studying hedonic adaptation has significance in the field of psychology, as it would help the study of individual behaviors in different contexts of changed life situations. This has great significance in the field of sociology as well, in the study of social interactions and relationships. Hedonic adaptation has also been studied extensively for its importance in the field of philosophy and man's constant pursuit of happiness. Recently the study of hedonic application has also been made use of in the legal sector, to study its implications as regards the period taken for the settlement of a lawsuit and its eventual value. Even the most common and simplest of lawsuits take a long duration to conclude, delaying redress to the suffering party and causing a large amount of expenditure to the litigants. "The glacial pace of civil litigation is commonly thought of as a regrettable source of costs to the relevant parties" (Hedonic Adaptation and Settlement of Lawsuits). Jonathan Masur relates an example of an accident victim whose injury, which had expected to affect her life and future happiness very seriously, would seem to be appreciably decreased in significance over the long course of the litigation process. The chances of the victim's willingness to settle for a smaller amount in settlement would hence increase thereby increasing the chances of a faster settlement. This would appreciably cut down the heavy expenses that the litigants would have otherwise incurred in case of a prolonged litigation process. Conclusion The different factors that affect the different forms of adaptation and the inherent limitations of the concepts of utility have rendered the utilitarian concepts of well-being based on happiness, self-fulfillment and choice extremely inadequate. Capability approach also has its own limitations in that the study would not be reliable if the capabilities are determined through democratic techniques. In such a case, even in the context of the poor being given a participatory role in the development process, if the poor are not being heard well, the entire approach would be self-defeating. Moreover, aspirations of individuals do not adjust in a predictable and systematic manner. They differ from individual to individual and from situation to situation. Aspirations need not always adjust in the downward direction as predicted, it may adjust upward in a more positive and healthier manner. Though adaptation as a problem seriously affects development studies, ethics and practices because of the various factors that affect it, which can lead to forming of conclusions that are greatly unreliable, it has its benefits too. For an individual or a community which is extremely deprived with no resources at hand for betterment, if it had not been for adaptation, life and its sufferings would have been unbearable. However, with the high advancements in technology in the field of communication, knowledge is going to be easily accessible for all, the affluent and the poor. This gives the deprived an equal chance as the not-so-deprived to make rational choices and improve their lot. So, hopefully, in future, adaptation need not necessarily be negative and self-defeating, but positive and self-enhancing, with more access to the power of knowledge and rational thinking for one and all. Works Cited Clark, David A. "Adaptation, Poverty and Well-Being: Some Issues and Observations with Special Reference to the Capability Approach and Development Studies." 2 September 2007. ESRC Global Poverty Research Group. 01 August 2008. "Global Equity Strategy. If it Makes You Happy." 17 June 2004. 01 August 2008. Boehm, Julia K. and Sonja Lyubomirsky. "Does Happiness Promote Career Success" University of California, Riverside. 01 August 2008. Masur, Jonathan. "Hedonic Adaptation and Settlement of Civil Lawsuits." The Faculty Blog. 16 April 2008. The University of Chicago. 01 August 2008. Lyubomirsky, Sonja, Karl L Tucker and Fazilet Kasri. "Responses to Hedonically Conflicting Social Comparisons: Comparing Happy and Unhappy People." European Journal of Social Psychology. 31, 511-535 (2001). 26 June 2001. John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 01 August 2008. Lyubomirsky, Sonja and Lee Ross. "Attitudes and Social Cognition." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 1997, Vol. 73, No. 6, 1141-1157. American Psychological Association, Inc. 01 August 2008. "Hedonic Treadmill." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 04 July 2004. 01 August 2008. Read More