About this talk
From the TED site:
Dan Gilbert presents research and data from his exploration of happiness — sharing some surprising tests and experiments that you can also try on yourself. Watch through to the end for a sparkling Q&A with some familiar TED faces.
The take-away
Gilbert gives heaps of interesting examples to show how bad we are at comparing costs and estimating value, and the problem of shifting comparisons. As a result, we make poor decisions about what will make us happy.
In essence:
- we underestimate the odds of our future pains, and
- we overestimate the value of our present pleasures.
My 2 cents
To put it another way: immediate gratification ain’t so gratifying – our brains simply trick us into thinking it will be.
Knowing that, we may find greater happiness if we adopt those old-fashioned virtues of patience, persistence and discipline.
But not when it comes to chocolate.