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Well-Being: The Foundations of Hedonic Psychology, edited by Daniel Kahneman, Ed Diener, and Norbert Schwarz. Russell Sage Foundation. 2003. 593 pages. Paperback. Check price/buy book.
The Science of Feeling
Reviewed by Clifton ColesWell-Being is a well-researched, scholarly volume of essays on hedonic psychology, which the editors define as "the study of what makes experiences and life pleasant or unpleasant. It is concerned with feelings of pleasure and pain, of interest and boredom, of joy and sorrow, and of satisfaction and dissatisfaction." The study of enjoyment and suffering remains underrepresented in scientific literature, and this book goes a long way toward restoring balance. Twenty-eight essays are included, covering personality, emotion, gender, the workplace, public policy, biology, nationality, and other related topics.
In "Wouldn't It Be Nice? Predicting Future Feelings," George Loewenstein and David Schkade focus on when and why people make mistakes when predicting future tastes and feelings. The authors conclude that people are often incorrect about what determines happiness, leading to prediction errors. They also cite "empathy gaps"--the inability to imagine opposite feelings when experiencing heightened emotion, be it happy or sad--as leading to errors in predicting both feelings and behavior.
Well-Being consists of research and theory for scholars, academics, and psychologists rather than a how-to on unlocking emotional secrets for the average individual. Each meaty essay is self-contained and draws its own conclusions; though the editors group essays under broad headings, little in the way of overarching themes or findings emerge. The aim is to collect as much about this intriguing subject under one title as possible.
"The hedonic psychology of the future, as we imagine it, will analyze the full range of evaluative experience, from sensory pleasure to creative ecstasy, from fleeting anxiety to long-term depression, from misery to joy," the editors write. Given that, and acknowledging that specialization is inevitable, they are to be commended for bringing together so many voices from so many disciplines to air this important topic.
[Reviewed in THE FUTURIST September-October 2003]
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