Martin 1

Cory Martin
Debra Jizi
UWRT 1102
February 18, 2016

Double Entry Journal

Citation: Skorczewski, Dawn. "Getting Off the Hedonic Treadmill, One Step at a Time" Pursuing
Happiness. By Matthew Parfitt. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 324-36. Print.

Source: Quote (Page# or Paragraph #)

Responses

those events that do not have a lasting

impact tend to be negative. p.324

I believe this statement because most events

that are negative we tend to leave behind in
the past and forget about them so as to not
keep ourselves down.

if people engage in such behaviors with

sufficient frequency, they may cumulatively
experience enough boosts to attain higher
well-being. p.324

I believe this to be true due to the main

reason that if you keep doing an activity that
you like then it will boost you in little intervals
and you will get used to the happiness.

most studies have shown that peoples

overall level of happiness seems stubbornly
impervious to change. p.325

I dont think this should be true because if

somebody wants their level of happiness to
change then they can do it.

it is possible to make lasting changes in

subjective well-being if one focuses on the
right types of behaviors. p.325

I believe this to be true. As I said above the

activities will boost your well-being and you
will get used to being happy all of the time.

it seems as though people generally

should not even bother to pursue goals that
make them happy, as achieving them will
not have any lasting impact. p.328

This statement should not even be in the

book. This makes no sense to me at all. If
somebody has a goal and they want to
pursue it then when they finally achieve that
goal they will become happy and proud of
themselves and it will have a lasting impact.

the cumulative impact of repeating minor

but positive life events in the short-term may
be sufficient to increase well-being in the
long-term. p.328

I think this is true. When people do activities

that make them happy everyday they are
more subjective to increase their overall wellbeing.

Martin 2

regular engagement in exercise has

been shown to have a positive impact on
well-being p.328

This is true to me on a personal experience

because I go to the gym at least 4 times a
week and I feel pretty great.

Our first result showed that people tend to

get a small positive boost in well-being from
attending a specific religious service. p.331

I believe that this could be true due to the fact

that when people attend a religious service
they feel like they are doing the right thing
and they are getting closer to their God so
they could feel great about themselves doing
that activity.

in contrast to the notion of an

inescapable hedonic treadmill, it is not
pointless for people to seek to improve their
well-being. p.335

It is definitely not pointless to seek

improvement of your personal well-being. If
you want to improve it then you can do it. The
hedonic treadmill isnt going to stop you.