A perfect example of the "Hedonic Treadmill"
Well, Halloween has ended, and according to television, that means it's officially Christmas season. Roku has started recommending me all kinds of holiday slop, although the one I'm currently watching is The Suburbia Christmas Light Battle1. The show is about a bunch of hoarders who drag out all their holiday-themed crap and throw them out on the front lawn. A judge then arrives and picks which home's Christmas decorations are the most extra.
I put the show on for passive background noise but ended up somehow sitting through an entire episode. In it, a new judge arrived to replace the old one. I could tell this new judge (a blond woman with bright red lipstick) had no idea what to expect as she hopped out the limousine at the first house. A whole mob of people were there to greet her and she looked momentarily overwhelmed by everyone's energy. She started running around hugging random people, and to make matters worse, a person dressed as Santa Clause showed up. "Santa!" she screamed, flinging herself at him. I thought she was about to cry from happiness.
As for the decorated house, it had its own DIY merry-go-round, a 30-foot Christmas card, a tiny toy store, and even a robot snowman. "I've never seen anything like this before in my whole life!" she said, looking like she was about to burst.
The episode then jumped to the second house. The blonde judge hopped out the car and waved to the usual mob. "Oh, it's this again," her expression seemed to say. Unlike the first house, the second house's owner had a smaller lot and less decorations. However, he managed to build a giant keyboard that lit up as it played Christmas songs, and he even brought out a church choir. The blonde judged stared at the house with a frozen smile that seemed to say, "It's cool, but it's no merry-go-round." She stomped around his yard looking disappointed. "Oh, you made this yourself, huh?" Her enthusiasm, compared to the first house, had dropped like 50%.
The next and last house was a family with a bunch of kids who said they weren't interested in traditional Christmas decorations. "We like dubstep," they said with a straight face. Their decorations were basically just lights that moved to the beat of techno music. At one point, the blonde judge looked crestfallen standing in the center of a semi-circle full of hyperactive, windmilling kids. "So this was different," she said bluntly to the camera. "Can't say I've ever been to a child rave before."
So, over the course of one episode, the judge goes from deliriously happy, overwhelmed by this awesome job she has, to "over it" in the span of three houses. It's a hilarious example of the hedonic treadmill, a psychological theory that purports that humans always return to a baseline level of happiness even after positive events. I always read articles or comments online about people wishing for their dream lives or their dream careers without realizing that, even if they fulfill their goals, their baseline will reset itself and the happiness won't last.
That doesn't mean people shouldn't strive for things or try to accomplish goals that will make them happy, but I do think it's a quirky way our brains work. Why do our enthusiasms drop so sharply just because it's something we're used to now? Why can't every time feel like the first time? There's got to be a biological reason, because I'm not sure what's the point of that constant battle, constantly chasing that cake dangling in front of you on the treadmill. At least it's a good reminder that we're not broken, and we're all like this.
As for that blonde judge, she was replaced by the very chipper Taniya Nayak. Now that woman is always happy. I wonder what her secret is.
I made that title up. I can't remember the real name.↩