Hedonic adaptation

I read a book on the plane last week called The Paradox of Choice (by Barry Schwartz). It talked about how the proliferation of choice in the typical western life may be leading to decreased feelings of well-being -- not because it's evil but because of how people manage it, which can often be summed up as not especially well. ( Some stuff from the book, for the curious )

It also talked about hedonic adaptation, which I've thought and read about before but which is really sticking in my head this time. Hedonic adaptation interests me more than all the other things put together, because it seems more useful to know about. It's just the phenomenon whereby something makes us happy at first and then (drat!) we get used to it and it doesn't make us happy anymore - or only a little. It's just what we expect. However, losing it again will make us unhappy, probably more unhappy than we were happy in the first place. This really opens up a huge series of questions for me. What I most want to figure out: how should we choose what improvements to let into our lives, knowing that anything will devalue over time?

Barry says: One way of achieving this goal [affecting the quality of our lives by controlling expectations] is by keeping wonderful experiences rare. No matter what you can afford, save great wine for special occasions. No matter what you can afford, make that perfectly cut, elegantly styled silk blouse a special treat. This may seem like an exercise in self-denial, but I don't think it is. On the contrary, it's a way to make sure that you can continue to experience pleasure. What's the point of great meals, great wines, and great blouses if they don't make you feel great? This is an interesting viewpoint. The capacity to experience pleasure is a good thing to retain and probably worth more than any number of good wines. On the other hand, he does make it sound like an exercise in senseless self-deprivation. I'd rather look at this as another exercise in satisficing: make it so that what you do/have/eat every day is good enough for you, but don't go overboard trying to make every day be the very best day. I'm not sure, though, that the point is retained there.

Another totally different answer I'm reaching is that one-time expenses might be better, in general, than recurring expenses. That way the expense occurs at a time we feel it's worthwhile, and later when the happiness is less or nothing, so are our payments. This kind of logic doesn't work well for relationships (sorry HLM, only one-night stands from now on... I don't want to have a time-sink that goes on indefinitely) but I think it works pretty well for the occasions when we're buying things.

I'd love to hear other people's thoughts on adaptation and happiness. Discuss! :)