Editing Hedonism (section)

=== Paradox of hedonism and hedonic treadmill ===
{{main|Paradox of hedonism|Hedonic treadmill}}
The paradox of hedonism is the thesis that the direct pursuit of pleasure is counterproductive. It says that conscious attempts to become happy usually backfire, acting as obstacles to one's personal happiness. According to one interpretation, the best way to produce pleasure is to follow other endeavors, with pleasure being a by-product rather than the goal itself. For example, this view suggests that a tennis player who tries to win a game may enjoy the activity more than a tennis player who tries to maximize their enjoyment. It is controversial to what extent the paradox of hedonism is true since, at least in some cases, the pursuit of pleasure is successful.<ref>{{multiref | {{harvnb|Buscicchi|loc=Lead section, § 4. Defining the Paradox}} | {{harvnb|Dietz|2019|pp=497–498}} | {{harvnb|Crisp|2006|pp=636–637}} }}</ref>

A related phenomenon, the hedonic treadmill is the theory that people return to a stable level of happiness after significant positive or negative changes to their life circumstances. This suggests that good or bad events affect a person's happiness temporarily but not in the long term{{em dash}}their overall level of happiness tends to revert to a baseline as they get used to the changed situation. For instance, studies on lottery winners indicate that their happiness initially increases as the newly acquired wealth augments their living standards but returns to its original level after about one year. If true, this effect would undermine efforts to increase happiness in the long term, including personal efforts to lead a healthy lifestyle and social efforts to create a free, just, and prosperous society. While there is some empirical support for this effect, it is controversial how strong this tendency is and whether it applies to all fields or only to certain aspects of life.<ref>{{multiref | {{harvnb|Diener|Lucas|Scollon|2009|pp=103–104}} | {{harvnb|Larsen|Prizmic|2008|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=uoD1Ly9CeRAC&pg=PA269 269]}} | {{harvnb|Lelkes|2021|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=g0QvEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA38 38]}} }}</ref>