Corneo, G. (2005). Work and television. European Journal of Political Economy, 21(1), 99-113.

In OECD countries, watching television is by far the most time-consuming form of leisure. Surprisingly, television viewing is positively correlated with work hours across countries. A simple model based on the notion of aggregate strategic complementarities in social leisure, that explains such a pattern as the result of multiple equilibria, is developed. Workers and capitalists are shown to exhibit opposite preference orderings over equilibria. The relative ability of the two groups in influencing a country’s government may explain which equilibrium is selected.

 


Corneo, G. (2005). Work and television. European Journal of Political Economy, 21(1), 99-113.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2004.02.009

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Krueger, A. B., et al. (2009). Time use and subjective well-being in France and the US.Social Indicators Research, 93(1), 7-18.

Social scientists and policymakers have long been interested in comparing the subjective well-being (SWB) of populations over time and across countries, although SWB is hard to define and measure. Nevertheless, attempts have been made to rank countries based on SWB (e.g., Veenhoven ; OECD ). Cross-country data have also been used to study the effect on SWB of public policies, economic conditions and institutions (e.g., Alesina et al. ; Frey and Stutzer ; Blanchflower ). The most common measure of SWB in these studies is based on a question that asks respondents about their overall level of life satisfaction or happiness. Other measures of SWB include ecological momentary assessment (EMA; Stone et al. ) and the day reconstruction method (DRM; Kahneman et al. ). These measures collect individuals’ time use and affective experience over time, either using real-time data collection or diary recall methods. An advantage of such time-based SWB data is that they…

 

 

Krueger, A. B., Kahneman, D., Fischler, C., Schkade, D., Schwarz, N., &Stone, A. A. (2009). Time use and subjective well-being in France and the US.Social Indicators Research, 93(1), 7-18.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-008-9415-4

 

 

Wang, J., Novemsky, N., &Dhar, R. (2009). Anticipating adaptation to products. Journal of Consumer Research, 36(2), 149-159.

Many consumer products deliver their utility over time, and the decision to purchase such products often depends on predictions of future product enjoyment. The present research shows that consumers often fail to predict hedonic adaptation to products and explores the antecedents and consequences of this misprediction. We demonstrate that the failure to predict diminishing enjoyment with a product arises because of a failure to spontaneously consider adaptation and apply correct intuitive beliefs about adaptation. We further show that making prospective duration salient can cue beliefs about hedonic adaptation. Finally, we find that these beliefs, once cued, influence choices.

 

 

Wang, J., Novemsky, N., &Dhar, R. (2009). Anticipating adaptation to products. Journal of Consumer Research, 36(2), 149-159.

https://doi.org/10.1086/597050

 

 

Carstensen, L. L., Fung, H. H., &Charles, S. T. (2003). Socioemotional selectivity theory and the regulation of emotion in the second half of life. Motivation and emotion, 27(2), 103-123.

 

Far more attention has been paid to emotion regulation in childhood than in adulthood and old age. However, a growing body of empirical research suggests that the emotion domain is largely spared from deleterious processes associated with aging and points instead to developmental gains in later life. By applying tenets from socioemotional selectivity theory, we attempt to explain the observed gains in terms of motivation. We argue that age is associated with increasing motivation to derive emotional meaning from life and decreasing motivation to expand one’s horizons. These changes lead to age differences in social and environmental choices (consistent with antecedent emotion regulation), coping (consistent with response-focused regulation), and cognitive processing of positive and negative information (consistent with goal-directed attention and memory). Broader implications for life-span development are discussed.

 

 

Carstensen, L. L., Fung, H. H., &Charles, S. T. (2003). Socioemotional selectivity theory and the regulation of emotion in the second half of life. Motivation and emotion, 27(2), 103-123.

https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1024569803230

 

Nelson, L. D., Meyvis, T., &Galak, J. (2009). Enhancing the television-viewing experience through commercial interruptions. Journal of Consumer Research, 36(2), 160-172.

Consumers prefer to watch television programs without commercials. Yet, in spite of most consumers’ extensive experience with watching television, we propose that commercial interruptions can actually improve the television-viewing experience. Although consumers do not foresee it, their enjoyment diminishes over time. Commercial interruptions can disrupt this adaptation process and restore the intensity of consumers’ enjoyment. Six studies demonstrate that, although people preferred to avoid commercial interruptions, these interruptions actually made programs more enjoyable (study 1), regardless of the quality of the commercial (study 2), even when controlling for the mere presence of the ads (study 3), and regardless of the nature of the interruption (study 4). However, this effect was eliminated for people who are less likely to adapt (study 5) and for programs that do not lead to adaptation (study 6), confirming the disruption of adaptation account and identifying crucial boundaries of the effect.

 

 

Nelson, L. D., Meyvis, T., &Galak, J. (2009). Enhancing the television-viewing experience through commercial interruptions. Journal of Consumer Research, 36(2), 160-172.

https://doi.org/10.1086/597030

Quoidbach, J., Dunn, E. W., Hansenne, M., &Bustin, G. (2015). The price of abundance: How a wealth of experiences impoverishes savoring. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 41(3), 393-404.

 

We investigated the long-standing—yet previously untested—idea that an abundance of desirable life experiences may undermine people’s ability to savor simpler pleasures. In Study 1, we found that the more countries individuals had visited, the less inclined they were to savor a future trip to a pleasant but ordinary destination. In Study 2, we conducted a field experiment at a popular tourist attraction, where we manipulated participants’ perceptions of their own experiential backgrounds; when participants were led to feel well-traveled, they devoted significantly less time to their visit compared with individuals who were led to feel less worldly. We replicate these findings in Study 3 and found evidence that the observed effect could not be easily explained by other mechanisms. Being a world traveler—or just feeling like one—may undermine the proclivity to savor visits to enjoyable but unextraordinary destinations by endowing individuals with a sense of abundance.

 

 

Quoidbach, J., Dunn, E. W., Hansenne, M., &Bustin, G. (2015). The price of abundance: How a wealth of experiences impoverishes savoring. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 41(3), 393-404.

    https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167214566189 

Nakazato, N., Schimmack, U., &Oishi, S. (2011). Effect of changes in living conditions on well-being: A prospective top–down bottom–up model.

 

Using the German Socio-Economic Panel, we examined life-satisfaction and housing satisfaction before and after moving (N = 3,658 participants from 2,162 households) with univariate and bivariate two-intercept two-slope latent growth models. The main findings were (a) a strong and persistent increase in average levels of housing satisfaction, (b) no increase in average life-satisfaction, (c) low stability in individuals’ level of housing satisfaction, and (d) high stability in individuals’ level of life-satisfaction. The results are discussed in the context of top–down and bottom–up models as well as adaptation theories of well-being. We conclude that moving or living in a better home is unrelated to life-satisfaction judgments for two reasons. First, housing makes a small contribution to life-satisfaction judgments. Second, positive effects of better housing are undermined by the greater costs of living in a better home. The results provide no support for the prediction of adaptation theory that shifting aspirations undermine the benefits of living in a better home.

 

 

Nakazato, N., Schimmack, U., &Oishi, S. (2011). Effect of changes in living conditions on well-being: A prospective top–down bottom–up model. Social Indicators Research, 100(1), 115-135.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-010-9607-6

 

Howell, R. T., &Hill, G. (2009). The mediators of experiential purchases: Determining the impact of psychological needs satisfaction and social comparison.

 

Once basic needs are satisfied, the relation between income and subjective well-being is small, and materialism leads to diminished well-being. This study attempts to determine: (1) whether experiential purchases, as opposed to materialistic purchases, are likely to increase well-being and (2) whether these increases are likely to be due to increased satisfaction of psychological needs and/or decreased social comparison. Participants indicated that experiential purchases represented money better spent, brought more happiness to themselves, and brought more happiness to others. Path models demonstrated that experiential purchases had an indirect effect on one’s well-being through two independent paths: (1) increased relatedness, which then led to increased vitality, and (2) decreased social comparison. Discussion focuses on why vitality and social comparison affect well-being.

 

 

Howell, R. T., &Hill, G. (2009). The mediators of experiential purchases: Determining the impact of psychological needs satisfaction and social comparison. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 4(6), 511-522.

https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760903270993

 

 

Keinan, A., &Kivetz, R. (2010). Productivity orientation and the consumption of collectable experiences. Journal of Consumer Research, 37(6), 935-950.

This research examines why consumers desire unusual and novel consumption experiences and voluntarily choose leisure activities, vacations, and celebrations that are predicted to be less pleasurable. For example, consumers sometimes choose to stay at freezing ice hotels and to eat at restaurants serving peculiar foods, such as bacon ice cream. We propose that such choices are driven by consumers’ continual striving to use time productively, make progress, and reach accomplishments (i.e., a productivity orientation). We argue that choices of collectable (unusual, novel, extreme) experiences lead consumers to feel productive even when they are engaging in leisure activities as they “check off” items on an “experiential check list” and build their “experiential CV.” A series of laboratory and field studies shows that the consumption of collectable experiences is driven and intensified by a (chronic or situational) productivity orientation.

 

 

Keinan, A., &Kivetz, R. (2010). Productivity orientation and the consumption of collectable experiences. Journal of Consumer Research, 37(6), 935-950.

https://doi.org/10.1086/657163

 

 

Fredrickson, B. L., &Kahneman, D. (1993). Duration neglect in retrospective evaluations of affective episodes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65(1), 45-55.

 

Documented with 2 experiments a phenomenon of duration neglect in people’s global evaluations of past affective experiences. In Study 1, 32 Ss viewed aversive film clips and pleasant film clips that varied in duration and intensity. Ss provided real-time ratings of affect during each clip and global evaluations of each clip when it was over. In Study 2, 96 Ss viewed these same clips and later ranked them by their contribution to an overall experience of pleasantness (or unpleasantness). Experimental Ss ranked the films from memory; control Ss were informed of the ranking task in advance and encouraged to make evaluations on-line. Effects of film duration on retropsective evaluations were small, entirely explained by changes in real-time affects and further reduced when made from memory. Retrospective evaluations appear to be determined by a weighing average of “snapshots” of the actual affective experiences, as if duration did not matter.

 

 

Fredrickson, B. L., & Kahneman, D. (1993). Duration neglect in retrospective evaluations of affective episodes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65(1), 45-55.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.65.1.45