Hedonic adaptation explains endless wanting after success

Psychology calls the gap between getting what you wanted and still wanting more hedonic adaptation, the brain's tendency to turn yesterday's achievement into today's normal. Philip Brickman and Donald Campbell's 1971 essay introduced the hedonic treadmill. Ed Diener, Richard Lucas, and Christie Scollon's 2006 review argued adaptation theory needed revision. Timothy Wilson and Daniel Gilbert's 2005 work on affective forecasting found impact bias.