Kate Henderson

Dr. Jizi
UWRT 1102
17 February 2016
Double Entry Journal
Citation:
Mochon, Daniel, Michael I. Norton, and Dan Ariely. "Getting off the Hedonic Treadmill, One Step
at a Time: The Impact of Regular Religious Practice and Exercise on Well-being." Journal of
Economic Psychology 29.5 (2008): 632-42. Web.

Source: Quote (Page# or Paragraph #)

Responses

Many studies have shown that few events

in life have a lasting impact on subjective
well-being because of peoples tendency to
adapt quickly. Pg. 324

When I really think about this, I understand

how it can be proven in my own life. There
are major events that I have gone through
that I would have thought would stick with me.
Ive won state championships, graduated high
school, and won homecoming court but all of
these things no longer have anything to do
with my well being. At the time all of these
things brought me great joy. Now I dont think
of these things unless I see a picture and it
fills me with emotion but not the kind of
emotion that helps my well-being. Its a
feeling of nostalgia. But none of these things
stuck with me.

Those events that do have a lasting impact

tend to be negative. Pg. 324

For some reason I have learned through out

my life that sadness lasts way longer than
happiness (for some people that is). When
someone asks me what made me the person
I am today they mostly have to do with
triumphs I had to over come in the past. This
triumphs could be illness, the death of a loved
one, the separation of a family, or a broken
heart. Its sad that the negative things in life
are what we compare our future life too.

We suggest that shifting focus from the

impact of major life changes on well-being to
the impact of seemingly minor repeated
behaviors is crucial for understanding how
best to improve well-being. Pg. 325

When they introduced this topic, I was mind

blown. I really have never thought about it like
this. It truly is the little things that make us
happy. In high school I was involved in a
couple things. One was YoungLife which is a
religious based program for high schoolers
run by college students. It was once or twice

a week but that was it. I also played softball

which was 4 or 5 times a week. I never
realized it but these minor events in my life
were what were truly making me happy. I
think part of it is also being part of a
community.
showed that while major life events that
had occurred within the previous 3 months
predicted well-being, those occurring further
back in time did not. Pg. 226

This is interesting to thing about. I personally

can not remember what I ate yesterday so it
makes sense to me that things that were in
the past are in the past. I dont remember
what happened to me 3 months ago so I
understand how the most recent things are
more prevalent to your life.

some studies have shown that particular

behaviors (such as religion and exercise)
are related to higher levels of well-being.
Pg. 228

Religion gives people a sense of purpose and

something to look forward too. It gives people
a community or a group of people to relate
too. Exercise helps not only with your mental
well-being but also your physical well-being.
All of these little things eventually add up
which is going to improve your well being.

In order to test whether people in fact do

get small boosts from engaging in religious
activity, we measured the subjective wellbeing of people as they entered and exited
religious services, and as they entered and
exited the gym and yoga. Pg. 329

The study did a good job of showing how

exiting the religious service or going to the
gym or yoga increases your well-being. The
graphs helped prove their point. Every single
religious service they went to had an increase
in well-being. The gym and yoga also had the
same effect as the religious service.
Everyone that came out of the gym had a
higher well-being.

We posited that the reason that behaviors

such as religious involvement and physical
activity have a lasting effect on well-being is
that these involve frequent small boosts to
well-being Pg. 335

Having lots of little small boosts of well-being

is going to be more effective than one big
boost of well-being every once in a while. It
becomes a constant thing. I would definitely
take a constant small boost to my well-being
over just having a good well-being every once
in a while. The little things add up in the end. I
want to live this out in my own life and see
how it improves.

we suggest that everyone can and

should find an activity with similar
characteristics in order to create lasting
improvements in their well-being. Pg. 336

I am a freshman at UNC Charlotte and have

yet to truly get involved in anything. I was in a
sorority my first semester and decided it
wasnt really my thing. Since then I have yet
to find a group that I want to be involved in. I
think once I find that I will see an
improvement in my own well-being. It is an

improvement I am excited about having.