title: Ignorance of hedonic adaptation to hemodialysis: a study using ecological momentary assessment.
abstract: Healthy people generally underestimate the self-reported well-being of people with disabilities and serious illnesses. The cause of this discrepancy is in dispute, and the present study provides evidence for 2 causes. First, healthy people fail to anticipate hedonic adaptation to poor health. Using an ecological momentary assessment measure of mood, the authors failed to find evidence that hemodialysis patients are less happy than healthy nonpatients are, suggesting that they have largely, if not completely, adapted to their condition. In a forecasting task, healthy people failed to anticipate this adaptation. Second, although controls understated their own mood in both an estimation task and a recall task, patients were quite accurate in both tasks. This relative negativity in controls' estimates of their own moods could also contribute to their underestimation of the moods and overall well-being of patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology.
authors.forename: Jason
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Riis
authors.affiliation: Department of Social and Decision Sciences.
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Loewenstein
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology.
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Baron
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry.
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jepson
authors.affiliation: Division of General Internal Medicine.
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fagerlin
authors.affiliation: Division of General Internal Medicine.
authors.forename: Peter A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Ubel
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D001364:Awareness; D004777:Environment; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D006435:Renal Dialysis / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires