Whether this counts as “extra income continuing to affect happiness quite a bit” or “extra income not affecting happiness that much” I guess is for readers to judge.
I notice I have some difficulty thinking through the implications of a 0.5 bump in life satisfaction on a 0.0 to 10.0 scale, especially when the 0.5 increase is in aggregate across an entire lifetime.
On one view, 0.5 doesn’t seem like that much. “7.5 instead of 8.0? That’s a negligible effect. Once you’re at 7.5 life-satisfaction-wise, time to focus on other things.”
On another view, the 0.5 bump is quite a lot. If 10.0 on the scale is “most satisfying life possible”, going from 7.5 to 8.0 could be a big frickin’ deal. Also could be a big deal if the 0.5 bump cashes out to something like “one less terrible day per month, for the rest of your life”.
This consideration is probably dominated by measurement problems though. When I subjectively assess my life satisfaction, I have trouble discerning the difference between a 7 and an 8 on a 0-10 scale (though I’m benchmarking on 10 being “best out of the ways my life has tended to go”, not “most satisfying life possible”).
I’ve started using a 0-5 scale because of this granularity consideration. It’s much easier for me to tell apart the difference between 3 and 4 on a 0-5 scale than it is to tell apart 7 and 8 on a 0-10 scale.
This is all to say that a 0.5 bump on a 0.0-10.0 scale might not be subjectively detectable at all to most people. (Though a 0.5 in-aggregate effect could still cash out to large subjective gains for many people.)
I notice I have some difficulty thinking through the implications of a 0.5 bump in life satisfaction on a 0.0 to 10.0 scale, especially when the 0.5 increase is in aggregate across an entire lifetime.
On one view, 0.5 doesn’t seem like that much. “7.5 instead of 8.0? That’s a negligible effect. Once you’re at 7.5 life-satisfaction-wise, time to focus on other things.”
On another view, the 0.5 bump is quite a lot. If 10.0 on the scale is “most satisfying life possible”, going from 7.5 to 8.0 could be a big frickin’ deal. Also could be a big deal if the 0.5 bump cashes out to something like “one less terrible day per month, for the rest of your life”.
This consideration is probably dominated by measurement problems though. When I subjectively assess my life satisfaction, I have trouble discerning the difference between a 7 and an 8 on a 0-10 scale (though I’m benchmarking on 10 being “best out of the ways my life has tended to go”, not “most satisfying life possible”).
I’ve started using a 0-5 scale because of this granularity consideration. It’s much easier for me to tell apart the difference between 3 and 4 on a 0-5 scale than it is to tell apart 7 and 8 on a 0-10 scale.
This is all to say that a 0.5 bump on a 0.0-10.0 scale might not be subjectively detectable at all to most people. (Though a 0.5 in-aggregate effect could still cash out to large subjective gains for many people.)