I have seen such literature, but you can get around some of the looking back bias problems by recording how you feel in the moment (provided you aren’t pressured to answer dishonestly). I am sure a lot of people have miserable lives, but I do think that when I believe I have been fairly happy for the past 4 years, it is very unlikely the belief is false (because other people also thought I was happy to).
I do think the concern about accuracy of beliefs about experience warrants finding a better way to evaluate people’s happiness in general though. It think such analysis could change the way people set up surveys to measure things like QALYs. I think it is quite likely that the value of years lived disabled or with old age are better than people think.
Yeah, I think you’re all-around right. I’m less sure that my life over the past two years has been very good (my memory doesn’t go back much father than that), and I’m very privileged and have a career that I enjoy. But that gives me little if any reason to doubt your own testimony.
I have seen such literature, but you can get around some of the looking back bias problems by recording how you feel in the moment (provided you aren’t pressured to answer dishonestly). I am sure a lot of people have miserable lives, but I do think that when I believe I have been fairly happy for the past 4 years, it is very unlikely the belief is false (because other people also thought I was happy to).
I do think the concern about accuracy of beliefs about experience warrants finding a better way to evaluate people’s happiness in general though. It think such analysis could change the way people set up surveys to measure things like QALYs. I think it is quite likely that the value of years lived disabled or with old age are better than people think.
Yeah, I think you’re all-around right. I’m less sure that my life over the past two years has been very good (my memory doesn’t go back much father than that), and I’m very privileged and have a career that I enjoy. But that gives me little if any reason to doubt your own testimony.