83. People Feel More Positive Before and After an Event Than During It

Slide 1

• Apparently, we have a better time anticipating our vacations than actually experiencing them, according to Terence Mitchell (see citation) and his team from 1997. During the trip, the little annoyances of life interfere with our enjoyment, but not to worry! After a few days, those annoyances wear away and we're happy about the event again.
• Things to note about vaca and memories:
• more short trips, less longs ones, are better
• you will take-away the ending of your vaca more than the rest of it
• want to remember your trip postively? Have an intense, peak experience during it. It doesn't matter if the experience is any good
• Interrupt your trip. You'll enjoy the uninterrupted part more.
• Citation:
• Mitchell, Terence R., Leigh Thompson, Erika Peterson and Randy Cronk. 1997. Temporal Adjustments in the evaluation of events: The "Rosy View". Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 33(4): 421-448.