Focusing Illusion

Daniel Kahneman's own summary is that whatever we are thinking about seems, for that moment, more important than it really is. In a study with David Schkade, students in California and in the American Midwest rated their own life satisfaction and estimated the other group's. Both expected Californians to be happier, largely because of the climate; in fact the two groups reported much the same satisfaction. When people think about life in California, the weather is in focus; when they live there, it sits mostly in the background, behind work, family, health and the daily commute. The illusion works the same way for a raise, a new car, a bigger house or a setback: the change looks enormous while it holds our attention, and its effect fades as attention returns to everything else. The exceptions are conditions that keep demanding attention, such as a long commute or chronic pain, which do not fade. Kahneman discusses the illusion in the closing chapters of Thinking, Fast and Slow, alongside the remembering self, as one source of what Daniel Gilbert and Timothy Wilson call miswanting: choosing what will feel good to think about rather than what will feel good to live with.