Kahneman on Happiness: The Experiencing Self and the Remembering Self

Context

Kahneman's research program on experienced well-being used methods like day reconstruction to measure how people actually feel as they live — and the results persistently diverged from how people judged their lives overall. The two selves emerged as the explanation.

The TED talk where the sentence appears was his most accessible presentation of the finding, and it made the distinction between experiencing and remembering part of the common vocabulary of happiness science.

Significance

The sentence is a challenge to the way individuals and societies measure the good life. If life satisfaction surveys capture the remembering self, then they may be measuring the story rather than the experience — a point with direct consequences for how happiness is studied and pursued.

Its personal lesson is to take both selves seriously: live well in the moments and also build memories worth keeping. Explore the theme in how to measure happiness, what is well-being, and happiness vs satisfaction.

Related Learning

• Explore the science in how to measure happiness and happiness vs satisfaction.
• Read the companion insight in Gilbert on happiness forecasting and Haidt on happiness.
• Continue with time, satisfaction, and the Happiness & The Good Life learning path.

Sources

1. Daniel Kahneman, "The Riddle of Experience vs. Memory," TED Talk, 2010.
2. Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011), ch. 37.