When Jack Whittaker won over $300 million in a Powerball jackpot, many people thought his life would be transformed for the better.Within a few years, he was divorced, had lost his granddaughter to a drug overdose, was robbed outside a strip club, had lawsuits brought against him for sexual harassment, and encountered numerous other well-publicised problems.Based on the idea of the hedonic treadmill, how would you interpret this?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The hedonic treadmill suggests that people have a baseline level of happiness that they tend to return to after experiencing positive or negative events. In Whittaker's case, his life was already plagued with problems, so even though he had a period of positive events (winning the lottery), he eventually returned to his usual state of problems and difficulties.

When Jack Whittaker Won Over $300 Million in a Powerball