# Title: **[[& 2021-01-15 A Survey Method for Characterizing Daily Life Experience The Day Reconstruction Method]]** ## Metadata: - `Type:` [[🌲️/&]] - `Author:` [[@Daniel Kahneman]] - `Notable Authors:` - [[@Alan B. Krueger]] - [[@David A. Schkade]] - [[@Norbert Schwarz]] - [[@Arthur A. Stone]] - `Keywords:` [[Society]] - [[Societal Norms]] - [[Memory]] - [[Recall]] - [[Bias]] - `Specific Subject:` [[Well-being]] - `General Subject:` - `DOI:` [DOI](10.1126/science.1103572) - `Zotero URL:` [Zotero](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/4FQFVPZ8) - `Publish Date:` 2004-12-03 - `Reviewed Date:` [[2021-01-15]] ## Citation ```latex @article{kahnemanSurveyMethodCharacterizing2004, title = {A {{Survey Method}} for {{Characterizing Daily Life Experience}}: {{The Day Reconstruction Method}}}, shorttitle = {A {{Survey Method}} for {{Characterizing Daily Life Experience}}}, author = {Kahneman, Daniel and Krueger, Alan B. and Schkade, David A. and Schwarz, Norbert and Stone, Arthur A.}, date = {2004-12-03}, journaltitle = {Science}, shortjournal = {Science}, volume = {306}, pages = {1776--1780}, issn = {0036-8075, 1095-9203}, doi = {10.1126/science.1103572}, url = {10.1126/science.1103572}, urldate = {2021-01-16}, annotation = {ZSCC: 0003478}, file = {/Users/bryanjenks/Zotero/storage/4FQFVPZ8/Kahneman et al_2004_A Survey Method for Characterizing Daily Life Experience.pdf}, langid = {english}, number = {5702} } ``` ## Hypothesis: - We considered three hypotheses. [[The Hedonic Treadmill]] hypothesis holds that life satisfaction and affective experience are equally susceptible to adaptation. - The aspiration treadmill hypothesis holds that treadmill effects observed in satisfaction judgments are due mainly to changing standards (28). Thus, [[The rich may experience more pleasure than the poor but they also require more pleasure to be equally satisfied]]. Accordingly, real differences in enjoyment are not reflected in satisfaction. - Finally, the focusing hypothesis predicts that the effects of life circumstances on reported satisfaction, though small, actually overstate the effects on experience (29). The task of evaluating one's life, in part, evokes a comparison of one's objective circumstances to conventional standards, reminding the rich that they are rich and the divorced that they are divorced. Because these circumstances are most likely to come to the mind of the **newly rich** or **recently divorced**, their influence on satisfaction judgments declines over time, producing adaptation. The relative impact of life circumstances on actual affective experience is even smaller, because thoughts of one's circumstances are much more likely to come to mind when answering questions about one's life than in the routine course of experience. ## Methodology: - We present a new hybrid approach, the DRM, which combines a time-use study with a technique for recovering affective experiences. DRM respondents first revive memories of the previous day by constructing a diary consisting of a sequence of episodes. Then they describe each episode by answering questions about the situation and about the feelings that they experienced, as in experience sampling. The goal is to provide an accurate picture of the experience associated with activities (e.g., commuting) and circumstances (e.g., a job with time pressure. ## Result(s): > "The DRM or its variants could also contribute to the development of an accounting system for the well-being of society, a potentially important tool for social policy" ([Kahneman et al 2004:1780](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/4FQFVPZ8?page=5)) ## Summary of key points: - ## Notes > "were asked to construct a short diary of the previous day: Think of your day as a continuous series of scenes or episodes in a film. Give each episode a brief name that will help you remember it (for example, commuting to work_, or Fat lunch with B_I). Write down the approximate times at which each episode began and ended. The episodes people identify usually last between 15 minutes and 2 hours. Indications of the end of an episode might be going to a different location, ending one activity and starting another, or a change in the people you are interacting with." ([Kahneman et al 2004:1777](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/4FQFVPZ8?page=2)) manually walking through your day and listing out the series of events and their corresponding timestamps yield a more accurate recollection of the day. “re-tracing your steps” ([note on p.1777](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/4FQFVPZ8?page=2)) > "In Table 1, taking care of one_s children ranks just above the least enjoyable activities of working, housework, and commuting. The contrasting results likely reflect the difference between belief-based generic judgments (BI enjoy my kids) and specific episodic reports (but they were a pain last night). The task of judging a category of events evokes instances that are prototypical but not necessarily typical, and discourages reports of socially inappropriate affect (14). These deficiencies are attenuated when respondents describe specific episodes, as they do in the DRM." ([Kahneman et al 2004:1777](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/4FQFVPZ8?page=2)) When you ask a direct overall questions i.e. “Do you enjoy your kids?” the response you will receive is layered by socially acceptable societal norms “of course i enjoy my children! How dare you imply otherwise!” However when asked to rate and describe ones day chunked by episodes and interactions and then perform an assessment on how one feels during that episode you’re more likely to get an accurate assessment of the day/feelings. When the assessments are piece-meal and rated on an individual basis instead of an overall view point/opinion/perspective, then you’ll get a less biased response. the example being instead of the overall question listed above, you get a variety of interactions that get tallied into an aggregated score that provides a more accurate personal opinion on the subject without taking socially acceptable behavior and societal norms into account with ones overall response. i.e. - normally “of course i enjoy my children! How dare you imply otherwise!” - where as the aggregated opinion: “i enjoy caring for the kids second to least out of all listed activities.“ ([note on p.1777](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/4FQFVPZ8?page=2)) > "The diurnal pattern of tiredness is also similar to the diurnal pattern of on-the-job work accidents" ([Kahneman et al 2004:1778](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/4FQFVPZ8?page=3)) Tired = more likely to result in a workplace accident/injury ([note on p.1778](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/4FQFVPZ8?page=3)) > "The task of evaluating one_s life, in part, evokes a comparison of one_s objective circumstances to conventional standards, reminding the rich that they are rich and the divorced that they are divorced. Because these circumstances are most likely to come to the mind of the newly rich or recently divorced, their influence on satisfaction judgments declines over time, producing adaptation." ([Kahneman et al 2004:1779](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/4FQFVPZ8?page=4)) “I’m divorced, divorced people are usually not happy (says society), therefore my objective experience in comparison tells me i am not happy” the influence of this on satisfaction judgments will wane over time due to the Hedonic Treadmill ([note on p.1779](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/4FQFVPZ8?page=4)) > "The DRM or its variants could also contribute to the development of an accounting system for the well-being of society, a potentially important tool for social policy" ([Kahneman et al 2004:1780](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/4FQFVPZ8?page=5)) ## Context: (How this article relates to other work in the field; how it ties in with key issues and findings by others, including yourself) - Accurate rating of ones satisfaction and affect in regards to their day. - Using the DRM method to reduce bias in accurately assessing satisfactions of settings and interactions by chunking the individual portions of the day and rating them individually. ## Significance: (to the field; in relation to your own work) - ## Important Figures and/or Tables: (brief description; page number) - ![[Pasted image 20210115174850.png]] - ![[Pasted image 20210115180157.png]] - ![[Pasted image 20210115182154.png]] ## Other Comments: - references [[The Hedonic Treadmill]] ## Cited References to follow up on (cite those obviously related to your topic AND any papers frequently cited by others because those works may well prove to be essential as you develop your own work): - ```query Kahneman2004 ```