5 Lesser-Known Psychology Phrases That Explain Unusual Behaviors

Victor Mong
7 min readJun 25, 2024
Photo by Artem Labunsky on Unsplash

Have you ever wondered why people sometimes act in ways that seem completely illogical, even when it’s not in their best interest?

It can be really baffling to see others, or even yourself, making choices or doing things that don’t make sense. But guess what?

Psychology has some interesting terms that can help explain these weird behaviors.

Hedonic Adaptation

Regardless of what happens to you in life, you’ll always cycle back to an equilibrium state of emotion over time.

That’s why you’ll never find anyone in a perpetual state of happiness or despair. We adapt hedonically.

Hedonic adaptation is a process where people quickly get used to changes in their lives, whether good or bad and return to a stable level of happiness.

If something great happens to you, like buying a dream car, winning a lottery, or getting a promotion, you think you’ll be happy forever.

At first, your joy knows no bounds. But a few days, weeks, or months later, you can barely remember that event, the excitement fades, and you’re back to your usual level of happiness.

You adapt to the new circumstances, and they become your new normal.

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Victor Mong

I write about human potential, building a life you want & mastering your mind || info.victormong@gmail.com