wjbishop comments on Rationality Quotes: December 2010 - Less Wrong

6 Post author: Tiiba 03 December 2010 03:23AM

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Comment author: wjbishop 05 January 2011 05:09:11PM 0 points [-]

"It's not having what you want, it's wanting what you've got" -- Sheryl Crow

Comment author: shokwave 05 January 2011 05:16:55PM *  1 point [-]

No, it's definitely having what you want.

Also, here.

Comment author: rabidchicken 05 January 2011 06:01:14PM 0 points [-]

I would much rather have what I want as well . Wanting what I’ve got would make me consistently accept suboptimal conditions instead of making an effort to achieve maximum utility.

Comment author: Document 06 January 2011 10:21:15PM 0 points [-]

Although I don't like dogpiles: the utility function is up for grabs?

Comment author: Unnamed 05 January 2011 06:34:06PM 0 points [-]

It's both.

Rabbi Hyman Schachtel (1954) proposed that ‘‘happiness is not having what you want, but wanting what you have’’ (p. 37). In two studies, we tested Schachtel’s maxim by asking participants whether or not they had and the extent to which they wanted each of 52 material items. To quantify how much people wanted what they had, we identified what they had and the extent to which they wanted those things. To quantify how much people had what they wanted, we identified how much they wanted and whether or not they had each item. Both variables accounted for unique variance in happiness. Moreover, the extent to which people wanted what they had partially mediated effects of gratitude and maximization on happiness, and the extent to which they had what they wanted partially mediated the effect of maximization. Results indicate that happiness is both wanting what you have and having what you want.

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