Chapter 10

Decision utility: the way we will feel after a decision; long-term consequences
Experienced utility: the way we feel in the present

Behavioral traps: taking potentially dangerous decisions
   Time delay traps: when momentary gratification clashes with long-term consequences
Countertraps: avoiding potentially beneficial behaviors
People may have good intentions but underestimate the power of the situation

Good things satiate: having more and more of a good thing provides less and less pleasure
   Deterioration trap: actions become less and less reinforcing or more and more punishing
Bad things escalate: having more and more negative experiences leads to worse and worse feelings
   Loss aversion: losses are generally twice as painful as gains are pleasurable
   Countertrap: the more involved you are in a bad decision the harder it is to get away from it

Duration neglect: only most intense/salient part of experience and final emotional level predict overall evaluation of the experience

Nonregressive predictions:
   Overestimate how positively will feel about good consequences
   Overestimate how negatively will feel about bad consequences
Neglect adaptiveness when predicting outcome