See All Stories In

The Future's Not Ours to See

Affective Forecasting

Affective forecasting is predicting how you will feel in the future. As it turns out, we're terrible at it. We're not good judges of what will make us happy, and we have trouble seeing through the filter of the now. Our feelings in the present blind us to how we'll make decisions in the future when we might be feeling differently.

Recent Posts on Affective Forecasting

Your strongest convictions are powerfully swayed by the here-and-now.	Go Take a Hike! (For an Unexpected Psychological Lift)	Does guilt makes food more delicious?	Are you more moral than you think?
4 Reasons Smart People Make Deluded Dating Decisions	Faulty memory makes it hard to predict your future happiness.	How you can prosper despite faulty self-knowledge.	The key to happiness: Losing your next election?
Being more realistic about the future to decrease procrastination	Happiness now, pay later - Affective forecasting & procrastination	Should you vow to love your partner forever?

Find a Therapist

Find a nearby professional for face-to-face help

Happiness Blogs

Can't Buy Happiness
Money, personality, and well-being.
By Ryan T. Howell, Ph.D.
Codes to Joy
Unlocking your natural states of happiness.
By Peter Lambrou, Ph.D.
Curious?
Discovering and creating a life that matters.
By Todd B. Kashdan, Ph.D.
Ethical Wisdom
The examined life.
By Mark Matousek
Happiness in this World
Reflections of a Buddhist physician.
By Alex Lickerman, M.D.
How of Happiness
The scientific pursuit of happiness.
By Sonja Lyubomirsky
In Love and War
Rethinking the way we treat ourselves.
By Juliana Breines
Lifelines
The truth about life and love.
By Gordon Livingston