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title: Miswanting
created: 2025-02-26T01:35:07
modified: 2025-12-17T05:33:37
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is a concept from behavioral psychology that…

* refers to the tendency of people to _desire things that will end up make them unhappy or unsatisfied_.
* describes our tendency to _misjudge what will actually make us happy in the future_.

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Humans are terrible predictors of what will actually make us happy.

* We confidently predict that certain outcomes—more money, a new job, a relationship, an achievement—will bring lasting satisfaction, but when we get them, the happiness is often weaker or shorter-lived than expected.
* It occurs when people think they want something, but once they have it, they discover it does not fulfill their expectations.

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Miswanting occurs when there’s a gap between:

* **Predicted happiness** (what we _think_ we’ll feel), and
* **Experienced happiness** (what we _actually_ feel)

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The term is most closely associated with **Daniel Gilbert** (Harvard psychologist), especially his work on _[affective forecasting](https://www.google.com/search?q=affective+forecasting)_.