Anhedonia’s Muse: Hyperopia
Researchers have demonstrated that though in the short run it appears preferable to act responsibly and choose virtue over vice, over time such righteous behavior generates increasing regret. It has been argued that the passage of time attenuates regret about choosing vice and accentuates regret about choosing virtue because of the decay of indulgence guilt and the intensification of feelings of missing out on the pleasures of life.
- Remedying Hyperopia: The Effects of Self-Control Regret on Consumer Behavior
American Marketing Association
Anat Keinan & Ran Kivetz
Though, ironically perhaps, anhedonia is a demonstration of myopic focus (flat emotional affect to the exclusion of potential enjoyment) and the malaise of purely rational analysis.
Reason doth make misers of us all.
