This is a Lexicon entry: the mechanism, when it shows up, and the countermeasure. The full correction, with real-world cases and the audit prompt, hasn't been written yet.
Definition
A psychological heuristic in which people judge an experience largely based on how they felt at its peak and at its end, rather than the total sum of the experience.
When it shows up
When evaluating the quality of any past experience; in medical procedures, holidays or difficult projects.
Failure mode
Poor decisions about future experiences based on systematically distorted memory of past ones. Avoiding a good experience because it ended badly. Repeating a bad one because it peaked well.
Countermeasure
Keep real-time evaluations during experiences. Ask: "Would I rather judge this experience by its best moment, its ending or its average?" Weight your memory accordingly.
Related traps
Also connected in the map9 more, locked
Credit & first seen
DiscoveredKahneman, D., Fredrickson, B.L. et al. (1993).When more pain is preferred to less.Psychological Science 4(6), 401-405 source ↗
Also revealed
Entry #126 of 631 in The Lexicon · see the full Lexicon