The Lottery Study

The landmark 1978 study by Brickman, Coates, and Janoff-Bulman compared a small group of lottery winners with controls and accident victims who became paralyzed. The findings were striking: lottery winners were not significantly happier than the control group, and accident victims were not as unhappy as many people expected.

The study suggested powerful adaptation, not a perfect reset in every life. Winners adapted to their wealth; accident victims often found new sources of satisfaction and complaint. The emotional thermostat can reset more than intuition predicts, but circumstances still matter.