hedonic

Hedonic is an adjective relating to pleasure. Derived from the Greek hēdonē, the term is used across disciplines to describe pleasure-related phenomena, experiences, or stimuli. In economics and psychology, hedonic often signals methods or concepts that model or measure the pleasurable aspects of objects or experiences.

In philosophy, Hedonism is the doctrine that pleasure is the highest good. Ethical hedonism argues that actions are right to the extent that they maximize pleasure, whereas psychological hedonism is a descriptive claim about human motivation. The tradition contrasts with eudaimonism, which emphasizes virtue and long-term flourishing.

In psychology, hedonic adaptation refers to the tendency for people to return to a stable baseline of happiness after changes in life circumstances, a phenomenon sometimes called the hedonic treadmill. The term also appears in neuroscience in discussions of how neural circuits generate pleasure—often described in terms of liking (hedonic impact) and wanting (incentive motivation).

In economics and marketing, hedonic pricing is a method that estimates the value of non-market attributes of a good, such as location or design, by observing price differences. Hedonic consumption describes the pursuit of sensory or aesthetic pleasure through goods and experiences.

The hedonic concept is widely used in consumer research, psychology, and philosophy to distinguish between pleasure-driven and other motivational dimensions of behavior. It is distinct from but related to broader wellbeing concepts such as happiness and flourishing.