All's well that ends (and peaks) well? A meta-analysis of the peak-end rule and duration neglect
This is the meta-analysis of the peak-end rule and duration neglect, and it is the reference to reach for before quoting either. The two claims it pools are that a remembered experience is judged largely by its most intense moment and its final moment, and that how long the experience lasted barely registers. Both come from a small number of famous demonstrations, cold water, colonoscopies and film clips, which are vivid and have been generalised well beyond their original conditions. A meta-analysis establishes the average size of the effects across the studies that have tested them, and where they hold less well. This vault holds it alongside the studies that found the rule failing for holidays and for whole days, which suggests the conditions matter. Written without an abstract, from the title and from the primary studies summarised here.
This is the meta-analysis of the peak-end rule and duration neglect, and it is the reference to reach for before quoting either. The two claims it pools are that a remembered experience is judged largely by its most intense moment and its final moment, and that how long the experience lasted barely registers. Both come from a small number of famous demonstrations, cold water, colonoscopies and film clips, which are vivid and have been generalised well beyond their original conditions. A meta-analysis establishes the average size of the effects across the studies that have tested them, and where they hold less well. This vault holds it alongside the studies that found the rule failing for holidays and for whole days, which suggests the conditions matter. Written without an abstract, from the title and from the primary studies summarised here.
Written from the the paper's title and the primary studies already summarised here.
What our sources record
Reproduced as it was written when this source was checked, figures and all.
170, 104149. 174 effect sizes. Peak-end effect on retrospective summary evaluation r = .581, 95% CI .487 to .661. Duration effect essentially nil. The peak-end composite was comparable to, and not better than, the mean of the experience.
Where we use it
- Why You Remember the End of a Holiday and Not the Middle, Why We Come Back
Reliability of this reference
The link below was matched against the publisher's record on title, first author and year, and all three agree.
The source
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2022.104149
DOI: 10.1016/j.obhdp.2022.104149