is a concept from behavioral psychology that…

• refers to the tendency of people to desire things that will end up make them unhappy or unsatisfied.
• describes our tendency to misjudge what will actually make us happy in the future.

Humans are terrible predictors of what will actually make us happy.

• We confidently predict that certain outcomes—more money, a new job, a relationship, an achievement—will bring lasting satisfaction, but when we get them, the happiness is often weaker or shorter-lived than expected.
• It occurs when people think they want something, but once they have it, they discover it does not fulfill their expectations.

Miswanting occurs when there’s a gap between:

• Predicted happiness (what we think we’ll feel), and
• Experienced happiness (what we actually feel)

The term is most closely associated with Daniel Gilbert (Harvard psychologist), especially his work on affective forecasting.