The Whitehall Ledger - Serving Southern Jefferson County in the Great State of Montana

Predicting how a future event will make us feel is known in psychology as affective forecasting - and most human beings are pretty lousy at it. "People are terrible at knowing what is good for them," said Dr. Bob Waldinger, a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, "and we seem particularly bad at forecasting the benefits of relationships."

It can be tempting to just stay home rather than socialize, said Dr. Waldinger, who is an author of the new book "The Good Life." "We'll think, 'I know I'm going to be happy if I stay home and watch Netflix but not if I go to that party.'"

But...