Affective realignment is based on the sudist principle of alignment, which states that the affectiveness (i.e. degree of pleasantness or unpleasantless) of activities and events should closely align with their healthiness (i.e. health cost or health benefit). Affective realignment occurs when we change one of our habits such that we narrow the gap between the quantity of affect (i.e. pleasure or pain) and the quantity of health costs or benefits for that particular habit. One example of realignment would be when switching from consuming exciting yet mindless entertainment (highly enjoyable, with little health benefit) to consuming slower-paced educational or inspirational material (moderately pleasant, with moderate health benefit). Another common example occurs when we reduce the amount of added sweeteners in our diet such that the amount of pleasure we obtain from the food more closely matches the amount of nutrition it provides us.
Affective realignment
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