One Thing I’m Paranoid About: The Paradox of Choice
May 10, 2007 by Greg
Sometimes, late at night, I worry endlessly about the paradox of choice. Cash spends his nights tossing and turning thinking about, among other things, the scientologists’ private navy (which he informs me is called Sea Org and is really a good candidate for things to be paranoid about.) I personally am more worried about what happens if I open the doors to all possibilities.
The paradox of choice is a component of decision theory, an area of human social studies that examines how we come to decisions. Decision theory generally concerns itself with how to make the best decisions, so the paradox of choice enters (and is named thusly so) because, statistically, the more choices you have, the harder it becomes to make an optimal decision.
An example of this comes from a book I read by the same title, The Paradox of Choice: Why Less is More.
Schwartz cites a study by Sheena Iyengar and Mark Lepper, who studied the buying habits of people in a grocery store. They set up two different tables, one with six jars of jam, and another with thirty. They found that while more people were attracted to the bigger display, fewer people bought anything. Their conclusion? People were simply overwhelmed by the choices. Their message, especially to marketers, is to avoid inundating their customers.
Now this is just an introductory example of the paradox. Schwartz’s book details several other scenarios including various decisions such as 401k options and college applications. It is not only that the multitude of choices are debilitating, but the stress and buyer’s remorse are also increased. The more solutions that are evaluated, the more likely it is to believe a better solution exists had more research been done.
In an interview on blog Good Experience, Schwartz further applies this theory to dating.
Some social science research says that one consequence of leaving your options open is that people are less satisfied with their decisions; if a decision is non-reversible, you’ll make yourself feel better about the choice you made. If it’s a reversible choice, you don’t do that. You don’t bring your romantic partner “back to the store,” but because you might, you don’t convince yourself that she’s the love of your life. If people know they can undo their choices, they get less satisfaction out of them. People want to keep their options open. And that’s not the road to happiness.
So I’m paranoid that the more successful I become (in various areas of my life), the more options that are consequently available, the less happy I will be with the outcome. Subsequently I also believe I will be less likely to make lasting decisions. My past career and relationship choices have already validated this in my mind.
Stress and buyers remorse aren’t only a function of the number of choices. The biggest variable in that equation is our own insecurity to do what’s right for ourselves. Whether be women, careers or fruit preserves.
Think about a world with fewer choices. Someone has to take the “extras” away, no? What if that person takes away the one you would have wanted? Aren’t you worse off? If I can’t decide which flavor Pop-Tarts to get, statistically, it’s unlikely Barry Schwartz will pick the right one. He doesn’t have the same information I do.
No one’s an expert on my life but me.
Sugar Cookie; I couldn’t agree more.
“What if that person takes away the one you would have wanted? Aren’t you worse off?”
So very very true. Greg, this whole dilemma just reeks of ’settling’ in my opinion, and you’re right to worry about its implications. They arn’t good.
when in doubt, i always try and follow my instincts. sometimes it works (love my job), sometimes, it doesn’t (why’d i waste that year plus on her?) but at the end of the day i don’t worry about ‘what if’s because i went for what i wanted.
conversely don’t even dare ask me my friends to pick a place to eat out at… too many good choices… it’ll almost always take an hour if we’re lucky to figure that out.
Sugar Cookie (haha)
I agree, I definitely don’t want to remove choices. I want to be able to buy the smuckers fruit only jam because everything else has some sort of sweetener in it. It’s what is right for me.
The paradox of choice is something clinically proven. Whether it applies and to what level it affects my personal life, well that’s definitely debatable. It all makes me wonder what impact it has on my life. And a little paranoid.
Cash
It does smell like settling. I think it’s the whole basis of the argument. People who settle, and view it as a singular and lasting option, are generally happier with the results.
Where as me, a restless soul, settles with few ‘big things’ in life, and I wonder if it reduces my ability to make long term decisions.
I also think about my lifestyle choices, and how they generally limit the number of options. You and I don’t drive, so the places we go are limited by this factor, and generally makes things easier. I limit my diet (vegetarianism), reduces my choices in food (what should I eat? ok, two choices of vegetarian dishes, i’ll take that one.)
Goat,
I feel you on the instincts. I take an approach to limit factors when making decisions. I’ll give my self a narrow window, and be like, “The best cellphone charger I can find online in 20 minutes, and I’m ordering it.” I know the internet is a mass aggregation of vendors and I can always find something better and cheaper given more time.
As far as bigger decisions like jobs and girlfriends, I’ve chosen a lifestyle that eliminates long term reliance on either.
The paradox of choice is going nowhere. As technology becomes more advanced and we become more interconnected, we will be reminded more and more about how great our options are when it comes to dating, shopping, education, food, philosophies, locations … decisions will become impossible.
The only thing that will truly solve this issue in the long run is the realization of the singularity, in which the individual ceases to exist, and we are all merged into one supercomputer consciousness. Sounds freaky, but I’d prefer that to a million advertisements everytime I made a choice.
I really wonder how the seduction industry will relate to the flat world and emergence of artificial intelligence. Is it possible to “sarge,” an artificial intelligence conversation program?