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The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less

by Barry Schwartz, 2004, HarperCollins, 265 pages, US$23.95 list. ISBN 0-06-000568-8.

A majority of people want more control over their lives and more choices. But a majority also want to simplify their lives. "There you have it—the paradox of our times" (p. 25).

This fascinating and very readable book explores why "more is less." There is a cost to having an overload of choices. Barry Schwartz, a psychologist and professor, explores the darker side of freedom.

The United States is founded upon in a commitment to individual freedom and autonomy. Freedom is essential to self respect, public participation, and mobility. Most people welcome new choices. A greater range of choices should lead to better outcomes and greater happiness. While the outcomes may improve objectively, the typical result is feeling worse about the outcomes subjectively.

What's going on? With more choices:

More effort is needed to evaluate the possibilities. There is a sunk investment in the research to make the purchase. "Time is the ultimate scarce resource," and evaluating many alternatives consumes much of it.
With more choices, there is a high obligation to find the best one, or at least an excellent selection. The decision maker will feel more responsibility for a failure.
Considering the trade-offs among alternatives, a person will recognize regret. And after the selection, the opportunity costs of features for non-selected options will weigh in.
Strong feelings initially, which may have driven the selection, will usually fade with time. The new car is exciting at first, but gradually fades into a mere comfort. Schwartz calls this adaptation.

Two shopper personalities are contrasted: Maximizers seek and accept only the best. Satisficers accept the first choice that is good enough. There is a strong correlation between being maximizers and having depression. Further, maximizers tend to be less satisfied with their choices despite investing considerable time in their decisions.

In explaining some shopping behaviors, Schwartz describes some of the classic biases: availability, frames, anchoring, and the endowment effect. A new one, for me, was the "peak-end" effect. In recalling, people's memory of the quality of an experience is driven primarily by the peak experience (either good or bad) and by the end experience. Perhaps this is why so many books or shows that we remember enjoying had happy endings.

What to do? Swartz offers these suggestions for more decision satisfaction and a happier life:

Choose when to choose. Reserve your decision making efforts for important situations.
Manage your expectations. Be realistic and don't 'set the bar too high.' Anticipate that the enthusiasm for something new will wear off.
Rather than seeking many alternatives, voluntarily limit your choices. Continuing buying your usual products unless there is reason to change. Use heuristics, habits, patterns and other decision avoidance techniques. Learn to love constraints.
When faced with many choices, do a quick ranking of alternatives and then evaluate the top two candidates.
Make or consider your choices as nonreversible. A money-back guarantee will seldom be exercised, and having it leads to more regret.
Curtail social comparison—"keeping up with the Joneses."
Don't think too much about opportunity costs, i.e., regret about features or opportunities missed.

The bottom line: Satisfice more and maximize less.

What is missing: There is little or no discussion of probability and quantitative decision criteria. I think much of the anxiety of having many choices and trade-offs can be minimized by having a reasoned, quantitative decision policy. Decompose the problem and tally the score. Use expected value, of course, to incorporate judgments as probability distributions.

The Paradox of Choice is an excellent, fun read. I would especially recommend this to people who spend of lot of time shopping and to young adults facing career and other life decisions.

—John Schuyler, February 2005.