What I'm Reading: The Paradox of Choice

"Filtering out extraneous information is one of the basic functions of human consciousness. If everything available to our senses demanded our attention at all times, we wouldn't be able to get through the day. Much of human progress has involved reducing the time and energy, as well as the number of processes we have to engage in and think about, for each of us to obtain the necessities of life . . . Increasingly, the trend moves back toward time-consuming foraging behavior, as each of us is forced to sift for ourselves through more and more options in almost every aspect of life." 

The Paradox of Choice

Barry Schwartz

2004, Harper Perennial 

I have a tough time making decisions, and I am not the only one. According to author and professor Barry Schwartz, there is a lot of evidence to suggest that having access to a greater number of choices - as opposed to fewer - might actually cost us our well-being. 

But it all depends on the kind of person you are.

You might decide that there can be only one best option out of them all, and in order to test out this theory, you decide to check them all out thoroughly. The process is long, but in the end, you have picked what you think is probably the best. But was it really? Now you're wondering about all of the alternatives you rejected.How might they have turned out? If this is you, you're probably a maximizer. 

Alternately, maybe you do have high standards, but you also chill out a bit when it comes to that final selection. Does it meet your standards? Check. Fantastic! Let's move on. If this is you, you're probably a satisficer. 

Of these two, can you guess which is probably going to be the happier person?

Let's take this example and apply it to education. 

Before I went, I had always wanted to go to college. I figured that so long as I could get there, it would - and it absolutely must - change my life.  I got there, and suddenly the choices I had to make went from minuscule - either get there, or don't - to exponential. I changed my major twice, then changed my minor three times, and then I dropped the minor altogether and turned it into a second major.

But when I descended the university steps for the last time, I did so more with a sense of bewilderment than I did of closure. I had done well in my classes, earned the regard of my professors, and had some impressive things said about me on paper. I don't know what I had expected, but I surely didn't expect the brutally casual way in which the tall brick buildings merely slunk out of my life, without so much as a good-bye. 

It felt a lot like nothing happened. 

Even if my achievements were noteworthy on an objective scale, on the subjective front it felt a lot like being dumped. I told myself again and again I did the best that I could - and still find myself looking back occasionally, wondering where we went wrong. 

The Bottom Line: It's a complicated formula that Schwartz proposes to simplify. Since maximizing is correlated with depression, anxiety and regret, he suggests being mindful of the decision-making process itself. In order to be happier people, he encourages us to pick and choose our decision-making battles.

Verdict: What I found most compelling about this book ends up being falling flat before long. Perhaps I am purposely obfuscating the point, but it seems to me as though the solution Schwartz proposes is part of the problem. Frustrating much? 

Buy or Borrow: I checked it out from the library, and had a hard time finishing it. I returned it, and immediately wished I hadn't. But then I wound up buying a copy, remembered why I had a hard time with it, and now think I will likely return it (hahahahahahahahahahahaha). 

Categories: Non-fiction, Consumerism, Psychology, Self-help, Decision-making