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The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less

by Barry Schwartz

3.73 · rating details · 3,000 ratings · 439 reviews

In the spirit of Alvin Toffler's Future Shock, a social critique of our obsession with choice, and how it contributes to anxiety, dissatisfaction and regret. This paperback includes a new P.S. section with author interviews, insights, features, suggested readings, and more.

Whether we're buying a pair of jeans, ordering a cup of coffee, selecting a long-distance carrier, a

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Whether we're buying a pair of jeans, ordering a cup of coffee, selecting a long-distance carrier, applying to college, choosing a doctor, or setting up a 401(k), everyday decisions--both big and small--have become increasingly complex due to the overwhelming abundance of choice with which we are presented.
We assume that more choice means better options and greater satisfaction. But beware of excessive choice: choice overload can make you question the decisions you make before you even make them, it can set you up for unrealistically high expectations, and it can make you blame yourself for any and all failures. In the long run, this can lead to decision-making paralysis, anxiety, and perpetual stress. And, in a culture that tells us that there is no excuse for falling short of perfection when your options are limitless, too much choice can lead to clinical depression.
In The Paradox of Choice, Barry Schwartz explains at what point choice--the hallmark of individual freedom and self-determination that we so cherish--becomes detrimental to our psychological and emotional well-being. In accessible, engaging, and anecdotal prose, Schwartz shows how the dramatic explosion in choice--from the mundane to the profound challenges of balancing career, family, and individual needs--has paradoxically become a problem instead of a solution. Schwartz also shows how our obsession with choice encourages us to seek that which makes us feel worse.
By synthesizing current research in the social sciences, Schwartz makes the counterintuitive case that eliminating choices can greatly reduce the stress, anxiety, and busyness of our lives. He offers eleven practical steps on how to limit choices to a manageable number, have the discipline to focus on the important ones and ignore the rest, and ultimately derive greater satisfaction from the choices you have to make.

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Paperback, 265 pages

Published January 1st 2005 by Ecco Press (first published 2004)

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Sep 03, 2007

Laurie rated it

Recommends it for: people who like those kinds of books that Malcolm Gladwell writes

Shelves: self-help, non-fiction

I have a lot of issues with this book but, to be fair, I actually reference it in conversation all the time. I think it's worth a skim but most of it's kind of common sense.

Schwartz makes approximately seven interesting points but he makes them repeatedly for some 230-odd pages. Sometimes he makes the same point in different ways and sometimes he makes the same point in the same way. During an especially repetitive section, I actually suspected that there'd been a printing error and...more

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Mar 15, 2009

Cameron rated it

Maybe I don't read enough Psychology, but I thought this book was fantastic. Swarthmore Psychology professor Barry Schwartz's basic thesis is that the world is divided into two types of person: maximizers, who want to find the absolute best option, and satisficers who want to find something that is good enough and not worry that something better might be out there. He also links maximizing to the high and increasing incidence of clinical depression in the developed world and believes that sati...more

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Apr 10, 2009

Nicholas Karpuk rated it

Recommends it for: You

"The Paradox of Choice" is a simple book in many ways. It shows that there's concrete data backing up many of the "well duh" platitudes people regularly dismiss while making terrible life choices.

The book was a revelation for me, since it related a lot to the culture of worry and second guessing I grew up with. Part exploration of our society of excessive options and the misery they seem to cause our inhabitants, and part self-help guide, it's the opposite of "...more

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Mar 23, 2008

Edward rated it

Really important book for me. Refers to some great research. Some highlights:

Prologue:
- “choice no longer liberates, but debilitates” -“choice overload”
- we’d be better off if we embraced some limits on choice instead of rebelling, by seeking “good enough” rather than the best, by lowering our expectations about our decisions, by making our decisions nonreversible, and by not comparing ourselves to others as much

I. When W...more

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Dec 08, 2007

Donna rated it

Recommends it for: Those interested in behavior and decision-making

Shelves: general-nonfiction

In The Paradox of Choice, Schwartz focuses on two basic ways of making decisions: maximizing (trying to make the very best possible choice) and satisficing (making a choice that will do well enough, all things considered).

In the past, I've thought of these two approaches in terms of the decisions that need to be made, not in terms of the person making them. For example, when picking a spouse or a house, one may want to take a lot of time and make the best possible decision. When sele...more

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Jan 29, 2008

Jeff rated it

Shelves: worm-reading-list

The Paradox of Choice is a 236 page treatises on why too much choice can be debilitating. It can be summed up in its sub-sub-title: "Why the Culture of Abundance Robs Us of Satisfaction." (Why a book needs a sub-title under the sub-title beats me). The problem is that we spend too much time and energy trying to make choices that in the grand scheme of things don't matter that much. I agree with the big idea, but I hated the book and here's why:

Schwartz could have made...more

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Aug 12, 2007

Travis rated it

The Paradox of Choice includes dozens of insights and studies that theorize that Americans are less happy in part because of their over abundance of choice. The first 50 pages set up this theory in exhausting detail. I was ready to give up. After passing through the lengthy intro, I found the studies to support something I have been thinking about for several years. When I'm faced with many choices - I frequently choose not to choose anything. I also seem much less satisfied with my choice after...more

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Jun 07, 2007

Hilary rated it

This book explained so much about the way I behave -- I am a total maximizer, meaning that whenever I have a choice to make, I always want the absolute best option, even if researching to discover the best option is hard and time-consuming. Instead, I could be a satisficer: someone who picks the option that satisfies all their requirements, without worrying whether something better is out there. Schwartz shows persuasively that maximizers are less happy than satisficers. This book helped me u...more

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Jan 11, 2011

Mangoo rated it

La proliferazione apparentemente illimitata di opzioni che la societa' occidentale offre attualmente in risposta a scelte - banali e serie - sarebbe forse stata un sogno per le precedenti generazioni, che vi avrebbero visto la materializzazione di un loro sogno. Schwartz argomenta al contrario che dietro questa liberta' si nascondono pesanti insidie.
Certamente avere a disposizione piu' di una opzione per ogni scelta e' un bene, ed ha permesso di ottenere un miglioramento sostanziale in molti asp...moreLa proliferazione apparentemente illimitata di opzioni che la societa' occidentale offre attualmente in risposta a scelte - banali e serie - sarebbe forse stata un sogno per le precedenti generazioni, che vi avrebbero visto la materializzazione di un loro sogno. Schwartz argomenta al contrario che dietro questa liberta' si nascondono pesanti insidie.
Certamente avere a disposizione piu' di una opzione per ogni scelta e' un bene, ed ha permesso di ottenere un miglioramento sostanziale in molti aspetti della civilta'.
Senonche', un eccesso di liberta' sta probabilmente portando, a fronte di un miglior risultato oggettivo, una minore soddisfazione soggettiva. In sostanza, la rimozione dei vincoli sulle scelte fa aumentare a dismisura le aspettative del risultato della scelta e rende ingiustificato l'ottenimento di ogni risultato che non sia ottimo. Quando questo non si verifica - cioe' nella quasi totalita' dei casi - l'insoddisfazione, condita da rimpianti, rimorso, ed eventualmente sfiducia, disistima e depressione, corrode il risultato e vanifica, a tutti gli effetti pratici, i benefici soggettivi della scelta.
Si scopre poi che scegliere non e' cosi' semplice come si pensa, per via di euristiche intuitive quanto fuorvianti che spesso si mettono in atto e che sono sfruttate dal marketing - ancoraggio, disponibilita', prospettiva, dotazione e molto altro.
Secondo Schwartz, per tutti questi motivi al giorno d'oggi conviene cercare di non cedere alla tentazione di voler ottenere il miglior risultato possibile - ammesso che non sia una utopia - e accontentarsi, valorizzando quello che si ha e limitando l'impegno della scelta a poche faccende veramente importanti, utilizzando regole, abitudini e routines per le altre. Cosi' si salva tempo da dedicare a se stessi e agli altri.</p>

E' un testo molto chiaro e semplice, ma ricchissimo di osservazioni statistiche interessanti e controintuitive. Vi si trovano facilmente rimandi (non espliciti) a Kierkegaard (Aut-aut), Fromm (Fuga dalla liberta'), Baricco (I barbari), Freud e Nietzsche.
Da leggere e rimuginare per soffermarsi e spazzare via molto rumore.

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Feb 08, 2009

Chris Herdt rated it

I've been meaning to read this for a couple years now, and I've been using terminology from it ("maximizers" and "satisficers") since then. I've read about the book several places and heard interviews with the author on the radio.

The premise is that modern people (read: middle-to-upper class Americans) have more choices now than ever before, and that more choice is making us, collectively (but not necessarily individually), less happy rather than more happy. This ...more

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Dec 14, 2008

Gordon rated it

This is one of those books that, once you've read it, permanently shifts your perspective. It made me think altogether differently about the value of having MORE choices. As the author argues, your sense of well-being increases when you go from having no choices to having a few choices. But as you go from having a few choices to having many choices, your happiness typically goes down. Why? Because it's time-consuming and stressful to choose between all those alternatives! You become ...more

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Sep 28, 2011

Patrick McCoy rated it

Shelves: non-fiction

I recently picked up Barry Schwartz’s fascinating book, The Paradox of Choice and basically read it in three days. I had read an excerpt somewhere (Slate? The New York Times Magazine?), where he was explaining how in countries (like Japan and America for example) where there were significant increases in income, the level of happiness had not risen accordingly. He surmised from this that when you have basic levels of prosperity you don’t necessarily increase your happiness and other factors like...moreI recently picked up Barry Schwartz’s fascinating book, The Paradox of Choice and basically read it in three days. I had read an excerpt somewhere (Slate? The New York Times Magazine?), where he was explaining how in countries (like Japan and America for example) where there were significant increases in income, the level of happiness had not risen accordingly. He surmised from this that when you have basic levels of prosperity you don’t necessarily increase your happiness and other factors like strong familial connections were more representative of happiness across culture. He builds up the evidence of having too many choices often perplexes people and make them less happy, and often less likely to buy things. He identifies several reason why the free market economy and personal freedom sometimes have the opposite effect from which conventional wisdom would suggest-too many choices can be overwhelming for some people. He analyzes concepts like Opportunity costs, where people evaluate missed opportunities that would have come from a different choice. This happens to me a lot when I am ordering at a restaurant. He also looks at how people tend to be “maximizers” (looking for the best) or “satisficers” (people who will accept “good enough”). Sometimes people are both depending on what they are choosing. Which I agree with, I feel that I am largely a “satisficers”, but can have moments of choosing like a “maximizer.” Some of the other factors that lead to suffering from decisions include regret, disappointment through adaptation, and comparison. He gives a list of 11 things that can help make choices more satisfactory: (1. Choose When to Choose 2. Be a Chooser, Not a Picker 3. Satisfice More and Maximize Less 4. Think About the Opportunity Costs of Opportunity Costs 5. Make Your Decisions Nonreversible 6. Practice an “Attitude of Gratitude” 7. Regret Less 8. Anticipate Adaptation 9. Control Expectations 10. Curtail Social Comparison 11. Learn to Love Constraints). It was a thought provoking and inspiring book.

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Aug 22, 2011

Leslie rated it

In this book, Barry Schwartz summarizes research about the difficulties of decision-making. The highly effective story he tells explains - possibly? probably? - much of the stress, anxiety, regret, and feelings of being overwhelmed experienced by many people in modern society. Our obsessive need for choices is closely related to the values of autonomy, independence, self-determination. But the more choice we have, the more responsible we are (or at least feel) for the outcomes of our decisions. ...more

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Aug 19, 2011

Kristi Thielen rated it

Barry Schwartz is chiefly concerned with explaining that an abundance of opportunities - especially for material goods - can actually decrease happiness and that "maximizers," - people in relentless pursuit of the best of all things and agonized by the fear that their decision might be the wrong one - would be better off as "satisficers," - people who discipline themselves to consider only a limited range of options and then make a firm decision and get on with life.

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Jun 12, 2011

karl and mandy brown rated it

Shelves: karl, mandy

Mandy read The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less before me and recommended that I read it. Was it fitting that I read it? Perhaps yes. While the book made apparent the cost of the overload of choice we are facing in society, The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less receives only a 'meh' or 'so-so' ranking in my humble opinion.

I liked the references to individual studies highlighting some of the contradictions in how we make choices. But, for each of those references, there's no way to...moreMandy read The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less before me and recommended that I read it. Was it fitting that I read it? Perhaps yes. While the book made apparent the cost of the overload of choice we are facing in society, The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less receives only a 'meh' or 'so-so' ranking in my humble opinion.

I liked the references to individual studies highlighting some of the contradictions in how we make choices. But, for each of those references, there's no way to know the validity of the individual study. How many people were involved in the study? Was statistical significance achieved? Which reminds me... the way they used footnotes in the book was dumb. There were no numbers. Instead, the relevant phrase was repeated at the end of the book in the notes section. The reader had no way of knowing of a block of text had a footnote related to it by looking at the page he or she was reading.

It also irks me when an author inaccurately uses evolution to make a point. Schwartz says we have difficulty with choices because early humans had only limited options: live in a cave or not live in a cave; eat or don't eat. Was he there with those early humans to know what choices they faced or how they made decisions? It's mere speculation and a waste of paper.

As with Visioneering: God's Blueprint for Developing and Maintaining Personal Vision, Schwartz provides a conclusion that says 'live this way,' based on the arguments presented throughout the book. But, that method has not been validated through any scientific research.

I think the recommendations I will use - and Mandy and I have started doing - are the following:
* limit options: instead of considering all the options available, pick two, three, or four and compare only those
* practice an attitude of gratefulness: Mandy and I started sharing five things each of us is thankful for at the end of the day (not every day, but every so often).
* good enough is good enough: the solution I pick doesn't need to be perfect.

Was it a Good Read? It was a read. I feel more educated. Now onto the next thing.(less)

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Jun 01, 2011

Candie rated it

The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less, by Barry Schwartz

More choices, as a society, we would say would make life better, right? We have more options than ever before about what to eat, what to wear, where to live, what to put in our houses, etc. However, Barry Schwartz argues that more choice does not equal more happiness. Although we think more choices makes us happy, it actually leaves room for greater feelings of dissatisfaction, regret, and feeling overwhelmed. It has come to ...moreThe Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less, by Barry Schwartz

More choices, as a society, we would say would make life better, right? We have more options than ever before about what to eat, what to wear, where to live, what to put in our houses, etc. However, Barry Schwartz argues that more choice does not equal more happiness. Although we think more choices makes us happy, it actually leaves room for greater feelings of dissatisfaction, regret, and feeling overwhelmed. It has come to the point where it might be easier to not make a choice about anything at all.

Schwartz describes two methods of strategy in choice behavior. A Maximizer is someone who will seek and accept only the best in what they choose. They will go to every store in town to see which one has the best deal on that computer, they will spend hours flipping through every channel to see which one has the best program. A Satisficer, on the other hand, will accept choices that are “good enough” and not worry about the chance that there was something out there that might have been better. No one is a complete maximizer or saticficer, and the behavior should be viewed on a continuum. Maximizers are more likely to engage in comparisons, take longer to make a decision, compare their decisions to others, experience regret, spend more time thinking about hypothetical choices, feel less positive about their decision, savor positive events less, take a longer time to recover from a bad experience, and spend more time ruminating in decisions than saticficers. Schwartz stresses that although maximizers might be getting the best deal in the objective sense, it is the subjective experience that affects their well-being, and is the more important one to focus on.

Take Home Message: Responsibility, Control, and Expectations

Schwartz contends that although we live in a culture that values personal responsibility and control over one’s life, it also leaves more open to blame on the individual, thereby leaving feelings of dissatisfaction and regret. If we aren’t happy, it is logical to believe it is our fault. This has especially become more relevant with advanced technology and materialism in our culture. Schwartz is not saying that life should be without choice, but that there should be choice with constraints or freedom within limits. Additionally, our expectations about the choices we make have also been a contributing factor to possible unhappiness. Expectations come from making comparisons, and comparisons are a type of standard. When things do not meet our standard, we are dissatisfied. What is the solution to this problem? Low expectations, says Schwartz. If a choice is not so great then it leaves you with little disappointment, and if it goes beyond your expectation you are happily surprised.

Outstanding book and perspective into how too much choice effects decision-making behavior.
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Jan 08, 2011

Pikachu rated it

Recommends it for: students taking social cognition

Shelves: shrinky-and-the-brain, this-really-happened-so-ha, _reviewed, 2004s

We are horrible at predicting what we want.

Last year I took a class in social cognition, and one of the experiments we learned about involved a group of students picking some snacks for a period of three days. One group, if I remember correctly, said their favorite and got assigned that candy; the other got to pick their choices from a selection of snacks. Surprisingly, the group that selected their snacks was more unhappy than the first group because they anticipated a desire for vari...moreWe are horrible at predicting what we want.

Last year I took a class in social cognition, and one of the experiments we learned about involved a group of students picking some snacks for a period of three days. One group, if I remember correctly, said their favorite and got assigned that candy; the other got to pick their choices from a selection of snacks. Surprisingly, the group that selected their snacks was more unhappy than the first group because they anticipated a desire for variety based on what they had already eaten, not realizing that they would be hungry again for their favorite the next day. The result? Dissatisfaction.

Choice in modern society is both a blessing and a curse. It's a blessing because we have a freedom not very many people are lucky enough to have. It's a curse because it's hard to stay afloat when you're literally drowning in options. In the first chapter, Schwartz counts up the numbers of options a local supermarket has in the way of snacks, drinks, and various other products, and the results are astonishing.

I really enjoyed this book because it shows some of the reasons so many people today might be so dissatisfied with life, despite their numerous options. It also gives ways to work against the curse of choice, suggesting satisfising (good enough) rather than maximization (only the best!). He also shows how our brains can work against us in these cases, where we put too much faith in our verbal reasons for why we want something, failing to take into account that the salience of these reasons will fade over time, and that sometimes our unarticulated "gut" choices are the better ones in the long run.

Over all, it was a really enjoying read. He has a very engaging style of writing, and manages to address things in layman's terms without being too condescending (or too dumbed down for the psychology majors, like myself). Definitely a good thing to read if you're in psychology, economics, or just wanna figure out how to make the smartest, happiest choice in buying a new cell phone/computer. :)(less)

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Nov 24, 2010

John Hilton rated it

I read the book, but found myself disagreeing with many of the examples. Maybe I'm just weird; but for the most part I appreciate having choices.

Here’s some excerpts that I liked:

“Nobel Prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman and his colleagues have shown that what we remember about the pleasurable quality of our past experiences is almost entirely determined by two things: how the experiences felt when they were at their peak (best or worst), and how they felt when they e...more

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Apr 13, 2010

Michael Grogan rated it

As one who typically ignores the latest in gadgetry, I found this book generally agreeable (I don’t even know what the IPad is supposed to be - a souped-up Kindle? I give it six months…). I simply quit breakfast at age twelve because of the mind-numbing endeavor of choosing cereal! According to Schwartz’s narrative, my market-aloofness sort of correlates with an ideal approach. Using the terminology – and assuming I have any self-awareness left - I do believe I qualify as a “satisficer” as oppo...moreAs one who typically ignores the latest in gadgetry, I found this book generally agreeable (I don’t even know what the IPad is supposed to be - a souped-up Kindle? I give it six months…). I simply quit breakfast at age twelve because of the mind-numbing endeavor of choosing cereal! According to Schwartz’s narrative, my market-aloofness sort of correlates with an ideal approach. Using the terminology – and assuming I have any self-awareness left - I do believe I qualify as a “satisficer” as opposed to “maximizer” when confronted with (or in complete avoidance of) inexhaustible choices. That’s great. I like to feel normal once in a while. I do have a tinge of suspicion, following Groucho Marx’s statement about club membership, that my indifference to consumer choice might not represent any exemplar and thus Schwartz’s assertions are way off.. I’m always 6.7 years behind in technology and I typically get screwed by the third best internet and cell phone service providers.

Highlighting various studies and observations, the author offers something of a common sense approach to sifting through the mountain of stuff we call the United States. This is a manifesto to an overwhelmed populace - those psychologically and financially impacted by multitudinous options. As I lack anything approaching a sociology degree my biggest criticism might be that, despite the mere 200-something pages, this could be much shorter. The various studies mentioned often get repeated in subsequent chapters in unnecessary detail for instance. I could easily imagine a 20-minute Power Point presentation covering everything in this book. I’m also not a big fan of the self-helpiness of the conclusion. It’s more Oprah than NPR, the forum from which I heard an interview with the author. Had I actually read the book description, with “eleven practical steps” explicitly stated, I might have left it on the library shelf. However, as a bona fide satisficer, I don’t sweat the details.
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Mar 22, 2010

Jane rated it

Always fascinated by the high level of consumerism exhibited by most Americans, I was interested to see what Schwartz had to say about how we are affected by the seemingly endless options for almost ANYTHING that are around us daily. Well, he came to the conclusion that I would suspect: it's partly the fact that we have so many choices and options (whether for TV channels or dishwashers, colors of camis or type of flip-flop, cars or cans of soup) that makes us feel more stressed out and presse...more

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Nov 20, 2009

Josh Werner rated it

a frustrating and unrewarding read. the author writes the book as an opinion piece with very little scientific reasoning or cited work to back up his claims. in addition, the statistics, graphs, and metrics that he does use are either useless or incomplete. my favorite illustration of this comes from a description of how to evaluate oneself on the "regret scale:"

To score yourself on this scale, just put a number from 1 ("Disagree Completely") to 7 ("Agree Comple

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Aug 29, 2011

Ellyn rated it

Shelves: 2011

Written by a psychology professor, this book explores the idea that the abundance of choice in our modern world is actually making us miserable and leading to anxiety, stress, and depression. The author suggests that there are two approaches to choice: people who maximize want to make the best possible decision at all times and feel that they must consider every option as a result, while people who satisfice simply want to make a "good enough" decision. Too much maximizing can lead t...more

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Aug 23, 2011

Kathy Cowley rated it

Shelves: nonfiction, psychology

This book convincingly makes the case that having more choices can actually limit our freedom. The more choices we have about trivial things, the more time we have to spend on them, and we become, in essence, "foragers", sifting through a world of choice. More choices can also make important decisions harder, raising our expectations, encouraging us to seek for the "best" which must be out there somewhere, and increasing our sense of regret by comparison of the choices to oth...moreThis book convincingly makes the case that having more choices can actually limit our freedom. The more choices we have about trivial things, the more time we have to spend on them, and we become, in essence, "foragers", sifting through a world of choice. More choices can also make important decisions harder, raising our expectations, encouraging us to seek for the "best" which must be out there somewhere, and increasing our sense of regret by comparison of the choices to others.

This psychology book is presented in a compelling way, using everyday examples and fun comics from different magazines and newspapers. And I'm sold. On his scale of maximizers (those who spend lots of time, energy, and emotion trying to compare absolutely everything as make the best choice) and satisficers (those who set a certain standard of goodness, and once they find it, accept it, even if there might be something better out there) I fall somewhere in the middle. I agree--I would probably be happier if I was more of a satisficer.

In part I'm sold on the concepts of this book because it matches up with some of my personal beliefs. For example, a lot of times we gain pleasure because of novelty, and the risk is that we will always have to find more novelty to have pleasure. Schwartz recommends gratitude as an antidote. From personal experience, finding joy in simple things brings me a lot of happiness.

Schwartz also talks about making decisions that actually limit the full range of choices. For example, getting married and having kids, becoming involved in a community, forming close friendships, and participating in a religion all limit your choices. You now have obligations, responsibilities, and certain restrictions. Yet studies have shown time and time again that it is relationships that bring us the most happiness, although they require us to limit certain choices. Schwartz's research helps explain to me why I find following the commandments of my religion liberating, rather than restricting--they set certain standards and choices for me so I don't have to make them, and can focus on other choices that matter more to me, as well as having the time, health, and spiritual fuel that help me live a happy life.

I'd definitely recommend this book, and while it is about human psychology, it's not a slow or scary read.(less)

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Aug 30, 2009

Grace rated it

Shelves: cultural-studies, non-fiction, psychology, read-in-2009

The paradox of our time: "People want more control over the details of their lives, but a majority of people also want to simplify their lives."
How can you simplify your life when every waking second of every day, we are bombarded with choices?

Some of these are mundane and even automatic: do I get up and get in the shower so I can go to work or do I hit the snooze button? Some are a little more complex: the story of Barry Schwartz going to the Gap for a new pair of ...moreThe paradox of our time: "People want more control over the details of their lives, but a majority of people also want to simplify their lives."
How can you simplify your life when every waking second of every day, we are bombarded with choices?

Some of these are mundane and even automatic: do I get up and get in the shower so I can go to work or do I hit the snooze button? Some are a little more complex: the story of Barry Schwartz going to the Gap for a new pair of jeans and realizing that there are now several different types of styles and fits he must choose from. Buying a pair of jeans just got a lot more complex for him. Then there are the even more complex and most life affecting choices: college educations, health insurance programs, and retirement plans and benefits.

Never before have we had so many choices for everything we do. And Barry Schwartz argues that having too much choice is proving to be detrimental to our well being. He starts off by giving examples of choosing, then explains how we choose. Then he moves into why we suffer from having so many choices to choose from - this is detailed in six of the books 11 chapters. He concludes with a chapter on what we can do about choice.

It's not really a self help book, because that would imply we, the reader(s), were already aware that we had a problem. Barry Schwartz's mission is to increase his readers' awareness of the magnitude and varying complexity of all of the choices they face each day and then show them how these choices are affecting them. The help comes from being aware and slowing building the contents of this book into their daily lives.

This is perhaps one of the best non-fiction books I've read in quite some time. It had the "aha!" moment. It took something we do every day - making choices from a plethora of choices (something we take for granted and would become rather angry if we didn't have a choice) and showed the other side - how we think it's good, but really it isn't. (less)

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Jul 31, 2011

Hansen Wendlandt rated it

Sitting around a campfire off a dirt road just a few miles from the Wal Mart corporate headquarters, 2 am in the summer time, two 18-year olds take a break from shooting fireworks aimlessly into Mill Dam Pond, to chew on the idea that an overabundance of options harms us. This was personal, because my mother would suffer something like vertigo every time we entered the brand-new SuperCenter temple to hyper-capitalistic choice-mongering. How embarrassing to prop up your mother because she can’t h...moreSitting around a campfire off a dirt road just a few miles from the Wal Mart corporate headquarters, 2 am in the summer time, two 18-year olds take a break from shooting fireworks aimlessly into Mill Dam Pond, to chew on the idea that an overabundance of options harms us. This was personal, because my mother would suffer something like vertigo every time we entered the brand-new SuperCenter temple to hyper-capitalistic choice-mongering. How embarrassing to prop up your mother because she can’t handle an array of laundry detergent boxes! Andy agreed, because his dad complained more and more about not finding anything to watch on television, ever since they ordered cable. Also, we figured that choice was a larger cultural issue. With more options comes more advertising, more corner-cutting, and less appreciation for the simple things of life, like the Bud Light we had smuggled from the state line. But our knockdown argument was this: the only possible reason we could both be single after our first year of college, was that large campuses gave women too many men from which to choose… Too many men, that they can’t find the good ones… Like the good ones who were shooting bottle rockets at each other for fun for the umpteenth time that summer…

Minus that pathetic justification for bachelorhood, we were onto something, what Barry Schwartz calls the “tyranny of choice”. No one would disagree that there is value to having options in life. It is certainly better to choose from six colors than one, better to have a dozen restaurants than two. But The Paradox of Choice is that, at some point, too many options actually cause us more effort and less satisfaction. For, it seems at least a more efficient process to choose from six colors than to pour over 6000, at least a faster dinner when we choose from twelve restaurants, rather than 1200. Further, according to Schwartz, in some cases overabundance of options can actually stunt us emotionally and lead to worse decision-making. He describes every angle of the problem through loads of sociological and psychological research, and offers helpful advice how to navigate this modern scourge. The writing may come off a bit redundant at times, but for the most part, the book is clear, fair, astute and interesting.

The Problem

The ‘tyranny of choice’ makes some intuitive sense, when we consider how much we might fret over less important decisions, like going to three stores for a certain ice cream flavor or consulting five websites to save one dollar on a flight. There are situations where we waste more time dithering, and should just enjoy our choice, any choice. How this plays out in healthcare, religion, relationships and other emotionally charged areas of life, can be more controversial—no matter how strong the case, who wants fewer medications or less access to the divine? But specific examples aside, Schwartz’ greater point is that “the cumulative effect of these added choices… is causing substantial distress” (44).

To argue for this he combs great studies about every layer of consumption, concluding that we are dramatically and inherently bad at determining what we want, deciding what might meet that goal, and evaluating our satisfaction with whatever we choose. The data is clear that the more options we have, the worse we are at each step of the decision-making process, and the less happy we are. In fact, the resulting disappointment, even depression, from our many tyrannized choices actually parallels a drop in cultural well being, at least in consumerist cultures like the US. Consider anecdotally, for instance, just how much more stuff we have, how much better it is, and how many more options we have than our parents or grandparents, while simultaneously harboring much more stress and less peace than they.

More than simply a correlation, Schwartz shows how overabundant choice causes some degree of this societal despair, because of our brains, our hearts and our contexts. Psychologically, he explains many studies that show how a “discrepancy between logic and memory suggest that we don’t always know what we want” (51). With respect to our values, he argues well that many of us are more enamored by autonomy in the process of decision-making, than any satisfaction that results from a decision. And sociologically, it is clear how the marketplace preys on us all, nurturing that social addiction to control, even while doing everything it can to determine our decisions. At the worst, we’re killing ourselves with choice. At the best, there might be ways to cultivate a less-is-more perspective, without abandoning culture outright.

Some solutions

Here is a condensed list of Schwartz’ advice for breaking the patterns of choice-despair:

1) Ease your burdens of decision-making by establishing some principles about what sorts of things deserve decisions. Some people might make little personal rules, such as ‘Never look at catalogs’ or ‘Only shop for 30 minutes’. Others might try more vaguely to resist opportunities that carry high levels of effort, chance of mistake, or potential for dissatisfaction.

2) Develop minimum levels of satisfaction, and appreciate the truly fine things only on occasion. When can ‘good enough’ be good enough? When is it important to spend the effort to get something ‘just right’?

3) Perhaps ironically, you can be more satisfied by sticking with your choice. Don’t be tempted away from satisfaction by silly innovations, and try not to consider reversing decisions.

4) Be realistic about your expectations and feelings of satisfaction. Few things come off perfectly, and fewer remain so after much time.

5) Be more grateful for what you have, and less regretful of what you don’t, especially in comparison with others. (less)

· see review

Jan 15, 2012

Dan Scharch rated it

A select several books on my shelf have unequivocally changed my life for the better. Never has my head spun more, muttering the phrase “knowledge is power” to myself, than while chasing their words with my eyes. They’ve shown me how the world is better than 24-hour news networks, indie bands, or even silly conversations on magical substances.

Barry Schwartz’s The Paradox is Choice is the latest addition to the stack. Right out the gate, Schwartz is tackling a subject most hold dear in...moreA select several books on my shelf have unequivocally changed my life for the better. Never has my head spun more, muttering the phrase “knowledge is power” to myself, than while chasing their words with my eyes. They’ve shown me how the world is better than 24-hour news networks, indie bands, or even silly conversations on magical substances.

Barry Schwartz’s The Paradox is Choice is the latest addition to the stack. Right out the gate, Schwartz is tackling a subject most hold dear in America: autonomy. We all believe with our heart and soul that we should harness every right and every minute devoted to building ourselves into angelic (or demonic) beings with the power to hypnotize the world with our voice and have them drooling, staring at our Tyler Durden abs. Alas, we know this is not the reality for most of us, but it is the autonomy, the ability, the dream to keep fighting and keep it alive.

Schwartz instead suggests that the recent paradigm shift to decide every choose-your-own-adventure aspect of our lives is actually making us all very, very upset. Doctors rely on us to tell them what to check up on. College course books are just as dense as the textbooks we had to buy to learn from them. The Internet has opened the doors to thousands of connections, articles, videos, and avenues of life. And despite all that, choice is giving us angst.

It is too much pressure to build a human, step by step. Schwartz takes us deep into this terrifying and insightful look into how easily we are all manipulated into thinking we know what is good for us, and finding out that it is not always true. Schwartz handpicks plenty of psychological studies to illustrate the idea and frankly there could have been way more detail and information. In the end, though, choice can be a burden and (gasp) we may do better without it sometimes.

Fortunately I think The Paradox of Choice is a good book. It is painful, true, but it also opens the doors to consciousness of these problems and provides ways for us to free ourselves from the chains of endless freedom.

When it comes to choice, make the right decision and give this book a try. You won’t regret it. (less)

· see review

May 18, 2011

Shira rated it

Recommends it for: Crystal, Becka

Recommended to Shira by: Mary Beth

Shelves: fiber

So far, so good.
I'm probably missing the point when it comes to shopping. I can easily discount half of what I see when I walk into a store, so I don't get overwhelmed that easily. A lot of the issues of choice (while they can be overwhelming) is to define what you like/need and go with your choices from there. When you let others define what you need then you're in a world of hurt. Big picture, however, I'm enjoying what this author is saying about the burden of choices in society. (And d...more

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May 30, 2011

Aurelia Brouwers rated it

Shelves: school-related, owned

A sort review about the book.

I started reading this book after I read The Long Tail. In the Long Tail Anderson says that this book is incorrect and that more choice is always better (Schwartz claims that less choice is better). So to be honest, I was a bit pre-judged about this book since I really liked the Long Tail.

The book is written in a style I like, not that difficult, a lot of humor and a lot of examples. Well done! I can also understand why Schwartz arguments that les...more

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Dec 29, 2008

Lightreads rated it

Shelves: nonfiction, psychology

A book I should have liked, and really didn't. Nebulously annoying exploration of how too many choices – in selecting a car, a sweater, a career – can actually be psychologically unhealthy. It could have been pretty cool, too, with about six layers more depth and minus the barely restrained glee at being a contrarian about the utility of American freedom for the sake of being a contrarian rather than any real insight. (Not that I have a problem with the content, mind you, because it's probably p...more

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Nov 07, 2011

Preethi rated it

Shelves: 2011, audiobook, pop-psychology

The book was interesting, but not fabulous. Part of it had to do with the fact that after studying marketing/business during my undergraduate and graduate coursework, I was familiar with roughly 80% of the studies and principles mentioned.

Some thoughts:

- Some connections are tenuous, at best - e.g., Schwartz connects decreased happiness to increased choice. He not only assumes that satisfaction is always the end goal, but also relies very heavily on Marty Seligman's wor...more

· see review

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