The Art Of Choosing: The Decisions We Make Everyday of our Lives, What They Say About Us and How We Can Improve Them

by Sheena Iyengar

In his book Individualism and Collectivism, cultural psychologist Harry Triandis notes that individualists “are primarily motivated by their own preferences, needs, rights, and the contracts they have established with others” and “give priority to their personal goals over the goals of others.” Not only do people choose based on their own preferences, which is itself significant given the number of choices in life and their importance; they also come to see themselves as defined by their individual interests, personality traits, and actions; for example, “I am a film buff” or “I am environmentally conscious.” In this worldview, it’s critical that one be able to determine one’s own path in life in order to be a complete person, and any obstacle to doing so is seen as patently unjust. Modern individualism has its most direct roots in the Enlightenment of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Europe, which itself drew on a variety of influences: the works of Greek philosophers, especially Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle; René Descartes’ attempt to derive all knowledge from the maxim “I think, therefore I am”; the Protestant Reformation’s challenge to the central authority of the Catholic Church with the idea that every individual had a direct line to God; and scientific advances by such figures as Galileo and Isaac Newton that provided ways to understand the world without recourse to religion. These led to a new worldview, one that rejected the traditions that had long ruled soc...