Paradox of Choice

“Autonomy and Freedom of choice are critical to our well-being, and choice is critical to freedom and autonomy. Nonetheless, though modern Americans have more choice than any group of people ever has before, and thus, presumably, more freedom and autonomy, we don’t seem to be benefiting from it psychologically.”
– Barry Schwartz, Paradox of Choice

We make choices every day. Every phase of our lives is marked by the choices we make, or the lack thereof. Most of us do not have one specific formula for making decisions, nor can we—simply because the ways we decide what school to attend, what career path we’ll pursue, what we want in a spouse, and how we determine our brand of toothpaste are all very different matters in our lives.

The “paradox of choice” explains how consumers might either be fascinated or overwhelmed when they are exposed to multiple options. According to Barry Schwartz, when you are open to a significant amount of freedom to choose, it might cause you the

feelings of less happiness and satisfaction, which could eventually lead to decision paralysis.

Buyer’s Remorse
For example, our sweet teenage niece gets excited to try out all the latest fashion trends at the local shopping mall, but research shows most adolescent girls confess that, much of the time, they end up buying clothing and products that do not complement their body type, personality, or taste, simply because they couldn’t miss out on that mouthwatering offer. It might be getting a free blouse with the purchase of a pair of shoes. Research shows that almost immediately after their purchase, these consumers have the feeling of “Buyer’s remorse.”

Schwartz categorizes decision-makers as “Maximizers” and “Satisfiers.” Maximizers are people who need assurance that the purchase or decision they made is the best among the available options. They consider all the alternatives before narrowing them down to one. A Satisfier, on the other hand, is the one who settles for an option without worrying about other alternatives. The Satisfier follows the standards and criteria they have mapped out and chooses the option that meets the requirement, without worrying about whether they should have explored other preferences.

Similarly, Isaiah Berlin, a Russian-British political philosopher, established two concepts that explained the liberty of choice: negative and positive. Negative independence is freedom from constraints, obstacles, other people’s opinions, control, etc. On the other hand, positive freedom implies openness to choose from the plethora of opportunities you are surrounded by, the capacity to make your life better, more accessible, and to fulfill your purpose.

“The freedom of choice is sold to you as if it were a gift, when, indeed, it could be a curse,” says Berlin. If the limitations people want to break free of are inflexible, they might not be able to make the right choices. What we fail to see is that being offered an array of choices can lead to “paralysis.” The fewer choices we are exposed to, the better our chances of getting the best deal.

This seems illogical; the best deal might not even be in the pack of fewer choices. Do you mean the better our chances of choosing one we actually want? The hassles of picking from an excess of selection can make one lose interest faster than we would like to admit. This happens to me and many of the people I know; we all have that friend who enters a store looking for the sexy black dress and then faces the task of choosing “the one” from over 30. She walks out of the store without selecting a single one because her brain is unduly overwhelmed, which ends up confusing everything. This is commonly called “Paralysis by Analysis.”

Alternatively, if a store offers to sell a pair of shoes at half price if she buys a particular dress, she will happily pay for it and leave, not minding if the design is slightly different from the one she had in mind, as long as it fits and is in fashion.
It is true that we all crave the freedom to make our choices from limitless options, but when there are too many, we get confused. This can lead us to make the wrong decisions, or, worse, to refuse to make any decisions at all.