The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less

Rating:
Summary: A Paradox Indeed
Review: I salute Barry Schwartz for tackling a subject which is at the heart of so much of the current malaise of modern American consumer culture. However, I find it interesting how Schwartz underscores the whole 'overabundance-of-choice dilemma' by deluging the reader with an exhaustive taxology of somewhat self-evident examples and a litany of academic studies. A healthy dose of humor and more informal slice of rich anectodes might have illuminated the subject, but instead Schwartz laboriously overstates his 'too-much-choice-is-bad' thesis ad infinitum--the irony is that her 'over-chose' his material.

Rating:
Summary: Great book if you haven't taken Psych 101
Review: I was expecting alot more from this book than it provided. That isn't bad, but in an effort to set expectations (which this book advocates) I wanted to write a review to let people know what it does and doesn't do.

The Paradox of Choice is a great introductory read if you have never heard of things like Opportunity Costs, Anchoring, Escalation of Commitment, etc. It does a great job of outlining various psychology realities around why choice actually creates more anxiety and depression. If you want to learn about these topics in simple, plain English, this is your book.

If you know about these topics already, have taken Psych 101 somewhere, and want to understand best practices of companies and individuals managing choice, this is going to be a disappointment. Of 11 chapters, only 1 was dedicated to how to effectively manage the barrage of choices one is faced with everyday in this society. And that chapter was pretty skimpy on specifics.

What I found lacking in this book were specific examples of how individuals effectively handle choice in a positive, proactive way. For example, what is the decision process of a satisficer (a term used in the book) for going to college or buying a car?

Furthermore, I would have liked to have seen this author talk about ways we as consumers and businesspeople can influence companies to begin to edit down the number of brands, products, and therefore choices we have to make on a regular basis.

Granted, holding this book to such a high standard might just be my desire to see this topic delved into further given the importance of it to our satisfaction with our everyday lives, but I still was expecting more. At least from a hardcover.

Rating:
Summary: The Paradox of Schwartz
Review: If Mr. Schwartz really believed what he writes, he wouldn't write. There are, by his depiction of things, too many choices. For example, there are far too many books. By writing another book, he aggravates the problem while pretending to solve it. In reality, we filter out most choices and focus on just a few. There are 6+ billion people, so we could marry any one of say, 3 billion. We select from a far smaller number and are not distressed about the billions we never met.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating read!
Review: If there was a class on the sociology of shopping, this would be a required book. A fascinating read on the challenges fraught during a shopping experience and the evolution of choice during the 21st century. A highly enjoyable read!

Rating:
Summary: We Buy More, But We Enjoy Less. Find Out Why.
Review: In his new book The Paradox of Choice - Why More Is Less, Barry Choices. We're surrounded by them. Whether we're trying to pick out a new pair of jeans, shopping for car insurance, getting groceries, selecting a long-distance phone carrier, ordering a cup of coffee, or even deciding which spiritual path to follow, we're faced with a staggering amount of options. Just this weekend, my husband and I were shopping for a new dryer to replace the one that gave up the ghost. The amount of dryers was dizzying; they even had digital dryers! Like I jokingly told the salesman, when I do laundry, I don't want to have to do mathematical equations to figure out what numbers to key in...I just want to dry my freakin' clothes!

The author contends that it's crucial for us to feel like we're in control, but in the face of so many options, is the process of selection back-firing on us?

Schwartz contends that it is. In accessible, engaging, and anecdotal prose, the author shows how the dramatic explosion of choice--from the mundane to the profound--has paradoxically become a problem instead of a solution. He tells the story of how he used to be able to go into a store and just get a pair of jeans. Being one to wear his jeans until they fall apart, he finally went to the store to get a new pair. A salesperson walked up to him and asked him if she could help. "I want a pair of jeans--32-38", he said. She proceeds to ask him if he wants them slim fit, easy fit, relaxed fit, baggy, or extra baggy? Stonewashed, acid-washed, or distressed? Buttton-fly or zipper fly? Faded or regular?

He was stunned. He sputtered that he just wanted regular jeans...you know, the kind that used to be the only kind? Schwartz then begins a mission to find out the range of choice for Americans. He goes on to list some pretty eye-opening statistics. For example, in his local supermarket, he found 285 varieties of cookies. Just the chocolate-chip cookies alone had 21 options! At his local electronics store, he counted 85 different telephones, not including cell phones. Even shopping for colleges has become an intellectual shopping mall.

And speaking of malls, did you know that Americans go to shopping centers about once a week, more often than they go to houses of worship? American now has more shopping centers than high schools. However, when asked to rank the pleasure they get from various activities, grocery shopping ranks next to last, and other shopping fifth from the bottom.

People are shopping more, but enjoying it less. But why? If they do enjoy it less, why do they keep doing it? This is the crux of the book, where Schwartz cites fascinating studies including Why Choice Is Demotivating. He also examines why it is that the excitement of purchasing new items seems to wear off so fast, and why we sometimes actually feel badly about our choices. For one, humans are adaptive. "Familiarity breeds contempt", as the old adage goes. But it's also the fact that we second guess ourselves after a purchase, mulling what we could have chosen, as well as asking ourselves if we really chose "the best".

Choosing "the best" is a trait of maximizers. Schwartz says that maximizers tend to be less happy than satisficers. Satisficers are those who choose with the mindset of "good enough". But because America is a culture where many seek "the best" and compare their choices and lifestyle with their neighbors and media standards, most of us are maximizers.

What are some of the qualities of a maximizer?

1. Maximizers engage in more product comparisons than satisficers, both before and after they make purchasing decisions.
2. Maximizers take longer than satisficers to decide on a purchase.
3. Maximizers spend more time than satisficers comparing their purchasing decisions to the decisions of others.
4. Maximizers are more likely to experience regret after a purchase.
5. Maximizers are more likely to spend time thinking about hypothetical alternatives to the purchases they've made.
6. Maximizers generally feel less positive about their purchasing decisions.
7. Maximizers savor positive events less than satisficers and do not cope as well (by their own admission) with negative events.
8. After something bad happens to them, maximizers' sense of well-being takes longer to recover.
9. Maximizers tend to brood or ruminate more than satisficers.

Is it any wonder that we buy more, but enjoy less? What drew me to this book was because I knew that I was the type of person that obsessed over purchases, taking forever to select an item. I used to be so indecisive at a restaurant, taking 20 minutes to figure out what I wanted! What am I in the mood for? How will I feel when I eat it? What's the tastiest thing I could order? I'm much better than I was, but still... I also noticed the trend to second guess many of my purchasing decisions and wondering if I could "do better".

So when I read about this book in Parade magazine, I ordered it from Amazon.com. The great thing about this book is that Schwartz synthesizes current research, and shows how eliminating choices can greatly reduce the stress, anxiety, and busyness of our lives. He even offers eleven practical steps on how to limit choices to a manageable number, have the discipline to focus on those that are important and ignore the rest, and ultimately derive greater satisfaction from the choices we have to make.

Oh, and I picked my new dryer rather easily. I knew I wanted an interior light, a manual dial, large capacity, and a signal to let me know when the clothes were done. However, my husband kept standing there with a "deer in the headlights" look. (And finally agreed with my choice.)

Do you think locking him in our bathroom with this book might help? Not a lotta choices in there, after all...

Originally posted at http://SelfDevelopment.BellaOnline.com

Rating:
Summary: Having Problems choosing books to read chose this one.
Review: In The Paradox of Choice Barry Schwartz provides evidence that we are faced with too many choices on a daily basis. He also presents impressive facts of psychological evidence about how more looking actually makes us less happy with our final decisions. In the beginning of the book it talks about shopping at a grocery store and the number of options there. As the number of options increases, the psychological stakes rise accordingly. This book is helpful in many ways; it shows us how to reduce stress in decision-making. Faced with numerous options in today society Schwartz provided information on leaving your losses behind and focus on the future. He also touched on the topic of regretting, because it's hard to go through life regretting every decision you made because it might not have been the best possible decision. I recommend this book to anyone whose been faced with decision making.

After reading The Paradox of Choice I realized the over-whelming amount of choices I came across within the next hour, and how I had a difficult time deciding on what to do. Even with the number options I had to choose from I couldn't pin point on just one. This book is a tool that everyone should use in coping with day-to-day decisions.

Rating:
Summary: Book Good, Choice Bad
Review: Me like book. Book good. Choice bad. Fire. No fire. Only choice me need.

I loved this book. A great read. I couldn't put it down.

P.S. If you decide to read it, I hope that you will keep your expectations low. Expectations have a lot to do with our perceived enjoyment of things. I learned this in the book.

Rating:
Summary: Another version of blame my flaws on someone else
Review: Schwartz states that our indecision, regret, and depression is not due to our inability to prioritize, think logically or take responsiblity. It is because we are offered too many choices. The manufacturers and marketers are making us victims and causing our depression. While he does provide a self help list in the last chapter, the suggestions should be obvious to the average reader. Even if the many products and choices are at fault for our declining happiness it may be more because we expect inanimate items to fill our emotional needs which is totally unrelated to the number of choices we have available. In sum, this book stretchs cause and effect in order to sell books to those who want to avoid responsibility for their own decisions.

Rating:
Summary: Feel better about your decisions...
Review: Schwartz takes an interesting perspective on the decision sciences, exploring not how we could make decisions better, but instead how we can feel better about the decisions we do make.

He explains that we live in a world with overwhelming choice, where every activity from buying a box of cereal to choosing our ideal job offers us an almost unlimited set of options. But although these increased choices often make us better off objectively, they don't necessarily make us feel any better. Instead, we get anxious while making the decision and then feel regret once it's made, wondering if we made the "right" choice. Schwartz helps us understand the psychological underpinnings of our anxieties regarding choice, and then offers some simple but useful suggestions on how we can feel better in the world we live in.

I really enjoyed this book...and as a "maximizer" I found it very helpful. It's a quick read, so if you're at all intrigued by the title then I'd definitely buy it.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book & helpful practical advice
Review: Schwartz' excellent book, "The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less", is fascinating to read. I saw him on the MacNeil News Hour & was really looking forward to this newly published book. The book exceeded my expectations. Practical advice within a tantalizing read. I couldn't put it down. I highly recommend it to everyone.