Customers & Choices
The paradox of choice. I didn’t know about this book, nor about the TED speaker session Barry Schwarz did to explain the relationship between economics and psychology. I got pointed to it by a colleague, and to be honest, I’m amazed about these insights. Since I ended my last post with the lines: It all comes down to the freedom of choice, I’m posting this because of the relevance to that last statement. We’re always working ourselves into sweat just to please customers or to offer them a variety of choices. But is that really what they need. You could start to argue about it, but the thing with big companies as Microsoft is that the moment you’re not offering something, you’re bound to have some group of people complaining about the lack of that specific thing. On the other hand, if you want to please everyone, the things you ship become so bloathed that it starts to annoy those who prefer to NOT have that much options. Good thing I’m not calling the shots because I’d have the hardest time walking the thin line in between too much and too little. Here’s part of the intro of TED. You can read the rest of it here.
Check out the clip. Really worth it!
In his 2004 book The Paradox of Choice , Barry Schwartz tackles one of the great mysteries of modern life: Why is it that societies of great abundance — where individuals are offered more freedom and choice (personal, professional, material) than ever before — are now witnessing a near-epidemic of depression? Conventional wisdom tells us that greater choice is for the greater good, but Schwartz argues the opposite: He makes a compelling case that the abundance of choice in today’s western world is actually making us miserable.
Infinite choice is paralyzing, Schwartz argues, and exhausting to the human psyche. It leads us to set unreasonably high expectations, question our choices before we even make them and blame our failures entirely on ourselves. His relatable examples, from consumer products (jeans, TVs, salad dressings) to lifestyle choices (where to live, what job to take, who and when to marry), underscore this central point: Too much choice undermines happiness.
September 22nd, 2008 at 10:17 pm
I’m not so sure I agree with this. I think it’s misplacing the blame but isn’t far from the true source.
I think the primary problem is that people lack confidence in themselves and their own judgment. Everyday we are being bombarded by people telling us that we ought to be humble and that true wisdom is knowing you are a fool… is it no wonder people lack the confidence in their own ability to make the simplest of choices? Even among those who are narcissists you’ll find a deep fear of their own inability to deal with life.
Somewhere in our shared history we dropped confidence, pride, self-esteem, certainty, and independent judgment in order to not offend people, to be part of a group, and to keep us from stubbornly refusing to admit when we are wrong. Confidence also means being able to admit when your wrong and learning from it.
I know this might seem counter-intuitive when you consider how many people ought there are so dead-set that they are right and others are wrong. If it were true that people so many were sure of themselves, their causes and ideals then why wouldn’t we be more open to debate with an sincere goal of seeking the truth? We don’t see these debates because we aren’t confident in reason, and we aren’t confident in reason because we aren’t confident in our own ability to use it. Yes we can be and often are wrong but that didn’t justify throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
Regarding why others (who aren’t as well off) aren’t so depressed… maybe they just have more important things to worry about.
September 24th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
Powerful video Miel.
I am not so sure about Justins comment of misplacing the blame, feel free to prove me wrong here.
In the end these are Barry’s observations as down to earth as he could possibly describe them.
Escapism is in the ‘what ifs’ time consumption and stress is the killer, in relation to the jeans, it was not the amount of jeans or choice, yet how much time he’d taken to get them in the first place.
As for the experiences in depressions and loves, isn’t it all just the journey in learning how to live?
In the end we are all aiming to please those we feel we connect to.
I feel Barry may feel happier if we all turned Vulcan (Star Trek related) suppressed our emotions and focussed on priority, yet a smile or a laugh from someone you value is so rewarding.
When do you flick the switch and remember to switch it back on? Amongst the history of growing information in your head.
Different people resolve it in their own way, some live in their own god complex.
Some people persist in the war on stress.
(Place Miel meditating here)
September 25th, 2008 at 7:26 am
:-) Zennnnnn
Nice points you raised. The video is indeed somewhat the personal reflection of the speaker. And yes, it’s as if we’re all doomed if there are too many choices, but I look at this video as a sort of guide.
Perfection in choice is not the storyline in this video, and it’s not the overload of choice we have today. It’s somewhere in between.
Spikes the discussion though.