She has conducted studies around the world and has shown some startling results about how choice can be counterproductive to a person's well-being, mentally and physically. One of the most startling revelations for me was when she had invited people who had formerly lived in communist countries and offered them seven different kinds of soda. However, all of them treated it as one single choice: soda. It didn't matter whether it was Coke or Pepsi, since soda is soda. We were raised to play "spot the difference" with everything we saw. Choices can become overwhelming when we cannot find the minute differences between them.
In fact, this plays into another video I have watched from TED Talks about the same problem. In it, Barry Schwartz describes how, in the past, when there were limited choices, it was easy for people to choose. Now, with such an abundance of freedom, people make decisions, but always ask themselves, "What if?"
Both these videos were eye-openers, and I have realized that I too, have fallen victim to this "paradox of choice". I am quite an indecisive person, probably because I have such an open mind that it is hard for me to choose between different brands that offer the same product. I agree with both of the aforementioned speakers that choice is not a bad thing, but the amount of freedom we attain in making these decisions affect our happiness in negative ways.
You can watch both videos here:
Sheena Iyengar: The Art of Choosing
Barry Schwartz: The Paradox of Choice
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