Comments on: ‘The Paradox of Choice’ – Can Having Too Many Choices Make You Unhappy? — Quote of the Day (Barry Schwartz via Jim Sollisch)

By: 1minutebookreviewswordpresscom

1minutebookreviewswordpresscom — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 00:09:45 +0000

Re: “The less you understand what it is you truly want, the more it is that choice frustrates you” — that sounds exactly right to me.

I also agree that ours may be the first society to have this problem. But some very wealthy subcultures of our society and others may have had the problem in the past. For example, the anecdotal evidence suggests that many of the richest Hollywood celebrities have always been desperately unhappy. Could it be because they they know they can have anything they want?

By: nategosse

nategosse — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 18:40:36 +0000

This is a question I’ve thought about a fair bit. Ours is perhaps the first society in history to ever be faced with this apparent problem. I’ve come to believe that the less you understand what it is you truly want, the more it is that choice frustrates you.

By: 1minutebookreviewswordpresscom

1minutebookreviewswordpresscom — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 22:57:56 +0000

Even moving from a small town to New York can have a similar effect, just not as extreme.

I’ve though about this post a lot as it relates to bookstores. Part of why people love independent bookstores may be that their owners make some of the choices for us, which can be a big relief.

By: sarahsk

sarahsk — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 21:09:40 +0000

The grocery store metaphor is apt. My mother moved to the States from Harare (Zimbabwe) in 1970, and I remember her telling me when I was a kid that she was utterly overwhelmed by all the different choices at the supermarket, and that it was stressful and time consuming to have to decide what type and brand of food to buy, whereas before, her choice was limited to “bread” or “no bread”. Extrapolate this issue to every facet of society, and it can get overwhelming.

By: 1minutebookreviewswordpresscom

1minutebookreviewswordpresscom — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 17:30:12 +0000

Faizabbi: I’ve had thoughts similar to yours while visiting Scotland, where the situation seems similar. Thanks for making the good point that not all cultures see a vast number of choices as essential or even desirable.
Jan

By: Daniel

Daniel — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 16:52:09 +0000

The Paradox of Choice? A better book would have been something about what happens to human happiness when there are fewer or no choices. This man’s research may only serve to reveal how weak our intellects have become. Perhaps we are unable to utilize critical thinking to determine what we want and to want it after we get it. http://www.bentpage.wordpress.com.

By: faizaabi

faizaabi — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 16:30:43 +0000

Oh,that’s really a point.I am happy that I live in Norway.Here we have not so big supermarkets and a limited choice of quality wares and it is not as difficult as it is go to stores in big places.As far as the other things in life are concerned we should learn to make a choice and keep it.