What is the Paradox of Choice?

The Paradox of Choice At a supermarket, two experiments were conducted. In the first experiment, 24 different types of jam were available to freely test  and buy for a discounted price. In the second experiment, only  6 different types of jam were available to freely test and  buy for a discounted price.

The first experiment attracted  60% of shoppers and 3% bought jam. The second experiment attracted 40%  of the shoppers and 30% bought jam. Even though more shoppers were initially  attracted to more variety….

. . With less choices the supermarket was able  to sell 10x the amount of jam.

This is the paradox of choice. For most people  a large selection of any given product is seen as a net positive. But once the number  of choices increases past a threshold, our subjective state becomes negative and  leads to inner paralysis and decision fatigue.

The paradox of choice can also be found  in modern day dating. In the past, you would marry people you met locally.  Nowadays we have too many choices, and you may think that all that variety would  make it easier to find the perfect partner, but more optimal decisions can be made when  given a smaller amount of options to choose from.

When faced with a small number of options,  people can easily weigh the pros and cons of each and be fairly satisfied  with whichever option they chose. When faced with a large number of options, knowing  which option is best becomes more difficult, the more options there are, the more  chances there are of feeling regret. With More options , the more you feel  the need to compare.

The attractive features of the alternatives, diminish  the satisfaction in your final choice. Even if we have made an excellent  decision, the opportunity costs of the other options subtract from the  overall satisfaction of our choice. Too many choices also often leads to people not making any choice and giving  up on the endeavor altogether.

Be sure to check out the full length  series here on YouTube where we go through the most common mind  traps, thinking errors, biases, effects and other phenomena that have the biggest  impact on your thinking and decision making.