BEHAVIOR

The Paradox Of Choice

An overabundance of options in modern life has led to increased unhappiness

Image comp by author.

There was a time, when if you wanted a phone, you had one choice, and it came from one company. There was one model, it came in black, was installed by the company who rented it to you and never broke. Everyone who had one was thrilled. You either had one, or you did not. That was the extent of your choices.

Now your phone fits in your pocket, contains nearly the exhaustive knowledge of mankind, and has the ability to do everything from securing your house from intruders to ordering groceries. It can do almost anything imaginable and yet you probably don’t even really like the one you have, which is better than any other phone you’ve ever had, because it’s not as good as you think it should be.

According to studies of human behavior, if you really want to make your customers happier, offer them less.

That’s the conclusion that many leading psychologists have come to, despite the explosion of options offered to us over the past few decades. That as a society, we have become overwhelmed by choices, inundated with options. Call it the Amazonian nature of commerce, where the number of choices is seemingly endless. We are paralyzed by options.