TED
4 HN recommenders · recommended in 5 months, 2010–2022
20:23 · 7M views · Jan 16, 2007
Psychologist Barry Schwartz argues in this TED talk that abundant choice makes people more paralyzed and dissatisfied rather than freer and happier.
HN recommends it as the standard talk on how too many options lead to paralysis and second-guessing.
5 comments from Hacker News
> " What can be more important than life partner? " My favourite TED talk pairing is Dan Gilbert's Surprising Science of Happiness[1], where he offers evidence upon evidence that we humans grow to like what we are stuck with and can't change. A year after winning the lottery and a year after losing the use of their legs, lottery winners and paraplegics report being equally happy with their lives, one of his studies shows, for example. And Barry Schwartz's Paradox of Choice talk[2] where he argues that the more choice we have, the less happy we will be after we made the choice, full of doubt whether we could or should have chosen better, questioning if we should choose again, and seeing any flaw in the choice as a reason to blame ourselves for choosing it. In the USA there's over two million marriages every year[3], that seems a lot for people making the most important decision of their lives, to me. > " I think that what people are actually implying when they say “picky” is that I’m materialistic , that I’m looking for a rich guy, for a hot guy, etcetera. " (I think that's different from common usage; a 'picky eater' is not someone looking for rich food or hot food, it's someone with a narrowband filter on what foods they will eat. By contrast, there's a joke about the shopkeeper who gets a bag of potatoes, splits them into two different containers, and marks one container "selected potatoes" with a higher price. 'Selective' means you selected, even people whose criteria is '
This article reminds me of a TED talk I liked by Barry Schwartz on "The Paradox of Choice." this video The speaker argues that that freedom and choice are held as unassailable virtues by Western cultures, but in fact research shows that too much choice leads to unhappiness. If you think of mind wandering as perhaps a product of too much choice for the mind, the two ideas are complementary.
The first bullet point you wrote about the 50 kinds of toothpaste becoming debilitating is a good example of the "Paradox of Choice". A good TED talk is given [0], or a shorter animated one: [1]. Essentially, too many options leads to paralysis and second-guessing yourself. Good videos if you have the time to watch them. [0] this video [1] [LINK]
Have you heard of Barry Schwartz: The paradox of choice? He affirms what you are saying: this video He has other interesting theses as well. google him.
Just want to say that this looks pretty cool. Reminds me of Barry Schwartz' "The Paradox of Choice" ( this video )