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Overwhelmed By Choice
Turns out the limited human brain prefers less, not more
More is always better, right? More money, more houses, more cars, more private jets, more luxury yachts… whatever it is, our modern consumer culture suggests that more is always better. As per the lyrics of a song used in the remake of The Thomas Crown Affair (the Pierce Brosnan version), “everything is never quite enough.”
Except that more is, in fact, not better. Ask someone with three children if they’d prefer to have ten to care for, clothe, and feed. Ask someone if they’d like to have more problems, not fewer. It doesn’t take much effort to conjure up cases in which more is definitely not better: would you like more debt? More ailments to contend with? More nagging from your partner?
While it’s obvious that we don’t want more of anything that can be considered a negative, it turns out that we also don’t necessarily want more of anything that can be considered a positive. Supermarkets learned this the hard way between the 1970s and the early years of this century. When we have only four types of conserve to choose from, we’ll choose whichever one appeals to us, either because we’re familiar with the brand or because some aspect of the packaging triggers our choice. But when we’re confronted with sixty different types of conserve to choose from, each with its…
