"The Paradox of Choice" - Our Choices (Entry I)

Barry Schwartz in his Ted Talks presentation highlighted the “official dogma of all Western industrial societies,” which is to maximize the welfare of citizens by maximizing individual freedom. Accordingly, he stated that the widely embraced way “to maximize freedom is to maximize choice—the more choices people have, the more freedom they have; [and] the more freedom they have, the more welfare they have.” Having first listened to him in ToK class a couple months ago, I have increasingly begun to realize the vast number of choices and decisions we face in our everyday lives.

Schwartz pointed out in the Paradox of Choice that a short walk down his supermarket’s snack section would yield 85 varieties of crackers and 285 varieties of cookies, excluding 20 different types of Goldfish. However, for the average middle-class consumer who seeks to economically maximize the utility of his decision, locating the "perfect" package of cookies could a time-consuming task. Further, the emotional residue of the next best alternative would linger in the consumer’s mind, especially if the type of cookie he purchased was only mediocre. Even if the cookie was entirely satisfactory, he may wonder how the other 284 varieties may have tasted, which would diminish the utility of any cookie consumption.

On an even more practical note, let’s analyze the summer ToK book selection process. Looking over the language of the assignment, there were, “in no particular order,” 16 suggested books. However, “by no means [were students] restricted to this list” as they were “merely suggestions.” As a result, we were also open to choose from the hundreds, perhaps thousands of books that would qualify as acceptable ToK readings. From a glance at the assignment, most students would probably think it would be effortless to come up with an acceptable book. Considering this logically, however, so many readily available choices would hamper our efforts. When we went to the Amazon page to copy the link of our book selection, the website provided us the “Customers Who Viewed This Item Also Viewed” section. As motivated students, we would feel obliged, or at least tempted, to compare other possible selections and ensure that we have the "perfect" book to analyze. As a result, Amazon could constantly generate an endless number of book options for us to view.

Certainly, choices are not consequence free. While a handful of choices may enhance our satisfaction, too many choices would detract from the effectiveness of our decision. This predicament along with the difficulties of choosing will be discussed in my next entry.