Now listen to a lecture on this topic in a psychology class.
Okay, here's an example. Last week I went shopping for a pair of jeans. I hadn't bought jeans in years. And boy was I in for a surprise. You see, all I wanted was regular jeans. But when I told this to the salesperson, he looked at me as though I were from Mars. He explained, I could choose between five different styles, straight or baggy, and I don't know what else and a dozen colors. And on top of that, did I want buttons or zipper? Now, it used to be there were only a couple of jeans types, and it was easy for me to decide what I wanted. Now, with all these different possibilities, shopping was hard. I went back and forth. This pair was really comfortable. But this other one was the most fashionable. And there were at least four different colors that looked really good. Finally, I did settle on one, but what used to take five minutes had turned into a 2-hour project. Before the choice was basically dark blue or light blue, period. Maybe the fit wasn't perfect, but deciding was easy. But now, now I had a complex and time consuming problem on my hands. Plus, all the back and forth actually gave me a headache. Was I making the right decision? How could I be sure? Sure, it was only a pair of jeans, but I left the store anxious rather than satisfied with my purchase.
Explain what is meant by "the paradox of choice",using the example mentioned by the professor.
Paradox of choice means that as the number of options available to people increases, the effort required to make a good decision increases as well. The professor in the lecture uses an example of himself to explain this. Last week, he went out shopping for a new pair of jeans. He had it in mind to buy some regular jeans, but the salesperson gave him a lot of options. There were different styles or colors he could choose from. Shopping used to be easy for him, but now he found it really hard. After going back and forth, having a lot of thoughts in mind, he finally settled on one. But he came to realized that it took a lot longer for him to make the decision. And he left the store anxious and unsatisfied because he couldn’t help thinking whether he had made the perfect decision.
