Bullet Review:

This article offers a fascinating exploration into the reasons why making decisions can be an extremely difficult task. It delves deep into the various factors that contribute to this complexity, such as the abundance of information, the fear of consequences, and the pressure to make the "right" choice.

Moreover, it provides some valuable tips on how to reduce the regret that often follows making a "bad choice". These tips are practical and can be easily implemented in our daily lives, helping us to make more informed decisions and feel more confident about the choices we make.

However, it should be noted that there were a few comments in the article that seemed somewhat sexist. Although I can't remember the exact details as I read this over a very long period of time, I feel that it is important to mention this issue. While the overall content of the article is interesting and useful, these sexist remarks do detract from its credibility and should be addressed.

This book has several really good aspects.

However, for the most part, it is rather repetitive. The subject matter it explores is extremely interesting.

It delves into the question of why we, especially in the developed world, are becoming more depressed even though our standard of living seems to be rising day by day.

Many of the explanations provided are common sense if one stops to think about them.

For instance, having too much choice can actually be a bad thing. Social comparisons often make us feel sad.

And losing something after having it is worse than never having had it in the first place.

I did enjoy the conclusions of the book.

But I can't help but wish that it had been only 2/3rds of its actual length.

Overall, I would recommend this book for intermittent reading or for skimming through.

This way, one can still gain some valuable insights without getting bogged down by the repetitive nature of the text.

It's a book that has its merits, but could have been presented in a more concise and engaging manner.

When I was a child, I vividly remember that after my dad shaved his beard and was about to apply his cologne, he looked at all the bottles on the shelves. With his distinct Calabrian accent, he said something that translated to "abundance is like dearth". This incident made me feel as if I was delving into something truly personal.

Anyway, this book is truly a gem. Although it may not reveal anything that you're not already cognizant of, it will immerse you in the mindset of the simple concept that the book centers around: too much is not good. The author supports his points with examples that you'll easily be drawn to, as well as scientific proofs (which I absolutely adore). I don't concur with all of his viewpoints, but I think his main message is rather excellent and beneficial to bear in mind.

It earns bonus points for connecting the subject with anxiety and depression.

The only drawback is that it was written in 2004, so in a sense, it's rather outdated considering the world has changed completely. However, on the other hand, I still found it to be quite relevant.

The premise presented is truly captivating: the majority of us believe that having more choices is beneficial, yet perhaps that isn't the case.

I, for one, am an individual who adores having numerous options. Whether it's when choosing wine, automobiles, books, clothes, or practically anything else you can name, I thrive on variety.

However, that doesn't imply that I spend countless hours fretting over every decision. Typically, a choice emerges rather promptly. It doesn't necessarily mean it's "the best" one, but usually, it turns out to be quite good.

In the jargon of this book, that makes me a "satisficer" - someone who is content with "good enough".

The drawback of choice mainly pertains to "maximizers" - in other words, perfectionists. These are the people who simply must have the very best and invest an excessive amount of time, energy, and mental effort into their choices.

Now, guess which type of person endures the burden of having an overwhelming number of choices? Hmm, I wonder.

This book dedicated over 200 pages to informing me of something that I was already aware of.

It seems that while the concept is interesting, the execution of presenting it in such a lengthy manner might not have been entirely necessary.

Perhaps a more concise and engaging approach could have been taken to convey the same message.

Nevertheless, it does make one stop and think about the role of choice in our lives and whether we are truly better off with an abundance of options.

Even though this book is nearly twenty years old and the examples are out of date, it's still worth reading.

The author delves into multiple studies that unearth the drawbacks of unlimited choices. At the same time, it points out that a certain degree of choice is essential for safeguarding individual freedoms. Fundamentally, there exists a delicate balance between an excess of choices and too few or none. Then, the question becomes, how can one strike that perfect balance?

Quotes:

For the majority of our history as a species, the types of choices we had to make were rather straightforward, such as "Should I approach it or run away from it?" and "Do I eat it or does it eat me?" The concept of numerous alluring options is something unique to modern times.

Slamming a door on your hand is undeniably bad, and reciprocated love is undeniably good. However, most experiences cannot be evaluated in such absolute terms; instead, they are judged against other factors.

1. We compare it to what we hoped it would be.

2. We compare it to what we expected it to be.

3. We compare it to other experiences we had in the past.

4. We compare it to the experiences others had.

Once basic needs are met, most of what we do and what we buy is centered around deriving satisfaction.

As our circumstances improve, our standards of comparison increase. We start to suffer from the curse of discernment. Our hedonic zero point keeps rising, and our expectations and aspirations rise accordingly.

High expectations can be counterproductive. We can have a greater impact on the quality of our lives by controlling our expectations. The advantage of modest expectations is that they leave room for many experiences to be a pleasant surprise, a hedonic plus.

We all seem to be swimming in one vast pond nowadays, and this essentially universal and unrealistic high standard of comparison diminishes our satisfaction even as the actual circumstances of our lives improve.

The critical distinction lies between distraction and rumination. Happy people possess the ability to distract themselves and move on. Unhappy people get stuck ruminating and make themselves even more miserable, trapping themselves in a downward spiral fueled by social comparison.

One way to achieve this is by keeping wonderful experiences rare. No matter what you can afford, save the great wine for special occasions. This might seem like an act of self-denial, but it isn't. On the contrary, it's a means to ensure that you continue to experience pleasure. What's the point of great wine if it doesn't make you feel great?

In a world that offers unlimited choice, it's much easier to blame oneself for disappointing results compared to a world where options are limited. The more we are permitted to be the masters of our fates, the more we expect of ourselves. Unattainable expectations combined with a tendency to take intense personal responsibility for failure create a lethal combination.

To manage excessive choice, we must determine which choices in our lives truly matter and concentrate our time and energy there, while allowing other opportunities to pass by. Shorten or even eliminate deliberations about decisions that are unimportant to you.

When life isn't good, we think about how it could be better. When life is going well, we tend not to think about how it could be worse. With practice, you can learn to reflect on how much better things are than they might have been, which will, in turn, make the good things in your life seem even better. Practice gratitude.

It also pays to remember how complex life is and how infrequent it is for any single decision, in and of itself, to have the life-transforming power that we believe it has.

By deciding to follow a rule (always wear a seatbelt, never have more than 2 glasses of wine, etc.), we avoid having to make a deliberate decision repeatedly. This kind of rule-following frees up our time and attention, which can then be dedicated to thinking about choices and decisions to which rules don't apply.

In America, we have an abundance of options for breakfast cereals but a scarcity of options for president.

When people find themselves in a situation where there are no choices, life can indeed be extremely hard. Choice, on the other hand, brings with it a sense of dignity, autonomy, control, and even a certain measure of happiness. However, in our current culture, the number of choices available to us has multiplied exponentially. To the extent that the very freedom to choose has become oppressive. We end up spending an inordinate amount of time and energy on making decisions, only to be frequently disappointed by the outcomes. We are constantly engaged in comparing ourselves and our possessions to those of others, and are conditioned by the media to never be content with who we are or what we have.

The most valuable aspect of this book is the section that offers practical solutions to the problem of "over choice". The ideas presented can actually help re-train people to stop squandering so much time on decisions that ultimately don't matter, and instead learn to be happy with the decisions we have already made. Surprisingly, rules and limitations can have a positive impact!

In my opinion, all people are always making decisions and choices in their lives. For example, right now as I am writing this, I have made a choice to do this and not be engaged in doing another task elsewhere. Or if someone reads this writing at a certain time, they have chosen to read this at that moment. Now, perhaps the examples I gave are not important things and may not have a special impact on our lives. But for every choice we make, what do we lose? What do we gain? What is the criterion for a choice to be right or wrong? Are we among those people who are always looking for the best option and what do we give up in return for that? Schwartz has answers and theories for all these questions and many other questions, which are interesting in my opinion. Of course, he also presents a series of solutions for improving our decision-making.

Actually, I started with the original text of this book, but then I realized that Mohammad Reza Shabanali had translated it, but in an audio form. The listening, like his other works, was excellent. But just as he himself says at the beginning of the discussion, this file is a bit abridged, but overall there is nothing special that undermines the main subject. In any case, both reading the original text and listening to the translated file is a pleasant and educational experience.

TLDR: The key to being a satisficer lies in several aspects. Firstly, choose when to choose, being strategic about the decisions that truly matter. Secondly, be a Chooser rather than a picker, approaching decisions with intention and purpose. Thirdly, satisficing more and maximizing less allows for a more fulfilling and less stressful life. Fourthly, think about the opportunity costs of opportunity costs, considering the ripple effects of our choices. Fifthly, make your decision non-reversible to avoid second-guessing and regret. Sixthly, practice an “Attitude of Gratitude” to appreciate what we have and the choices we make. Seventhly, regret less by focusing on the present and learning from past experiences. Eighthly, anticipate adaptation, understanding that circumstances may change and being prepared to adjust. Ninthly, control expectations to avoid disappointment and find contentment. Tenthly, curtail social comparison to avoid the pitfalls of envy and insecurity. Finally, learn to love constraints, seeing them as opportunities for growth and creativity.

The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz is truly a fabulous classic. It delves into the fascinating concept of the Maximizer vs Satisfizer. This book is not only one of the classics of psychology but also accessible, entertaining, and a highly rewarding read.

I almost missed out on this gem. I started reading it quite some time ago, perhaps a year ago, but was initially disappointed by the beginning. However, the first chapter and its impact on me actually confirm one of the important points in the Paradox of Choice.

When we are bombarded with an overwhelming number of choices, we don't end up happier. On the contrary, it can lead to fatigue and frustration. This is exactly what I experienced when I began reading this work. The author's description of the choices we face, like when buying jeans with a multitude of options such as pre-washed, with cuts, various colors, sizes, and shapes, made me feel tired.

Faced with an infinity of choices, we tend to get tired and frustrated. The author offers valuable advice. When choosing between different calling plans, insurance offers, or other propositions, we should consider that we are better off without considering all possible options in the world. We should be satisficers, not maximizers. This means we need to stop looking for the perfect solution because it doesn't exist. Instead, we should be satisfied with what is good enough and stop chasing after elusive goals that will only exhaust and disappoint us.

The author also refers to the research of great psychologists like Martin Seligman and Sonja Lyubomirsky. They have found that when we compare ourselves to others who have done better, we tend to be unhappy with our achievements. And when we compare to those who have done worse, we may feel better, but not necessarily. In fact, Sonja Lyubomirsky has established in her book The How of Happiness that one of the rules is not to compare ourselves to others. Social comparison is destructive, and we should focus on what makes us happy and learn that more is not always better.

There are many other interesting issues in this book that cannot be detailed here. The best choice for you is to read it yourself. In the end, we should focus on what makes us happy and understand that sometimes, less is more, just like Mies van der Rohe said.

The book discusses the correlation between making choices in a plethora of options and the increasingly complex social situation in modern times. It explores why making decisions has become a difficult task and the consequences of facing an excessive number of choices.

From this, it elaborates on the negative impacts of numerous choices on the mental state of people in modern society, such as high suicide rates, anxiety, unhappiness, and so on.

In today's era of freedom, people are bombarded with an overwhelming number of choices, which often leads to confusion and stress. The constant need to make decisions can take a toll on our mental health and well-being.

Understanding the relationship between choice and mental state is crucial for individuals to navigate through the complex modern world and maintain a healthy and fulfilling life.

This is an excellent book that provides valuable guidance for making the right choices when it comes to stuffs and decisions in life.

It offers practical advice and strategies that can help you navigate through the various options and opportunities that come your way.

The book covers a wide range of topics, including how to evaluate your needs and wants, how to research and compare different products and services, and how to make informed decisions based on your values and priorities.

Whether you are looking to buy a new car, choose a career path, or make a major life decision, this book can be a useful resource.

It will help you to avoid common mistakes and pitfalls, and to make choices that are in line with your goals and aspirations.

Overall, this is a highly recommended book for anyone who wants to make better choices and decisions in life.

I truly adored this book. It has proven to be of utmost utility in shaping my mindset and enhancing my overall well-being. Seriously, it has the potential to bring about a life-altering transformation. At certain moments, it was incredibly convicting. I definitely fit into the "maximizer" stereotype, freaking out over every tiny choice and getting drowned in the daily minutiae. On other occasions, the author presented some very valid points that I already subscribed to, and I found myself thinking, "You tell 'em!" Anyway, I firmly believe that the issue of having an abundance of choices is something that is often overlooked in today's society, and most people are simply unaware of its implications. I would unhesitatingly recommend this book to every single individual I know.

The highlights, according to me, are as follows.

As a society, we are infatuated with freedom, self-determination, and variety, and we are reluctant to part with any of our options. However, tenaciously clinging to all the available choices leads to poor decisions, anxiety, stress, dissatisfaction, and even clinical depression.

Comparison shopping to obtain the best price adds yet another dimension to the plethora of choices. If one were a truly meticulous shopper, one could spend a significant portion of a day just to select a box of crackers, fretting over aspects such as price, flavor, freshness, fat content, sodium levels, and calories.

In the modern university, each student has the freedom to pursue almost any interest, without being restricted by what their intellectual predecessors deemed worthy of knowledge. Nevertheless, this freedom comes at a cost. Now, students are required to make decisions about their education that could impact them for the rest of their lives. And they are compelled to make these choices at a stage in their intellectual development when they may lack the necessary resources to make them intelligently.

Filtering out extraneous information is one of the fundamental functions of consciousness. If everything accessible to our senses demanded our attention at all times, we would be unable to get through the day.

Much of human progress has entailed reducing the time, energy, and the number of processes we have to engage in and think about to obtain the necessities of life. As cultures advanced, not every individual had to focus all their energy every day on filling their stomach. Millennia later, manufacturers and merchants made life even simpler. Individuals could simply purchase food, clothing, and household items, often at the same general store until very recently. The variety of offerings was limited, but the time spent procuring them was also minimal. However, in the past few decades, this long process of simplifying and bundling economic offerings has been reversed. Increasingly, the trend is moving back towards time-consuming foraging behavior, as each of us is forced to sift through an ever-growing number of options in almost every aspect of life.

The burden of having every activity be a matter of deliberate and conscious choice would be overwhelming for any of us. The transformation of choice in modern life is that choice in many aspects of life has shifted from being implicit and often psychologically unreal to being explicit and psychologically very real. Consequently, we now face a demand to make choices that is unprecedented in human history.

How we assess risk provides another illustration of how our judgments can be distorted by availability. In one study, researchers asked respondents to estimate the number of deaths per year resulting from various diseases, car accidents, natural disasters, electrocutions, and homicides - forty different types of misfortunes in total. The researchers then compared people's answers to the actual death rates, with remarkable results. In general, dramatic, vivid causes of death (such as accidents, homicides, tornadoes, floods, and fires) were overestimated, while more mundane causes of death (like diabetes, asthma, stroke, and tuberculosis) were underestimated. People mistook the prevalence of newspaper stories about homicides, accidents, or fires - which are vivid, salient, and easily retrievable from memory - as an indication of the frequency of these events. This distortion causes us to miscalculate the various risks we encounter in life, thereby contributing to some very poor choices.

As telecommunications becomes increasingly global, each of us, regardless of our location, may end up relying on the same secondhand information. National news sources like CNN or USA Today convey the same story to everyone in the country, and now even the world, making it less likely that an individual's biased understanding of the evidence will be corrected by their friends and neighbors. Those friends and neighbors will have the same biased understanding, derived from the same source. When you hear the same story everywhere you look and listen, you assume it must be true. And the more people believe it's true, the more likely they are to repeat it, and thus the more likely you are to hear it. This is how inaccurate information can create a bandwagon effect, rapidly leading to a broad, yet incorrect, consensus.

How do you decide how much to spend on a suit? One way is to compare the price of one suit to another, which means using the other items as anchors or standards. In a store that displays suits costing over $1,500, an $800 pinstripe suit may seem like a great deal. However, in a store where most of the suits cost less than $500, that same $800 suit might appear to be an extravagance. Anchoring is why department stores seem to have some of their merchandise on sale most of the time, to give the impression that customers are getting a bargain.

The alternative to maximizing is to be a satisficer. To satisfice is to settle for something that is good enough and not worry about the possibility that there might be something better. A satisficer has criteria and standards. She searches until she finds an item that meets those standards, and then she stops.

What appears to be the most crucial factor in providing happiness is close social relations. People who are married, have good friends, and are close to their families are happier than those who are not. People who participate in religious communities are also happier than those who do not. Being connected to others seems to be far more important to subjective well-being than being wealthy. However, a word of caution is necessary. We know for certain that there is a relationship between being able to connect socially and being happy. It is less clear, though, which is the cause and which is the effect. Miserable people are surely less likely than happy people to have close friends, a devoted family, and an enduring marriage. So it is at least possible that happiness comes first and close relations follow. What seems likely to me is that the causality operates in both directions: happy people attract others to them, and being with others makes people happy.

In the context of this discussion on choice and autonomy, it is also significant to note that, in many ways, social ties actually reduce freedom, choice, and autonomy. Marriage, for example, is a commitment to a particular other person that restricts the freedom of choice of sexual and even emotional partners. And a serious friendship exerts a lasting influence on you. To be someone's friend is to assume substantial responsibilities and obligations that may, at times, limit your own freedom. The same is obviously true of family. And to a large extent, it is also true of involvement with religious institutions. Most religious institutions require their members to live their lives in a certain way and to take responsibility for the well-being of their fellow congregants. So, counterintuitive as it may seem, what appears to contribute most to happiness binds us rather than liberates us. How can this concept be reconciled with the popular belief that freedom of choice leads to fulfillment? As Lane put it very simply, "There are too many life choices... without concern for the resulting overload... and the lack of constraint by custom... that is, demands to discover or create an identity rather than to accept a given identity." In other words, our social fabric is no longer an inherent right but has become a series of deliberate and demanding choices.

Most people find it extremely difficult to balance the conflicting impulses of freedom of choice on one hand and loyalty and commitment on the other. Each person is expected to figure out this balance individually. Those who value freedom of choice and movement will tend to avoid entangling relationships; those who value stability and loyalty will seek them. Many will拼凑 together some combination of these two modes of social engagement. However, if unrestricted freedom can hinder the individual's pursuit of what he or she values most, then it may be that some restrictions are beneficial for everyone.

As our material and social circumstances improve, our standards of comparison rise. As we come into contact with high-quality items, we begin to suffer from "the curse of discernment." Lower-quality items that were once perfectly acceptable are no longer sufficient. The hedonic zero point keeps increasing, and expectations and aspirations rise accordingly. If your hedonic assessment is based on the relationship between the objective quality of an experience and your expectations, then the improvement in the quality of experience is met with rising expectations, and you're simply running in place. As long as expectations keep pace with realizations, people may live better, but they won't feel better about their lives.

We all seem to be swimming in one enormous pond nowadays, and anyone's life could potentially be ours. The essentially universal and unrealistically high standard of comparison diminishes the satisfaction of those of us who are in the middle or below, even as the actual circumstances of our lives improve.

The moods of happy people improved when they received positive feedback and worsened when they received negative feedback, but whether they heard or didn't hear the feedback given to their partner made no difference. Unhappy people, on the other hand, were significantly affected by the feedback their partner received. If a participant received positive feedback, but her partner received better feedback, the participant's mood worsened. In a follow-up to this study, Lyubomirsky attempted to determine which factors about happy and unhappy people cause them to respond so differently to the same situation. What she discovered was that when happy and unhappy people were induced to distract themselves by thinking about something else after receiving negative feedback about their performance on a task, the difference between them in their reaction to the news disappeared: both groups responded like happy people. And if happy and unhappy people were induced, after receiving negative feedback, to think about it, the difference between them again vanished: this time, both groups responded like unhappy people. The inference here is that distraction versus rumination is the crucial distinction. Happy people have the ability to distract themselves and move on, while unhappy people get stuck ruminating and make themselves increasingly miserable. We can't say for sure in this research what is the cause and what is the effect. Do unhappy people ruminate more than happy ones about social comparison, or does ruminating more about social comparison make someone unhappy? My suspicion is that both are true - that the tendency to ruminate traps unhappy people in a downward psychological spiral that is exacerbated by social comparison. Certainly, it is safe to say that, based on the available research, social comparison does nothing to enhance one's satisfaction with the choices one makes.

The distortions inherent in the desire for control, autonomy, and perfection are nowhere more evident than in the American fixation on appearance. The evidence is rather compelling that most of us can do little in the long term about our body shape and weight. The combination of genes and early experience plays a major role in determining what we look like as adults, and virtually all diets tend to produce only short-term changes. These facts about body weight are directly contradicted by what the culture tells us every day. The media and peer pressure convey the message that obesity is a matter of choice, personal control, and personal responsibility, that we should strive to look perfect, and that if we don't, we have only ourselves to blame. According to the culture, if we had sufficient discipline and self-control, we could combine sensible eating habits and exercise regimens and all look like movie stars. The fact that in a typical year Americans purchase more than 50 million diet books and spend more than $50 billion on dieting suggests that most Americans accept the view that what they look like is within their control. The illusion that each person can have the body they desire is particularly painful for women, especially in societies like ours, where the "ideal" body is extremely thin.

When making a decision, it is usually advisable to consider the alternatives we will forego when choosing our most preferred option. Ignoring these "opportunity costs" can lead us to overestimate the desirability of the best option. On the other hand, the more we think about opportunity costs, the less satisfaction we will derive from whatever we choose. Therefore, we should make an effort to limit how much we think about the attractive features of the options we reject.

I believe the power of nonreversible decisions becomes most evident when we think about our most significant choices. A friend once told me how his minister had shocked the congregation with a sermon on marriage in which he stated flatly that, yes, the grass is always greener. What he meant was that, inevitably, you will encounter people who are younger, better looking, funnier, smarter, or seemingly more understanding and empathetic than your wife or husband. However, finding a life partner is not a matter of comparison shopping and "trading up." The only way to find happiness and stability in the face of seemingly attractive and tempting options is to say, "I'm simply not going there. I've made my decision about a life partner, so this person's empathy or that person's looks really have nothing to do with me. I'm not in the market - end of story." Agonizing over whether your love is "the real thing" or your sexual relationship is above or below par, and wondering whether you could have done better is a recipe for misery. Knowing that you've made a choice that you will not reverse allows you to channel your energy into improving the relationship you have rather than constantly second-guessing it.

As the number of choices we face multiplies, freedom of choice eventually turns into a tyranny of choice. Routine decisions consume so much time and attention that it becomes challenging to get through the day. In such circumstances, we should learn to view limitations on the possibilities we encounter as liberating rather than constraining. Society provides rules, standards, and norms for making choices, and individual experience forms habits. By deciding to follow a rule, we avoid having to make a deliberate decision repeatedly. This type of rule-following frees up time and attention that can be dedicated to thinking about choices and decisions to which rules do not apply.

Despite our romanticized images of suffering geniuses who have enriched our civilization, creative by day and tormented by night, there is a growing body of evidence suggesting that people think more creatively and expansively when they are happy than when they are not. Unexpectedly giving medical residents a small bag of candy before they engage in a difficult differential diagnosis task improves both the speed and the accuracy of their diagnoses. Happy people are more energetic and physically healthier than those who are not. And happiness adds approximately nine years to life expectancy. So even if you don't consider happiness to be such a significant thing in itself, it appears to serve a useful instrumental function. Happy people are more likely than unhappy ones to make positive changes in the world.

Perhaps most importantly, if you limit the number of choices you make and the number of options you consider, you will have more time available for what truly matters compared to those who are burdened by one decision after another, constantly in search of the best. You could utilize that time wisely by getting to know more deeply your lovers, your children, your parents, your friends, your patients, your clients, your students. The real challenge in life lies in doing the right thing in social interactions. It is about knowing how to balance honesty with kindness, courage with caution, encouragement with criticism, empathy with detachment, paternalism with respect for autonomy. We have to figure out this balance on a case-by-case, person-by-person basis. And the only way to do so is by getting to know the other people you are most closely connected to - by taking the time to listen to them, to envision life through their eyes, and to allow yourself to be changed - even transformed - by them. In a hurried world that forces you to make decision after decision, each involving an almost unlimited number of options, it is difficult to find the time. You may not always be consciously aware of this, but your effort to obtain the best car will interfere with your ability to be a good friend. Your pursuit of the best job will encroach upon your duty to be the best parent. And so, if the time you save by following some of my suggestions is redirected towards improving your relationships with the other people in your life, you will not only make your life happier but also enhance theirs. It's what economists refer to as "Pareto efficient," a change that benefits everyone.