After all, how would it be possible having more choice doesn’t mean more freedom?Īs implied above, more choice is better than no choice at all. You may think that this is quite counterintuitive.
#Barry schwartz bio free#
That is why you bought that bottle of Coca-Cola almost two hours after going inside the supermarket to buy some new, exotic drink! You were free to buy anything you wanted, but you bought the thing that you buy every time you want to refresh yourself. In short: “many options” equals to “a lot of thinking” equals to “no action.” Analysis paralysis means that, by facing an abundance of choices, you’re locked in a state of overthinking, which might lead to a situation where you can’t make your choice at all. It rhymes, but let’s face it – no phrase that includes the word “paralysis” in it is a positive one. In other words, more alternatives do mean more freedom, until it evolves into a state of overchoice, when it leads to confusion, anxiety, and stress. Now, what if we told you that it is for your own good? That’s the starting point of “The Paradox of Choice.” Throughout the book, Schwartz suggests that we are wrong to equate choice with freedom because the equation works only to some extent. Time for a worldwide #QuitNetflix Twitter campaign, right? Imagine how you’d react if someone told you that, starting from tomorrow, you’ll be able to stream only half of the films you can today. Even though considered a social problem, you are still able to do something about it. Some people call this problem “choice overload.”Īlthough that is not precisely the technical term for it, let Schwartz tell you the one that will make you the smart guy in your office. In a nutshell, Schwartz says it is not your fault, biology and society are to blame. If you have ever gone to a supermarket to buy some new, exotic drink and ended up buying a bottle of Coca-Cola about an hour and a half later, you can already guess what this book is about.
#Barry schwartz bio how to#
Written by Barry Schwartz – an esteemed American psychologist and professor of Social Theory and Social Action at Swarthmore College – “The Paradox of Choice” tries to explain the reasons behind this problem and also tries to give a few practical pieces of advice on how to overcome it. Yet, there’s almost no person on this planet that hasn’t felt paralyzed by their own inability to choose between several proposed options. And we’ve grown accustomed to believe that having choice is equal to freedom.
0 kommentar(er)
