This happens a lot at the cat shelter I work at, funny enough. We have a few cats who are social and cannot be adopted out alone, but don't have any real preference. We found out clients just get analysis paralysis and end up losing interest. So we have started providing a list of "recommended buddies" and that's helped a lot!
I think if you couple them with similar names, they'd be even more adoptable. Coco and Chanel Cookie(s) and Cream War and Peace Honey and Butter Sweetie and Pie Mort and Mir
@@confusedwhale Our litters are themed around a central theme so the names are usually pretty recognizable. Then if us medicine people are talking about a litter we can refer to them quickly by their theme. So like, pasta, NC counties, the Mary Tyler Moore show... etc
Bit of a lifehack: Pick 6 choices you will be satisfied with, then pick out of those options your two favorites then pick one of those two OR flip a coin. If you are dissatisfied with the coin toss, pick the other one. This strategy lets me overcome choice overload and may well help you too. Picking multiple things? You can repeat this algorithm. I haven't quite figured out what to do when I have to pick say 6 out of 30 yet, so I just pick 6 I'm satisfied with and try not to think about it too much. The truth is the only time you really need to think about choice is if it really matters. Picking cereal at a supermarket doesn't matter, picking clothes matters more and picking household appliances matters even more. Think about the value you put in that item and give yourself an appropriate amount of time to think.
That's kind of what I already do, especially at ice cream shops. I feel out what my general mood is that day, then taste all the options that fit with that (about 6-10). Then, I end up choosing 2-3 that taste the best together (normally it's coffee, hazelnut/almond, and chocolate/cream). I'm a bit basic.
Picking the right cereal is actually very important. Cereals with a high sugar content are not good for you, and most likely will negatively impact your day. I love sugar, but I feel best with a cereal with very low sugar content. Crispex is one of my all-time favorites. It tastes great, has no added sugars, and has very low sugar content. It really does taste fantastic!
Likewise, if you need to decide among more than two choices and you can't narrow it down for whatever reason, roll a die. If you don't have any dice, then do a Google search for "roll a die" or "roll a d30" or whatever number of choices you have to pick from.
My strategy for dealing with this is to focus on making a "good" choice not the "best" choice. Pick something you like and just run with it. Don't spend time stressing over which is best. The longer you think about it the higher your expectations and the more you'll have to regret, so just making a quick decision is better. Of course this only works when it's not super important you get the best thing, but that's like, 99% of the choices you make anyway.
I love just flipping a coin. The odd thing about having your decision made by an impartial, outside factor (like a coin flip) is that no matter what, you'll either be excited or disappointed, and from that you know what choice you really wanted all along. It's kind of like when you ask for help with something and immediately know the answer. It wasn't until you put yourself out there that the solution presented itself. Man, the mind is a weird place sometimes.
I'm in the same boat. I somehow fell into nursing, but after a decade of it lm ready to move on to something else. There are so many options, but none of them seem overly interesting to me.
Reminds me of how i look at my steam library of games (like 1000) and i never know what to play and pick. I literally stay there and look at icons for like 15 m :P
1000!?!?! I already find it hard to choose from 24! "Do I do Amnesia, or Thief Simulator? No, wait how about Hello Neighbor! Actually, I'd rather do Goat Simulator... NAH I WANT TO DO UNIVERSE SANDBOX! But Amnesia sounds cool, but I'd rather steal stuff in Thief Simulator..."
Hahaha SAME!! And now that I have around 250 unplayed games, I’ve become a lot more difficult and I have regrets more easily! I often start thinking about the other games while I’m still in the middle of one. When I was younger and had only a few games I enjoyed them way more and was always focused on one at a time and always finishing them.
My anxiety got a lot better when I started to eliminate choices. Like going vegan leaves 1-2 meals on the menu in any given restaurant. Throwing out my clutter leaves me with three pens to chose from instead of 50. My low-wage job didn't leave many options for apartments. Giving up flying means having less of the world to chose from for vacations. I know it sound boring and overly limiting to some people, but it has been very liberating for me :)
I wonder how this problem with choice applies to choices on a larger scale than cereal and ice cream - choosing an area of study or a field in which to focus a job search, for example. What could one do to mitigate the factors that lead to dissatisfaction?
I've found that almost no matter the choice, no matter the myriad or otherwise of options, you can always have some kind of buyer's remorse. You didn't pick X, so if anything goes wrong with Y, anything at all, you'll immediately wonder if X might have been better. Even with just 2 choices this happens. One way I've found to help me in this situation is to flip a coin. When I see the result I'll either be excited I got X or I'll be disappointed I got X, where I then just go pick Y. When the choice is taken out of your hand, you immediately know which one you really wanted. It's surprisingly effective.
Lots of choices is literally my worst enemy. I have ADHD and one of the common issues with that is an inability to make quick decisions and choices. I am 100% that person who looks up the menu of a restaurant before I visit so I can decide with plenty of time, or even pop into the cafeteria at my uni when I wont be eating until after my next class, just so I have time to plan. Having lots of things to choose from is nice sometimes. I'm a picky eater (though I wish I wasn't, I blame so many foods having terrible texture) and more choice means a higher chance of something I'll enjoy. But more choice also means... having to actually make a decision.
So I guess this must be what I'm feeling when I finish a game or tv show and look to my steam library or streaming choices to decide on what to play/watch next
So, you're saying that by not proactively vetting games, and letting anyone on the platform, Steam is actively making people feel like they should be happier, but making them less happy?
Same. There’s also 1000 things to do. Books, movies, video games. And pretty cheap too. It actually gives me anxiety when I have to choose what to do in my free time.
eh, i'm actually convinced there's too little choice. i keep going back to really old games to play, there are hardly any games these days that do the things i like. (really high end grand strategy games, such as EU4/CK2/total war warhammer or good rpg's such as the witcher. another thing i'm definitely missing is more tactical games like xcom. xcom 2 was decent, but the lack of a good xcom 2: war of the chosen, the long war mod definitely harmed my enjoyment.
This is perfect. Been to the snack food aisle in a large supermarket lately? Drives me insane. Cheez-It crackers is one of the worst. Anyone remember a time where they had the Original Cheez-It, and maybe an additional flavor or two? Now you get to choose from: White Cheddar, Pepper Jack, Cheddar Jack, Four Cheese, Cheese Pizza, Hot & Spicy, Queso Fundido, Buffalo Wing. Extra Toasty. Extra Cheesy. Extra Big. Whole Wheat. Reduced Fat. Cheez-It Snap'd (three flavors). Cheez-It Grooves (four flavors). Cheez-It Duos (five flavors). Snack Mix (three flavors). Snack Packs. Family Size. Limited Editions..... It's no wonder why supermarkets are getting to be the size of football stadiums 😩
Having stocked cheez-its and other products I find it both fascinating and discouraging. 😅 Like even comparing two "brands" of crackers you very well be buying from the same company.
My trick at the cereal aisle: Just pick one I like and go. The time spent thinking about it all is itself a product and I generally like that more than the amount I like the BEST cereal more than I like the almost best cereal.
From my personal experience the problem is not "too many choices", it's "not enough information to make a confident choice". The Cereal Aisle is only problematic when you're not already set on what to buy. If you're looking for a new breakfast, you may be trying balance a number of variables (nutritional value, taste, price, novelty, etc.) and not have a clear idea of which one is the 'right' one based on your desirability criteria, leading to that hmm-ing and ha-ing until a decision is made. Conversely, there could be a thousand options, but the moment you find one you know you like, the choice gets made and you move on with your life. There's a Thai restaurant I like which has a large variety of options, and the first time I went, I took a long time to order. I didn't know what was "good here", what the portions were like, how spicy was "spicy" etc., and I had to take into account a couple of food allergies as well. A few minutes with the menu and a couple questions to the server landed me with a recommendation and the decision was made. While it was good, on later visits I found a different dish to be my favorite, and I now have a short list of things I pick from based on what I'm feeling like that day, and can recommend to friends who are undecided. The issue on my first visit wasn't that there were too many choices, it was that I initially wasn't familiar enough with the options presented to confidently choose. Once I had spent enough time with the menu, and had conferred with someone more familiar than myself, I was able to arrive at a decision I was satisfied enough with to move forward.
I work in a grocery store and I see this on a daily basis. Folks are just overwhelmed, most seem to stick same thing that they usually get. I have heard people talk it out, quite funny sometimes it becomes a "quote of the day ". Also it's a college town, so that it can involve a phone conversation with a parent or other advisor. Positive vibes from New Hampshire and remember to be kind to each other
Choice overload is exactly why I started to embrace minimalism in my mid 30s. For all the clothing obsessed out there, choice overload is also why you feel you have nothing to wear with a closet filled with clothes.
This makes me think of my favorite local Japanese restaurant. They have a small menu of just one type of dish - domburi (with a few choices between beef, chicken, pork, etc). They also have a few sides to choose from. Other common Japanese restaurants have ramen, sushi, or just other random Asian dishes and nothing out of the ordinary. This restaurant is special because it has a special home cooked flavor all cooked from scratch from a Japanese lady, and the simple menu makes it easy to enjoy the food.
This, in my opinion, is why giving a baby or toddler too much candy might make them cry, but giving them just a few makes them happy. Choice overload is overwhelming for the less emotionally developed.
I totally relate to this especially with the netflix example and my steam account, i have hundreds of games (most from bundles or 80% sales I'm not not mr. Moneybags) but anyway hundreds of games collected over the years and i have so many i can never decide what to play so i play none of them, i rarely if ever play games anymore because I have too much choice lol.
yeah I usually have one game I'm like really into for a long time that I play. but if I want to play a ds game, I have so many I've collected over the years I end up not playing any.
I love having lots of choices, especially with food (cereal). I'll just try everything that looks great. Limited choices will just lead to buying the same thing over and over again, and trying something new can be good.
Life pro tip: have the mentality of automatically assigning a default choice. For example, when deciding on a movie on Neflix see that if you don't make a choice within 2 minutes, you'll just go with the first (the default) pick. Same with what to eat tonight. if you don't feel like having anything automatically select the top shelf on the right item. This really helped me out.
One issue of choice overload that was not discussed is that we often have no idea what it is we want and choice overload just makes that worse. This can lead to a fourth consequence of choice overload, making no choice at all and just walking away. This first happened to me when I was in the library trying to choose a book to read. There I was in my forties and having the first ever panic attack in my life and having to run out of the library because there were too many choices. After that, I would start having panic attacks in the market. I think the issue here is having to make a choice with inadequate information as to what will be best for your purposes. Whether it's what will best satisfy your appetite or what will best take care of your skin. Advertising no longer gives us reliable information and we have no basis on which to make a choice. Faced with this I often walk away from the choice entirely. Ironically producers have exactly the same problem. Considered Nabisco making Cheez-Its as that example has been made in the comments. They must get Tens of thousands of suggestions of what flavor to make and how did they choose from this Choice overload? This is especially an issue for them as they want to make a profit on whatever it is they choose to make and they have no way to choose.
Dad: I once had a interesting conversation with a Russian, I like the guy, but he straight up told me "there's too many choices in this country". Me: He has a point, choices complicate human brain processes. If you narrow your options down, it becomes easier to make a selection. Dad: *very confused look* where did you get that from? Me: The book on game development that you bought me for Christmas. I think the basis for this particular phenomenon is the fear of buyers remorse. That fear of making a wrong choice. In the case of icecream, all icecream is good icecream, and you ought to know whether a particular flavor is already a plus or minus to you (whether or not you generally like strawberry for example).
It might have been helpful to mention a strategy called satisficing. This is a process whereby one compares options to what is desired and then picks the first option that meets the criteria.
my choice regarding any kind of brand or grocery in a store: whats the cheapest while also having the most grams/ounces? buy that, whatever the most affordable and dense option is it all tastes the same anyways, typically
Having to choose between more than say 5 options, unless I already have a bias towards one, is really stressful to me - I just get frustrated, go around in mental circles trying to weight up the pros and cons of each and more often than not go away with nothing. Now I deliberately don't look at all the choice, if something catches my eye and looks good enough I'll go for that. Makes things a lot easier. Or I decide what I want before I get there.
My trick when the choice is important is to make a "tournament". I pick just two out of the large number of choices, then I can clearly decide.. pick another two and continue until you find the winner.
This only measures the seen and ignores the unseen. While more choice may not appear to "make people happier" those choices absolutely impact future products or product quality. The unseen result of more choice (competition) is more satisfactory options over time. The UNSEEN is always more important in the long run.
First, don't mess with KDE Plasma and all of the options there. Love how KDE has so many options (legit in both the sense of options, and in the sense of Looks and Feels, Themes, Window Styles, Window Decorations, etc) and once I found a DE style I like, I just keep it. Also, if you have to choose between multiple things, pick what you liked the most. If they don't have it pick your second most or don't get anything. I use a bit of a hierarchy to decide what to get/watch. Also, some things like food is less important than getting a new fridge or AC unit, or even a house. The more value it has the more of an energy weight you should put on it.
The average mall supermarket in the US is at least twice the size of the same thing here in the UK. I've often found myself overwhelmed when visiting in a way I don't here. I suspect people with even less choice would experience the same thing in the UK. It very much depends on what you're used to.
I completely understand the Netflix example. There is so much I haven't watched but the Office and Friends, I watched a couple times through in spite of the huge list.
Consumerism has an issue when you are outside the normal expectations. Sure there is choice, but its for other people who fit within the more marketable groups. My best example is me looking for shoes, I ask for size 14, either they bring me a small selection as that is all they have, or I go elsewhere because they don't even stock any big enough. Too often I go somewhere else.
I have a lot of serious sensitivities and allergies to foods, so the abundance of choice for me makes sure that I can find at least one thing I can eat. Despite all the choice, sometimes I can’t find anything, though.
One of the things that worries me about this research is that the experimentation is so often tied in with commercial products, which means (A) we are measuring people's decision to purchase a product and giving it undue weight, as though not purchasing something wasn't also making a choice, and (B) we aren't looking at long-term consequences of making the choice - we're basically only assuming the choice matters until the product is consumed. For example, if people are less satisfied with a choice because they're comparing it against their other options, what happens if over time they have the freedom to explore their other options?
When I became a lacto-ovo-vegetarian I got way less choices, which is very satisfying. When there are completely vegetarian (“vegan”) options, and they’re something I can eat, I choose them over the lacto-ovo-vegetarian options. Way easier than having to pick out of dozens of options.
I already knew about this effect and I kind of want to implement it in the household tea box... Hand visitors 15 different bags of tea and they will most likely take one of the safest regular options. Leaving you with the other 12 bags which you honestly also don't really like
I don't know. Something about the graphics, the specific words used, the host. It's almost as if they did an episode of this in the past that somehow got copyright claimed and blocked, and this is a revised version.
Yup. I play Pathfinder, which is like Dungeons and Dragons, but MUCH more character options. Every time my players draw up a new character, I like to give them my “recommended builds” to help narrow down what they will choose
I went to an ice cream (actually something with a long, unrememberable name that the guy said was different because it was made with cream rather than custody and stressed was better because it didn't have extra unnatural, unnessercery ingredients, and because it was fresh, but none of that is really the point) place that had a lot of choice (maybe about 8 flavours, seemed like a lot) and it seemed overwhelming to start with, but then I sampled 3, and eventually went with coffee, which my instinct had originally been, and felt satisfied that it was the one I liked most and was MY choice, out of many options, and felt far more satisfied with it after trying the others and knowing it was my favorite; after making an informed choice, and was happy to have had the choice, and felt very satisfied with the choice I had made (that is, of coffee, I was still not sure a cold treat was the way to go on a cold night, and it did make me feel more cold), and I wanted to go back sometime, albeit sometime warmer, and was confident that when I did I would probably get coffee again.
I wonder if any studies have been done on when you get to pick multiple options. Does disappointment in one of the choices sully the level of satisfaction with the other choices? Might it bizzarely make it harder to pick?
Not sure if I am the only one stating this so I apologize if someone else has already stated this. In the jam issue, she stated that with the larger display it drew more customers but only a third of customers bought jam. What she didn't state is since the total number of customers at the display was larger is 1/3 a greater number of customers than the smaller group. Did she even know the total number of customers that bought jam in each instance?
I feel like the choice overload is due to a lack in ability to effectively compare so many options. If the information was broken up or organized into learning aids such as graphs or group listings then the amount of choices one could be given, before they felt overloaded, could possibly go up.
Weird, I can see that being true for some things, but as far as things such as Netflix, I find that I enjoyed the physical disc version much more because the selection was much much larger and I could take time to really browse through the titles where as streaming Netflix has far fewer options and is a constant frustration. Same with gigantic books stores. Maybe it's stuff I know I can come back to and the quality of the options avalible.
The jam study, how many total people bought jam in both scenarios? Just knowing the percent of purchases doesnt tell me which was more effective at making more sales.
I prefer to have more choices and then select several items of interest, and then whittle it down until I find the item I want. Though it does mean doing more work of course, but I'd prefer the choice be there than not be there.
The reason why picking one of 30 is not satisfying is that with more options you want to try more. So had they told me to choose 4 or 5 out of 30 I'd probably be happy again. But just one? No way. I noticed this at a diner that has really tasty snacks like slices of bread with avocado and cress or with salmon or cooked vegetables and other more refined stuff. I had lots of trouble deciding because all snacks looked so great. While eating I always thought that I could've chosen something different instead. But every time I go there (been there three times so far) I try something different, so at some point I won't be disappointed anymore because I've already tried everything. I don't think that too much option is bad, but I'll need more time trying everything. To help you limit your choices, simply have criteria. Like "I won’t buy cereals with more than 20gram per 100gram sugar in it". This will limit your choices while allowing you to make more conscious choices at the same time.
This only applies if they only get the chance to try once. It’s very satisfying to find your favorite out of a larger group, but you’re less satisfied after the first try because you feel like it is possible you could have done better.
Ive found myself even with a very small number of choices but of significant importance or expense, ive said to myself "wow, if one of these just sold already my choice would be much easier"
i think it's more or less cultural, in my country we have insane amount of options in supermarkets , i remember was in other countries i seen this "4-7 option limit" and it was stupid i go in shop to buy what i like and i seeking it, if i can not get what i like i won't buy at all , and go in other shop
But if I don't have more choice I won't be able to get some of the products I like! It makes sense how it is bad to have to much choice if you aren't exposed to all the choices too often or don't try out new products, but I do. I have a local grocery store that is huge, it's called Woodman's. I've found a few chip brands I really like there that aren't sold anywhere else I've seen, it has several flavors of cereal I can't find elsewhere, it has yogurt I like that isn't sold everywhere, there is a nice cheap Dutch cocoa I can't find elsewhere. There is also several ethnic food aisles which caters to different tastes that most traditional grocery stores don't have. Sure I've been overwhelmed with choice, but if I look at the price per ounce of goods and decide to try different products in a category, sometimes I find products I love that I can't buy anywhere else.
1:47 Why didn't the researchers conclude that as an absolute bare minimum next step they needed, for instance, to run another experiment with on a larger population, before coming to any conclusions?
So does this apply to dating apps? I know people who are always hooking up or dating but are so put off and dissatisfied vs people who don’t go on the apps who I’ve noticed, tend to be happier with what they have. Whatever the case, this is interesting!
Does that apply to choosing a romantic partner? Since we can literally pick people from a huge list on an app nowadays, are we overall less satisfied with boyfriends/girlfriends compared with other generations?
If choise is not necesseraly eaqual to satisfaction. But the illusion of it is. Does that mean that we as humans like following the lead of some one else?
Distro hoppers know it very well, there's too many Linux distributions out there and you got choose the one you prefer or fits your needs. It's not a bad thing, but can become a problem to some people
This is how I feel when it comes to choosing a career...how do people just decide what they like? What if I settle for an easy career and miss out on a fun and exciting one? Errr choices
This happens a lot at the cat shelter I work at, funny enough. We have a few cats who are social and cannot be adopted out alone, but don't have any real preference. We found out clients just get analysis paralysis and end up losing interest. So we have started providing a list of "recommended buddies" and that's helped a lot!
I think if you couple them with similar names, they'd be even more adoptable.
Coco and Chanel
Cookie(s) and Cream
War and Peace
Honey and Butter
Sweetie and Pie
Mort and Mir
@@confusedwhale Our litters are themed around a central theme so the names are usually pretty recognizable. Then if us medicine people are talking about a litter we can refer to them quickly by their theme. So like, pasta, NC counties, the Mary Tyler Moore show... etc
@@confusedwhale That explains my submission to the adoption society; they named my cats Lloyd and Floyd. I've been wondering.
@@confusedwhale jesus coco and chanel how old are you?
Bit of a lifehack: Pick 6 choices you will be satisfied with, then pick out of those options your two favorites then pick one of those two OR flip a coin. If you are dissatisfied with the coin toss, pick the other one. This strategy lets me overcome choice overload and may well help you too.
Picking multiple things? You can repeat this algorithm. I haven't quite figured out what to do when I have to pick say 6 out of 30 yet, so I just pick 6 I'm satisfied with and try not to think about it too much.
The truth is the only time you really need to think about choice is if it really matters. Picking cereal at a supermarket doesn't matter, picking clothes matters more and picking household appliances matters even more. Think about the value you put in that item and give yourself an appropriate amount of time to think.
That's kind of what I already do, especially at ice cream shops.
I feel out what my general mood is that day, then taste all the options that fit with that (about 6-10). Then, I end up choosing 2-3 that taste the best together (normally it's coffee, hazelnut/almond, and chocolate/cream).
I'm a bit basic.
i use the coin trick too
Picking the right cereal is actually very important. Cereals with a high sugar content are not good for you, and most likely will negatively impact your day. I love sugar, but I feel best with a cereal with very low sugar content. Crispex is one of my all-time favorites. It tastes great, has no added sugars, and has very low sugar content. It really does taste fantastic!
Excellent strategy 👍👏 I kinda already thought of this when I was watching this but you put it into words. Now I can practice it. Thank you
Likewise, if you need to decide among more than two choices and you can't narrow it down for whatever reason, roll a die. If you don't have any dice, then do a Google search for "roll a die" or "roll a d30" or whatever number of choices you have to pick from.
My strategy for dealing with this is to focus on making a "good" choice not the "best" choice. Pick something you like and just run with it. Don't spend time stressing over which is best. The longer you think about it the higher your expectations and the more you'll have to regret, so just making a quick decision is better. Of course this only works when it's not super important you get the best thing, but that's like, 99% of the choices you make anyway.
I love just flipping a coin. The odd thing about having your decision made by an impartial, outside factor (like a coin flip) is that no matter what, you'll either be excited or disappointed, and from that you know what choice you really wanted all along.
It's kind of like when you ask for help with something and immediately know the answer. It wasn't until you put yourself out there that the solution presented itself. Man, the mind is a weird place sometimes.
I find choice overload when choosing a course of study!
I'm in the same boat. I somehow fell into nursing, but after a decade of it lm ready to move on to something else. There are so many options, but none of them seem overly interesting to me.
That's exactly why despite wanting to study further I'm just unable to.
Reminds me of how i look at my steam library of games (like 1000) and i never know what to play and pick. I literally stay there and look at icons for like 15 m :P
You just described me with mine. :D
1000!?!?!
I already find it hard to choose from 24!
"Do I do Amnesia, or Thief Simulator? No, wait how about Hello Neighbor! Actually, I'd rather do Goat Simulator... NAH I WANT TO DO UNIVERSE SANDBOX! But Amnesia sounds cool, but I'd rather steal stuff in Thief Simulator..."
Do you then just play whatever last game you played because you can't make the choice? 'Cause that's happened to me.
@@TheRogueWolf Yep... that's often what happens a lot of the time.
Hahaha SAME!! And now that I have around 250 unplayed games, I’ve become a lot more difficult and I have regrets more easily! I often start thinking about the other games while I’m still in the middle of one. When I was younger and had only a few games I enjoyed them way more and was always focused on one at a time and always finishing them.
Well this explains my menu anxiety 😅
Yeah, our local Baker's Square closed before I could try all the different pies.
I'm the guy who keeps telling the waiter to come back😅
Baskin Robbins...
'Nuff said.
Me changing my order at McDonald's at the last second twice
My anxiety got a lot better when I started to eliminate choices. Like going vegan leaves 1-2 meals on the menu in any given restaurant. Throwing out my clutter leaves me with three pens to chose from instead of 50. My low-wage job didn't leave many options for apartments. Giving up flying means having less of the world to chose from for vacations.
I know it sound boring and overly limiting to some people, but it has been very liberating for me :)
The bit at 2:07 was just hilarious, props to whoever animated that.
It applies to almost everything. Like, choosing a potential mate. 😅
it seriously does right?
Reading Material: The Paradox of Choice
by Barry Schwartz
It's a quite a good read... But there's a lot to choose from ;]
I wonder how this problem with choice applies to choices on a larger scale than cereal and ice cream - choosing an area of study or a field in which to focus a job search, for example. What could one do to mitigate the factors that lead to dissatisfaction?
I've found that almost no matter the choice, no matter the myriad or otherwise of options, you can always have some kind of buyer's remorse. You didn't pick X, so if anything goes wrong with Y, anything at all, you'll immediately wonder if X might have been better. Even with just 2 choices this happens.
One way I've found to help me in this situation is to flip a coin. When I see the result I'll either be excited I got X or I'll be disappointed I got X, where I then just go pick Y. When the choice is taken out of your hand, you immediately know which one you really wanted. It's surprisingly effective.
Lots of choices is literally my worst enemy. I have ADHD and one of the common issues with that is an inability to make quick decisions and choices. I am 100% that person who looks up the menu of a restaurant before I visit so I can decide with plenty of time, or even pop into the cafeteria at my uni when I wont be eating until after my next class, just so I have time to plan.
Having lots of things to choose from is nice sometimes. I'm a picky eater (though I wish I wasn't, I blame so many foods having terrible texture) and more choice means a higher chance of something I'll enjoy. But more choice also means... having to actually make a decision.
So I guess this must be what I'm feeling when I finish a game or tv show and look to my steam library or streaming choices to decide on what to play/watch next
Omg... i see it now too...
So, you're saying that by not proactively vetting games, and letting anyone on the platform, Steam is actively making people feel like they should be happier, but making them less happy?
Same. There’s also 1000 things to do. Books, movies, video games. And pretty cheap too. It actually gives me anxiety when I have to choose what to do in my free time.
eh, i'm actually convinced there's too little choice.
i keep going back to really old games to play, there are hardly any games these days that do the things i like. (really high end grand strategy games, such as EU4/CK2/total war warhammer or good rpg's such as the witcher.
another thing i'm definitely missing is more tactical games like xcom.
xcom 2 was decent, but the lack of a good xcom 2: war of the chosen, the long war mod definitely harmed my enjoyment.
I can solve your problem. Watch 'Vikings', you have no choice
This is perfect. Been to the snack food aisle in a large supermarket lately? Drives me insane. Cheez-It crackers is one of the worst.
Anyone remember a time where they had the Original Cheez-It, and maybe an additional flavor or two? Now you get to choose from:
White Cheddar, Pepper Jack, Cheddar Jack, Four Cheese, Cheese Pizza, Hot & Spicy, Queso Fundido, Buffalo Wing.
Extra Toasty. Extra Cheesy. Extra Big. Whole Wheat. Reduced Fat. Cheez-It Snap'd (three flavors). Cheez-It Grooves (four flavors). Cheez-It Duos (five flavors). Snack Mix (three flavors). Snack Packs. Family Size. Limited Editions.....
It's no wonder why supermarkets are getting to be the size of football stadiums 😩
I just get the basic ones I’ve been eating since I was a kid
Try a new one each time you go... O.o
And if you do, it won't matter which one you grab. So grab randomly.
Having stocked cheez-its and other products I find it both fascinating and discouraging. 😅 Like even comparing two "brands" of crackers you very well be buying from the same company.
Try living in my town where there like 1 or max 3 tastes and you have to eat same snack every evening.
@@streettrialsandstuff You could probably create your own snacks too. Like mix your own trail mix or create some sort of chocolate bar or something. 🙂
"What do you wanna do for dinner?"
So. Much. Satisfaction.
Chidi brought me here.
(He's still outside deciding on a yogurt ice cream)
There was a poem
In Ancient Rome
About a dog
Who found two bones
He licked the one
He licked the other
He turned in circles
And he dropped dead
Who the hell poisons bones!?
That poor dog. :(
@@Unplanted no it's fine he ate my homework
My trick at the cereal aisle: Just pick one I like and go. The time spent thinking about it all is itself a product and I generally like that more than the amount I like the BEST cereal more than I like the almost best cereal.
From my personal experience the problem is not "too many choices", it's "not enough information to make a confident choice". The Cereal Aisle is only problematic when you're not already set on what to buy.
If you're looking for a new breakfast, you may be trying balance a number of variables (nutritional value, taste, price, novelty, etc.) and not have a clear idea of which one is the 'right' one based on your desirability criteria, leading to that hmm-ing and ha-ing until a decision is made. Conversely, there could be a thousand options, but the moment you find one you know you like, the choice gets made and you move on with your life.
There's a Thai restaurant I like which has a large variety of options, and the first time I went, I took a long time to order. I didn't know what was "good here", what the portions were like, how spicy was "spicy" etc., and I had to take into account a couple of food allergies as well. A few minutes with the menu and a couple questions to the server landed me with a recommendation and the decision was made. While it was good, on later visits I found a different dish to be my favorite, and I now have a short list of things I pick from based on what I'm feeling like that day, and can recommend to friends who are undecided.
The issue on my first visit wasn't that there were too many choices, it was that I initially wasn't familiar enough with the options presented to confidently choose. Once I had spent enough time with the menu, and had conferred with someone more familiar than myself, I was able to arrive at a decision I was satisfied enough with to move forward.
I work in a grocery store and I see this on a daily basis. Folks are just overwhelmed, most seem to stick same thing that they usually get. I have heard people talk it out, quite funny sometimes it becomes a "quote of the day ". Also it's a college town, so that it can involve a phone conversation with a parent or other advisor.
Positive vibes from New Hampshire and remember to be kind to each other
Choice overload is exactly why I started to embrace minimalism in my mid 30s. For all the clothing obsessed out there, choice overload is also why you feel you have nothing to wear with a closet filled with clothes.
"Give me reason but don't give me choice, because I'll just make the same mistake again"
~ *James Blunt*
Wow, James is very blunt.
AHOOOOOOO OOOOOOO OOOO
I always search for reasons, before I buy something. It makes the choice a little bit easier.
This makes me think of my favorite local Japanese restaurant. They have a small menu of just one type of dish - domburi (with a few choices between beef, chicken, pork, etc). They also have a few sides to choose from. Other common Japanese restaurants have ramen, sushi, or just other random Asian dishes and nothing out of the ordinary. This restaurant is special because it has a special home cooked flavor all cooked from scratch from a Japanese lady, and the simple menu makes it easy to enjoy the food.
This, in my opinion, is why giving a baby or toddler too much candy might make them cry, but giving them just a few makes them happy. Choice overload is overwhelming for the less emotionally developed.
I've always thought this is the flaw in our current consumer led capitalism. It is not more choice we need, it's better things.
This was great!
Now what do I choose to watch?
...
Help
Egg video by kurzgesagt. Thank me later.
I totally relate to this especially with the netflix example and my steam account, i have hundreds of games (most from bundles or 80% sales I'm not not mr. Moneybags) but anyway hundreds of games collected over the years and i have so many i can never decide what to play so i play none of them, i rarely if ever play games anymore because I have too much choice lol.
I can relate to that.
yeah I usually have one game I'm like really into for a long time that I play. but if I want to play a ds game, I have so many I've collected over the years I end up not playing any.
This video was in my psychology modules in college
I love having lots of choices, especially with food (cereal). I'll just try everything that looks great. Limited choices will just lead to buying the same thing over and over again, and trying something new can be good.
This was the only SciShow Psych video I had to choose from today, but I'm happy with that.
I'm a simple man, if Britt presents something I upvote. Kudos!
Life pro tip: have the mentality of automatically assigning a default choice. For example, when deciding on a movie on Neflix see that if you don't make a choice within 2 minutes, you'll just go with the first (the default) pick.
Same with what to eat tonight. if you don't feel like having anything automatically select the top shelf on the right item.
This really helped me out.
The French call this "l'embarras du choix," i.e., the burden (not embarrassment) of choice.
In German it rhymes "Die Qual der Wahl"
As I started to look for more regional or organic products, I have less choice problems. My lecture was: Limit what you want before choosing.
One issue of choice overload that was not discussed is that we often have no idea what it is we want and choice overload just makes that worse. This can lead to a fourth consequence of choice overload, making no choice at all and just walking away. This first happened to me when I was in the library trying to choose a book to read. There I was in my forties and having the first ever panic attack in my life and having to run out of the library because there were too many choices. After that, I would start having panic attacks in the market.
I think the issue here is having to make a choice with inadequate information as to what will be best for your purposes. Whether it's what will best satisfy your appetite or what will best take care of your skin. Advertising no longer gives us reliable information and we have no basis on which to make a choice. Faced with this I often walk away from the choice entirely.
Ironically producers have exactly the same problem. Considered Nabisco making Cheez-Its as that example has been made in the comments. They must get Tens of thousands of suggestions of what flavor to make and how did they choose from this Choice overload? This is especially an issue for them as they want to make a profit on whatever it is they choose to make and they have no way to choose.
This is exactly what happened with my wedding. I ended up delegating a lot of decisions to my mother and then instantly regretting it.
Dad: I once had a interesting conversation with a Russian, I like the guy, but he straight up told me "there's too many choices in this country".
Me: He has a point, choices complicate human brain processes. If you narrow your options down, it becomes easier to make a selection.
Dad: *very confused look* where did you get that from?
Me: The book on game development that you bought me for Christmas.
I think the basis for this particular phenomenon is the fear of buyers remorse. That fear of making a wrong choice.
In the case of icecream, all icecream is good icecream, and you ought to know whether a particular flavor is already a plus or minus to you (whether or not you generally like strawberry for example).
It might have been helpful to mention a strategy called satisficing. This is a process whereby one compares options to what is desired and then picks the first option that meets the criteria.
Now I'll have to choose between the billions of other youtube videos to watch...
Simple, go watch these channels. You can thank me later:
Zefrank1
Zee Bashew
Hello Future Me
VINWiki
God thats the worst when you have two more hours to spend before going to sleep, but having already watched every video in your watch later playlist!
I can certainly vouch for VINWiki, so many great stories, just good light hearted entertainment.
my choice regarding any kind of brand or grocery in a store: whats the cheapest while also having the most grams/ounces? buy that, whatever the most affordable and dense option is
it all tastes the same anyways, typically
Oooooooh, the paradox of choice :)
That's why Tinder is probably the worst thing ever for your dating life :p
Having to choose between more than say 5 options, unless I already have a bias towards one, is really stressful to me - I just get frustrated, go around in mental circles trying to weight up the pros and cons of each and more often than not go away with nothing. Now I deliberately don't look at all the choice, if something catches my eye and looks good enough I'll go for that. Makes things a lot easier. Or I decide what I want before I get there.
My trick when the choice is important is to make a "tournament". I pick just two out of the large number of choices, then I can clearly decide.. pick another two and continue until you find the winner.
This only measures the seen and ignores the unseen. While more choice may not appear to "make people happier" those choices absolutely impact future products or product quality. The unseen result of more choice (competition) is more satisfactory options over time. The UNSEEN is always more important in the long run.
love this show, solid and time-efficient videos with interesting topics
First, don't mess with KDE Plasma and all of the options there. Love how KDE has so many options (legit in both the sense of options, and in the sense of Looks and Feels, Themes, Window Styles, Window Decorations, etc) and once I found a DE style I like, I just keep it. Also, if you have to choose between multiple things, pick what you liked the most. If they don't have it pick your second most or don't get anything. I use a bit of a hierarchy to decide what to get/watch. Also, some things like food is less important than getting a new fridge or AC unit, or even a house. The more value it has the more of an energy weight you should put on it.
No wonder I love Choose Your Own Adventure. The choices are so binary (usually).
Nice to see you back Brit.
The average mall supermarket in the US is at least twice the size of the same thing here in the UK. I've often found myself overwhelmed when visiting in a way I don't here. I suspect people with even less choice would experience the same thing in the UK. It very much depends on what you're used to.
I completely understand the Netflix example. There is so much I haven't watched but the Office and Friends, I watched a couple times through in spite of the huge list.
Consumerism has an issue when you are outside the normal expectations. Sure there is choice, but its for other people who fit within the more marketable groups.
My best example is me looking for shoes, I ask for size 14, either they bring me a small selection as that is all they have, or I go elsewhere because they don't even stock any big enough. Too often I go somewhere else.
Okay, so what's the best number of items for my movie playlist?
I have a lot of serious sensitivities and allergies to foods, so the abundance of choice for me makes sure that I can find at least one thing I can eat. Despite all the choice, sometimes I can’t find anything, though.
One of the things that worries me about this research is that the experimentation is so often tied in with commercial products, which means (A) we are measuring people's decision to purchase a product and giving it undue weight, as though not purchasing something wasn't also making a choice, and (B) we aren't looking at long-term consequences of making the choice - we're basically only assuming the choice matters until the product is consumed. For example, if people are less satisfied with a choice because they're comparing it against their other options, what happens if over time they have the freedom to explore their other options?
When I became a lacto-ovo-vegetarian I got way less choices, which is very satisfying. When there are completely vegetarian (“vegan”) options, and they’re something I can eat, I choose them over the lacto-ovo-vegetarian options. Way easier than having to pick out of dozens of options.
This is why I like In-n-out. Burger, fries, soda or shake. That's the whole menu
and that amazing school cafeteria quality, mmmmm
this is probably why I get the same exact thing from my fave restaurant
why risk it? Less choice is better if i know i like it
This is why it’s good to be picky!! Can’t get choice overload if you already limit your choices.
I already knew about this effect and I kind of want to implement it in the household tea box...
Hand visitors 15 different bags of tea and they will most likely take one of the safest regular options.
Leaving you with the other 12 bags which you honestly also don't really like
Has this been reuploaded? I could swear I've watched this in the past.
alguemalguem maybe it was a different scishow video or a similar channel but yeah me too
Vsauce did a Mind Field episode on why we're unhappy when given more choices.
I don't know. Something about the graphics, the specific words used, the host. It's almost as if they did an episode of this in the past that somehow got copyright claimed and blocked, and this is a revised version.
I remember a similar video as well. It even mentioned ice cream flavors
It’s probably just the Mandela Effect. You were in a parallel universe/timeline than you are now.
Yup. I play Pathfinder, which is like Dungeons and Dragons, but MUCH more character options. Every time my players draw up a new character, I like to give them my “recommended builds” to help narrow down what they will choose
Giving chocolate to students. That study is already great even before any results.
Wish i had chocolate right now..
I went to an ice cream (actually something with a long, unrememberable name that the guy said was different because it was made with cream rather than custody and stressed was better because it didn't have extra unnatural, unnessercery ingredients, and because it was fresh, but none of that is really the point) place that had a lot of choice (maybe about 8 flavours, seemed like a lot) and it seemed overwhelming to start with, but then I sampled 3, and eventually went with coffee, which my instinct had originally been, and felt satisfied that it was the one I liked most and was MY choice, out of many options, and felt far more satisfied with it after trying the others and knowing it was my favorite; after making an informed choice, and was happy to have had the choice, and felt very satisfied with the choice I had made (that is, of coffee, I was still not sure a cold treat was the way to go on a cold night, and it did make me feel more cold), and I wanted to go back sometime, albeit sometime warmer, and was confident that when I did I would probably get coffee again.
I wonder if any studies have been done on when you get to pick multiple options. Does disappointment in one of the choices sully the level of satisfaction with the other choices? Might it bizzarely make it harder to pick?
1/6 - 1/30 of choices from so what's ideal number? Or avarage?
Not sure if I am the only one stating this so I apologize if someone else has already stated this. In the jam issue, she stated that with the larger display it drew more customers but only a third of customers bought jam. What she didn't state is since the total number of customers at the display was larger is 1/3 a greater number of customers than the smaller group. Did she even know the total number of customers that bought jam in each instance?
I feel like the choice overload is due to a lack in ability to effectively compare so many options. If the information was broken up or organized into learning aids such as graphs or group listings then the amount of choices one could be given, before they felt overloaded, could possibly go up.
Weird, I can see that being true for some things, but as far as things such as Netflix, I find that I enjoyed the physical disc version much more because the selection was much much larger and I could take time to really browse through the titles where as streaming Netflix has far fewer options and is a constant frustration. Same with gigantic books stores. Maybe it's stuff I know I can come back to and the quality of the options avalible.
Please list the places that don't focus on consumerism.
I would like to relocate there
The jam study, how many total people bought jam in both scenarios? Just knowing the percent of purchases doesnt tell me which was more effective at making more sales.
I prefer to have more choices and then select several items of interest, and then whittle it down until I find the item I want. Though it does mean doing more work of course, but I'd prefer the choice be there than not be there.
The reason why picking one of 30 is not satisfying is that with more options you want to try more. So had they told me to choose 4 or 5 out of 30 I'd probably be happy again. But just one? No way. I noticed this at a diner that has really tasty snacks like slices of bread with avocado and cress or with salmon or cooked vegetables and other more refined stuff. I had lots of trouble deciding because all snacks looked so great. While eating I always thought that I could've chosen something different instead. But every time I go there (been there three times so far) I try something different, so at some point I won't be disappointed anymore because I've already tried everything. I don't think that too much option is bad, but I'll need more time trying everything.
To help you limit your choices, simply have criteria. Like "I won’t buy cereals with more than 20gram per 100gram sugar in it". This will limit your choices while allowing you to make more conscious choices at the same time.
I keep buying games on Steam but I can never choose what to play so I always go back to the same two or three games I always play...
You saved the world 💯
This only applies if they only get the chance to try once. It’s very satisfying to find your favorite out of a larger group, but you’re less satisfied after the first try because you feel like it is possible you could have done better.
The third reason which you missed was Daniel Kahneman’s system 1 and system 2 - easy decisions vs difficult decisions
Ive found myself even with a very small number of choices but of significant importance or expense, ive said to myself "wow, if one of these just sold already my choice would be much easier"
i think it's more or less cultural, in my country we have insane amount of options in supermarkets , i remember was in other countries i seen this "4-7 option limit" and it was stupid i go in shop to buy what i like and i seeking it, if i can not get what i like i won't buy at all , and go in other shop
so true. more choice, even if we chose, we look back with reget. thats so good. so so good.
... I've never had this problem. I didn't even know it was a thing. >.>
Excellent!!!
Use the Universe Splitter app to help with your choices. As a fun side-effect you also create another multiverse.
2:20 A choice of 30 is too many.
Baskin-Robbins: But... but... we have 31 flavors.
But if I don't have more choice I won't be able to get some of the products I like! It makes sense how it is bad to have to much choice if you aren't exposed to all the choices too often or don't try out new products, but I do. I have a local grocery store that is huge, it's called Woodman's.
I've found a few chip brands I really like there that aren't sold anywhere else I've seen, it has several flavors of cereal I can't find elsewhere, it has yogurt I like that isn't sold everywhere, there is a nice cheap Dutch cocoa I can't find elsewhere. There is also several ethnic food aisles which caters to different tastes that most traditional grocery stores don't have. Sure I've been overwhelmed with choice, but if I look at the price per ounce of goods and decide to try different products in a category, sometimes I find products I love that I can't buy anywhere else.
Heard this in a Ted talk a couple of years ago. The speaker gave an example of the choice of buying jeans. Cant remember the speaker's name though.
I've heard the term analysis paralysis before. Is that the same thing?
The most frustration i come across is my choice isn't even on the list oftentimes journeys
1:47 Why didn't the researchers conclude that as an absolute bare minimum next step they needed, for instance, to run another experiment with on a larger population, before coming to any conclusions?
So does this apply to dating apps? I know people who are always hooking up or dating but are so put off and dissatisfied vs people who don’t go on the apps who I’ve noticed, tend to be happier with what they have. Whatever the case, this is interesting!
Does that apply to choosing a romantic partner? Since we can literally pick people from a huge list on an app nowadays, are we overall less satisfied with boyfriends/girlfriends compared with other generations?
If choise is not necesseraly eaqual to satisfaction.
But the illusion of it is.
Does that mean that we as humans like following the lead of some one else?
Distro hoppers know it very well, there's too many Linux distributions out there and you got choose the one you prefer or fits your needs. It's not a bad thing, but can become a problem to some people
At 3:48 what's a 4O1K plan?
This is how I feel when it comes to choosing a career...how do people just decide what they like? What if I settle for an easy career and miss out on a fun and exciting one? Errr choices
The dilemma I'm going through right now.
I apparently don't have this problem.
In fact quite the opposite.
I dislike to an extreme losing options.
I always buy the cheapest or second cheapest option, limits my choice and I feel satisfied 90% of the time, probably more actually.
When pursuit of wonder makes and video and scishow psych drops this
I don't think this applies to customisation options on video game characters
true story, come and gather us, overthinkers :'c