Having Too Many Choices To Make A Decision

My wife and I have been looking at furniture lately, in preparation for buying some new pieces.  We’ve stumbled around looking in different stores, and found ourselves overwhelmed by the variety of options available in both design and fabrics.  One thing I’ve learned from this experience is how having a large number of choices affects our ability to make a decision.

Choices And Decision Making

Head into a store to make a purchase for the most innocuous item these days, and you can easily find yourself faced with a dizzying array of choices.  Even for something as simple as toothpaste, you have a variety of choices.  You’re forced to decide first between brands and flavors.  Then, do you get whitening, tartar control, or sensitive teeth?  What’s the best balance between quality and price?  And that’s for something as simple as toothpaste.  Tack on your morning breakfast, coffee at Starbucks, options for the lunch menu.  The list goes on and on.  In fact, one of the best ways to lose weight is to get into the habit of eating similar meals, rather than a wide variety of foods.  This helps control calorie intake.  But I digress.

One of the basic precepts of capitalism is choice.  The theory goes that competition between manufacturers, retailers, and service providers affords a wider array of choices and price points to consumers.  In the end, the consumer wins, right?  Maybe not.

Recently, there’s been a great deal of evidence to suggest that people can be overwhelmed by too many choices.  In the face of the dizzying array of options available to consumers, many will simply shut down and walk away.  This tendency goes for life-decisions as much as it does for making that toothpaste purchase.  Have you ever stood in front of the color palette at Lowe’s or Home Depot?  Or shopped for furniture…

That’s not the end of the story, either.  There is ample reason to believe that even the process of making complex decisions incurs a draining influence of brain function.  This is what experts call “executive function.”  That’s the process by which the brain resolves complex decisions.  Experts have shown the brain actually tires after resolving complex decisions.  I probably shouldn’t be surprised by this, knowing how I feel after an afternoon of furniture shopping.

How To Cope?

In a famous research study on consumer behavior, it was found that in supermarkets, consumers offered free samples of six different jams were more likely to make a purchase than when they were offered 24 different free samples.  It seems irrational, but I’ve observed the same behavior even with my children.  When asked “what they want for breakfast” they will dawdle for an indefinite period of time.  But if I offer them three options, I tend to get a rapid response.

This same principle can be applied in your own life.  It is the principle of simplification.  When faced with a large or daunting decision, try to quickly pare your choices down to two or three possibilities and focus your efforts on those items, rather than allowing yourself to get distracted with the array of possibilities.  And, once you have made your decision, don’t look back.