Comments on: ‘But is expanded choice good or bad?’, from The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz http://www.disambiguity.com/but-is-expanded-choice-good-or-bad-from-the-paradox-of-choice-by-barry-schwartz/ Observing, reflecting, designing. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 23:14:39 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Adrian Chan http://www.disambiguity.com/but-is-expanded-choice-good-or-bad-from-the-paradox-of-choice-by-barry-schwartz/comment-page-1/#comment-248792 Adrian Chan Sat, 01 Aug 2009 00:09:22 +0000 http://www.disambiguity.com/?p=904#comment-248792 Leisa, Aside from the explanation that this is an information selection or choice problem, which is reasonable, I wonder if there's another explanation. To wit, that faced with a narrower set of choices, we might tend to assume they are made by experts, have credibility, and are special? Special "for us," even? Reviews are not "for us," recommendations are "for us." I'm only conjecturing, but I don't buy the idea that choice is the best solution in all cases. I think luxury brands get this (which would include gourmet menus). cheers, a Leisa,

Aside from the explanation that this is an information selection or choice problem, which is reasonable, I wonder if there’s another explanation. To wit, that faced with a narrower set of choices, we might tend to assume they are made by experts, have credibility, and are special? Special “for us,” even? Reviews are not “for us,” recommendations are “for us.” I’m only conjecturing, but I don’t buy the idea that choice is the best solution in all cases. I think luxury brands get this (which would include gourmet menus).

cheers,
a

]]> By: carla http://www.disambiguity.com/but-is-expanded-choice-good-or-bad-from-the-paradox-of-choice-by-barry-schwartz/comment-page-1/#comment-248368 carla Sat, 04 Jul 2009 05:54:17 +0000 http://www.disambiguity.com/?p=904#comment-248368 I remember a news article a few years ago that talked about how an abundance of choice caused a behaviour known as maximising - where a choice/decision is actually never made because the options are so wide and varied. I just googled it and found this article, by Schwartz too (and others). It quotes the jam study: http://www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/bschwar1/maximizing.pdf I guess that's one reason why everyone loved the iPod. In an over-saturated media age they could just focus on one thing - music. I remember a news article a few years ago that talked about how an abundance of choice caused a behaviour known as maximising – where a choice/decision is actually never made because the options are so wide and varied. I just googled it and found this article, by Schwartz too (and others). It quotes the jam study:

http://www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/bschwar1/maximizing.pdf

I guess that’s one reason why everyone loved the iPod. In an over-saturated media age they could just focus on one thing – music.

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