Problem of plenty … Why having more choices is not always good?

In today’s world, there is an explosion of choices. We have more choices than ever before. But are we better of with so many choices? Well on surface it looks quite logical that more choices are always good. But recent research strongly suggests that, psychologically, this assumption is wrong. Although having some choice is undoubtedly better than none but more is not always better than less.

When people are faced with having to choose one option out of many desirable choices, they begin to consider hypothetical trade-offs. They begin searching for the most ideal option. They evaluate options in terms of missed opportunities instead of the opportunity's potential. They become compulsive comparers. The sense of lose is caused due to having let go other opportunities. One of the costs of making a selection is losing the opportunities that a different option would have afforded. This leads to anxiety and sometimes opportunity costs may create enough conflict to produce paralysis i.e. one chooses to not chose at all. People start deferring there decisions because of fear of anticipated regret i.e. what if they chose less desirable alternative.

Even if one is able to chose, the satisfaction out of that choice suffers. One may do well objectively but feels worse. Losing opportunity of the good parts of other options make even good choices look less good. Unchosen possibilities linger forever. Feeling of regret also creeps. You start blaming yourself for not choosing the most appropriate option. When there are so many options, chances increase that a really good one is out there, and you feel that you ought to have been able to find it. It’s easy to imagine a better alternative. End result is under appreciation and self blame. But when there are limited number of options what one really does is he blames the world and there is blame-sharing which leads to no regret.

So what does all this mean? Does it mean that we would all be better of if our choices were severely restricted, even eliminated? I do not think so. The relation between choice and well-being is very complicated. Some choices is better is than none but there is some magical number (which I do not know) after which additional choices starts showing negative effects.