A632.2.3.RB - Sheena Iyengar: How to Make Choosing Easier

Overwhelming our clients and even ourselves can be detrimental to the decision making process. When faced with too many options, we may choose to delay facing the decision itself. This can be very counterproductive when decisions are associated with strict timelines or due dates (just like this assignment!). Another potential consequence of having too many options is that we are more likely to make worse choices. The best choice of a group may not be so obvious when it is clouded by so many other options. Lastly, choosing from so many options may leave us with what many may call, a “sour taste”. I think we can contribute this feeling to our nature of retrospect. We often look back at other possible scenarios that could have happened if we chose differently.
Sheena Lyengar has researched the negative issues associated with too many options and has found a variety of possible solutions. The first potential answer to too many options is to reduce the amount of options, or cut. Cutting the amount of options a person is faced with can assist them to make the best possible choice. One way to cut down a list is to thoroughly think of the differences between each item. If two items are very difficult to distinguish then they may so comparable that one needs to be removed.
Another solution to this problem is to concretize the subject at hand. It is very important for the decider to comprehend the effects of his or her decision. When putting the future into perspective, setting myopia aside, a person’s will make a superior choice. Concretizing can be done by prompting a person to ask how they would prefer a future in the subject to look like or placing them into a mock-up situation.
The third solution of the decision making process, discussed by Sheena, is that of categorization. It is important to categorize options that must be chosen because it gives the decider an idea of how they differ from each other. This solution could also be combined with the last solution mentioned by Sheena, conditioning for complexity. This type of conditioning presents the chooser with choices in waves, not all at once.
On a personal level a person can use the process or cutting, on a daily decision, when it comes to ordering food, he or she should cut out any restaurants that are very similar. On a organizational level, the purchasing department could cut out vendors that offer the same parts or equipment. It's usually helpful to have a few vendors for options on pricing, but it can be stressful to keep track of unnecessarily high amount of vendors.
People, on a personal level, can also concretize an idea they may be thinking of acting on. For example,a person who wants to have a baby could concretize this by babysitting for a night or so. Only then will the idea of having a baby feel real enough to begin the process. On a organizational level, an employer often creates subtle differences to differentiate employees from managers and supervisors. For example, to distinguish a manager from an entry level employee, the managers can be assigned a different uniform; this deviation would make the hierarchy of authority feel more real.

The most valuable technique, in my opinion, to proceed making a decision amongst many choices is to educate yourself on the subject. A person should only consider an option if they understand how it operates and what possible effects may result.

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