Wednesday, April 16, 2014

AOC: Limiting Choices

[The Art of Choosing]

By Danielle Hall

In the second part of chapter 7 of The Art of Choosing, Sheena Iyengar discusses the ways that decisions made out of "suspicion or fear" may cause more damage in the long run (237). Put differently, some of the worst or least informed decisions happen when one must confront unattractive choices. Avoiding complex choices is usually what leads one to being "caught between a rock and a hard place." Iyengar warns that ignoring unattractive choices, or choosing not to choose, is problematic and potentially harmful.

Something of note is how the concept of restrictive choice, which we discussed previously in chapter 6, resurfaces again throughout this chapter. Again, Iyengar urges readers to consider the benefits of letting go and reminds us that there are other options available to us that can help alleviate the pressures of choosing and yield positive outcomes (240 & 254-55).

Based on the reading, what new or notable insight did you gain concerning the idea of limiting our choices?

13 comments:

Andrea R. said...

People tend to have a fear of the unknown and things that have no obvious benefit to them. This makes people uncomfortable and unwilling to choose.

In a sense, this reading gave me a different way of thinking of the not choosing. I knew that it was a problematic thing, but it never occurred to me that the most ill-informed decisions are made when the choices aren't as lucrative as one would want.

Shervonti Norman said...

Notable insight that I gained concerning the idea of limiting choices from reading this chapter was Jack Brehm's explanation of "reactance." I took it as if there's something you potentially want to do and then that option is taken away from you... you want to do it more and you just might act on it.

I applied this idea from the example that Sheena Iyengar brought up about teenagers sneaking out of windows. When teenagers sneak out to go do something it's usually because their parents have already said no or they know their parents would have said no to them leaving. Now, if they were really interested (or even not so interested) in going, the fact that their parents have eliminated the choice makes them want it more. Unfortunately, that one night of fun for teenagers has consequences that follow.

Christie Jordan said...

A new insight that I gained was the idea of letting someone more qualified make choices for you. However, they key concept to this idea is determining who is qualified and who isn't. More than often when I have a tough decision to make I go to my friends. After reading about lynegar's advice I then realized that all the important decisions that I relied on my friends for, didn't have a positive outcome. Now that I have insight into how to make difficult decisions, I will wait to consult someone more qualified when I have a tough choice to make.

Brianna B said...

Like Shervonti, I found reactance interesting or more so amusing because it shed light on the reverse psychology phenomena when you seemingly take away someone's choice in order to make them want to choose that option anyway.

Anitra B. said...

The thing that I find insight for me was Jack Brehm's theory of reactance. My understanding is that when a persons certain freedom is taken away then this increases that person' surge to partake in that certain freedom. I definitely find this to be true about human nature. I also found new insight in the section about the "choosers" and "non choosers" of the yogurt. At the end of the experiment the "non choosers" were actually more satisfied than the "choosers". I thought that it would be the other way around because at least they at least had they ability to choose from different options, while the others didn't have any control over what they ate.

Anonymous said...

A new insight that I gained was the idea of letting someone more qualified make choices for you. However, the most important part to this key concept is deciding who is the right person to make these decisions for you. More than often when I have a tough decision to make I go to my parents or people that have been through the same situation. After reading about lynegar's advice I then realized that all the important decisions that I relied on my parents or other people for, didn't always have a good outcome. Now that I have insight into how to make difficult decisions, I will wait to talk to somebody more qualified when I have a problem or tough decision to make.
Sierra L.

Sierra Ewing said...

There were a lot of thoughts that came up for me during these last few chapters. One idea was that humans seem to have a tendency to run away from hard situations. We avoid conflict or act passively toward difficult things. I can appreciate others opinions and I value the opportunity to have the choice, but I want to be known for making my OWN wise decisions and also conquer the fear of making the wrong choices. I would be greatly offended if someone took my choices away from me. That is a privilege I would like to keep; therefore, I want to be proactive in my choice making.

Lindsey McCall said...

People avoid making the hard decisions and their favorite lines are "I don't care" or "it doesn't matter" when in all actuality their just afraid. I experienced this when I had to make a career choice. I wanted to take the easy way out,but I had no choice but to face reality. Once you're able to face the reality of the situation, then you can face the actual decision.

Andriana C. said...

This section of the book makes me rethink the making decisions nonchalantly. It is in our nature to run from difficult decisions and things that are not known to us, so it is no wonder that we are not willing to choose in these situations. We are also attracted to the ideas that surround doing what we know we are not supposed to do, simply because the decision was not ours to not do it.

C. S. said...

Iyengar has given much insight into the idea of limited choices appears to be better. That here in America, we have an unlimited, if not, infinite amount of options. This idea resonates with me. When I have multiple options, even when choosing food, it's much harder to pick.
I'm the type of person that desires to have a full amount of information to make a well informed decision. That is however impossible when there's an infinite amount of choices.
Iyengar allowed me to see that if I do in fact have smaller options, that it allows me to make better decisions.
Chante S.

Alexandra Donaldson said...

A new insight I found was allowing people more qualified make choices for you. Sometimes making choices can't be left up to you and getting help from others can help the right choice be made. It made me analyze some choices I've made and realize that some decisions I could have used input from others who were more qualified than I was. Sheena raised some great points with that and I will begin getting advices before making some choices.

Anonymous said...

Mercedes H.
A new insight I found in relation to making decisions out of "suspicion of fear" is that people tend to make decisions based on comfort reasons. A lot of people do not like the idea of the unknown, or the negative effects of a new or hard decision. As a result, people make decisions in order to eliminate the unknown; they stay with the normal or what already was in order to avoid choosing unattractive choices.

Ashley A. said...

The insight I gained was how often we give up choice. I hadn't realized how often we give up choice and trust those that we deem experts. I find it a bit surprising, especially within a country in which we pride ourselves with freedom of choice, but at the same time it's not that surprising because almost everyone dreads having to choose between two seemingly unpleasant options. We find relief when someone says, "This is what you need to do."