Wednesday, April 3, 2013

A.O.C.: Choosing with less of a focus on being right

Haley Scholars Spring 2013 Reading Groups


By Danielle Hall

In chapter 7 of The Art of Choosing, Sheena Iyengar discusses the long-term effects of making difficult decisions, especially when we must assign value to people we love or become accountable for more than just our own quality of life. Under such circumstances, she points to how we often seek sources of "authority and expertise to alleviate the burden of a difficult decision" (236). 

One thing that stood out in this reading was the "cake and death" concept, that is a clear desirable answer vs. a non-desirable one. Iyengar notes, however, that two seemingly different choices can be rooted in a similar "psychological process" (217).

What particular useful insight did you gain from Iyengar's discussion of choice in this chapter? What made that idea of issue particularly useful?

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I thought it was interesting that she said the psychological process of decision making was identical. From the example she used with the premature baby, I came to the understanding that when you are presented with a difficult question that has two uncertain solutions, you kind of have to take a chance and make a decision from the heart. At that point you just have to realize the possible outcomes and have faith in the decision you made.
I thought this was a useful insight to acquire especially while transitioning into the world and learning how to do things and provide for yourself.
-Ashya F.

Kiara Gay said...

The insight that i gained from the chapter was "that we all need to focus less on perfection and more on the joys of simply spending time with the people we love"(236). This idea is useful because it helps one realize that perfection does not always make one happy, but the fact that there are those around you who love you does, and if we focus more on the latter we will be more stress free.

Unknown said...

I liked the part where she discusses the fact that we shouldn't focus so much on everythinh being perfect, rather just focus more on what and who we do have. This was useful because I think that so often we fuss over the smallest little details and make our lives even more stressful, but by applying this method we can relieve some of our own stress.