Wellness Wednesdays with Diana: Your Weekly Dose of Happiness, Nutrition, and Fitness Tips
When Less is More
When it’s two in the morning and only four restaurants are open for business, we all seem to be able to make an executive decision about where our next meal is coming from.
But what about two o’clock in the afternoon, when you have food trucks, diners, bars, and the obvious Chipotle to choose from? In a world full of possibilities, one consequence of too much choice is called paralysis, according to American psychologist Barry Schwartz.
“With so many options to choose from, people find it very difficult to choose at all.”
Sheena Iyengar, a professor at Columbia University, presented shoppers at a market with a display of jams. Sometimes she presented shoppers with twenty-four types of jam and other times she presented them with six. While more people were drawn to the larger display, only 3% of those who frequented the large display made a selection. At the small display, 33% of shoppers bought one of the jams. It’s so counterintuitive—when I have six choices I make a choice and when I have twenty-four I walk away, jam-less.
And that is exactly why many young adults are stressed out. Schwartz explains that back when he was a college student, he had a more finite set of choices. Today, college graduates live in a world where ridiculous posters at Career Services say things like “The World is Your Oyster.”
Maybe that’s the problem. Maybe the world shouldn’t be our oyster. Maybe we won’t feel so overwhelmed if our options were in an actual oyster. We often get so frustrated when some doors close in our face, but really, some rejections are a blessing in disguise; they make our world smaller, which can be a good thing.
When “the sky’s the limit,” we experience more than just choice paralysis. We also experience more opportunity costs, or FOMO (fear-of-missing-out) as the cool kids would call it. By making x choice, we reason that we could be missing out on choices y and z. So the more options you’re presented with, the more you feel like you could be missing out.
Another negative effect of having too many choices is what Schwartz describes as the “escalation of expectations.” He compared his experience buying jeans “back when there was only one kind of jeans” to today. He walked into The Gap in search of a basic pair of jeans only to realize those didn’t exist anymore. There’s slim-fit, bootcut, acid-washed, and skinny, etc.
“I want the kind that used to be the only kind,” he told the employee assisting him at the store. With all these specifications, our expectations go up and we start to expect perfection out of these pants.
So now what do we do?
Take a simple task like purchasing a dress. There are thousands of sites out there. Why don’t you start with three and see which dress you like best. Yes, there may be a better dress out there on the fourth site, but if you’re too busy looking for the next best thing you’re never going to get anywhere.
And don’t let another day pass by where you end up so frustrated with the number of choices you have. I’ve definitely heard a friend or two say “I couldn’t decide where to eat so I just went home.” You have got to be kidding me if you’re skipping meals out of indecisiveness. Next time just ask your friend to give you three places to choose from. Or consider the closest restaurant to you and whomever you’re meeting up with. Give yourself fewer options.
I’m not saying you should close your self off to anything. In fact, it always pays to keep an open mind. But sometimes it’s better to narrow down your options. For example, if you’re looking for grad schools or jobs, you can customize your search according to where the best program you can get into will be, or where your family or friends live, or what kind of weather you’re looking for next year. Write down what your priorities are and fine-tune your search according to new considerations. You have to start somewhere.
And if things don’t turn out the way you wanted them to be, just know that it’s okay. Every closed door may open your eyes to a window you never noticed before.
Diana Gonimah is a senior at the University of Pennsylvania from Cairo, Egypt. She is a writer, Features Editor, and Recruiting Chair at the UPenn chapter of Her Campus. She’s passionate about psychology, journalism, creative writing, and helping people in any capacity. Check our website every Wednesday for Diana’s column!