Products , products everywhere but what are we going to buy them ? which one is price efficient. Even choosing a shampoo become a confusing job in our recent era.The decision made when there are too many options can make a person unhappy because he has given up on other options. While we may be more happy with few options, we are drowning in many choices and we consider this situation under the name of "Decision-Making Paradox".
Decision-Making Process
Barry Schwartz says "You get satisfied with fever options , however you get drowned in a lot of options" in his book.According to Schwartz book if you are making a decision that is 80 percent close what you want and if you get satisfied with this purchase you are a satisficer. However if you get paralyzed when you are searching the best option and you get unhappy because of searching the best possibility you are a maximizer.
Well if you are working on a medicine or if you are making measurements in war it is reasonable for you to be a perfectionist because of the nature of the job. However lets say that you are going to buy yourself a cool pair of jeans in your daily life. You entered to the store and asked for a trendy jean , the store showed you 20 options with just little differences and you started to think , which one is better ? should I buy the skinny fit one , it would be much better if the color is little brighter. Why is this one 30 bucks other one 50 What is the difference ?. Eventually you spent a lot of mental power when you are just buying a jeans . Eventually after thinking on possible options you just buy one and leave the store.
Do you think this story ends happy ? No , no if you are maximazer now you start to think and evaluate your purchase again. Should I check the other stores for more options ? My friend bought something similar a lot cheaper , Is it trendy enough ? aaaaaand you are drowned in options.
Barry Schwatz talking about paradox of choice
When you consider the time amount and thinking you made on a buying action on jeans in order to maximize your purchase , you are realy not maximizing it because it is just jeans. We all know that cognitive biases may cause negative affects . Narrow your options and just pick one that is suitable without doing that thinking methodology everytime you are going to buy something , that will make you happier.
