2006-10-25 13:57:50
Complexity of choice
I just recently came across a very interesting video about freedom of choice, by Professor Barry Schwartz.
The main point by Schwartz is how freedom of choice leads to anxiety, does the freedom exceed a certain point of options.
Schwartz brilliantly describes the phenomena, and shortly mentions a few cases where this fact has been implemented into business strategies.
According to Professor Schwartz, individuals that use agents for making choices don't necessarily find themselves with a better result, however, their general happiness will be greater nevertheless.
As described, more and more choices are presented us for each year that pass, spanning from low level choices like toothpaste brand to high level choices like having a surgery done or placing the pension.
I think we can agree to that we will only see more and more choices in society for quite a while, definitely leading to more and more occupations like "life coaches" and alike.
Trusted agents might just become a larger part in the every day, especially when the amount of alternatives greatly exceeds the time we have to do our research.
We've already seen this in the evolution of service and product packing, large option deals are now always offered in packages to decrease the decision taking from prospect to customer.
Please see the video at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6127548813950043200 and come back for comments.
The main point by Schwartz is how freedom of choice leads to anxiety, does the freedom exceed a certain point of options.
Schwartz brilliantly describes the phenomena, and shortly mentions a few cases where this fact has been implemented into business strategies.
According to Professor Schwartz, individuals that use agents for making choices don't necessarily find themselves with a better result, however, their general happiness will be greater nevertheless.
As described, more and more choices are presented us for each year that pass, spanning from low level choices like toothpaste brand to high level choices like having a surgery done or placing the pension.
I think we can agree to that we will only see more and more choices in society for quite a while, definitely leading to more and more occupations like "life coaches" and alike.
Trusted agents might just become a larger part in the every day, especially when the amount of alternatives greatly exceeds the time we have to do our research.
We've already seen this in the evolution of service and product packing, large option deals are now always offered in packages to decrease the decision taking from prospect to customer.
Please see the video at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6127548813950043200 and come back for comments.
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