Paradox Of Choice

Submitted By madeco
Words: 396
Pages: 2

Advanced A
At the TED conference held in July 2005, Barry Schwarts presents a speech entitled “The Paradox of choice”. In this lecture, Mr. Schwarts refutes at a principal ideology of western industrial societies: to maximize freedom of choice is to maximize welfare of citizens. Mr. Schwarts says that people do not inherit an identity because of choices. Choices are so deeply embedded in their life and people get to invent an identity as often they want. Also, the speaker comments that people need to ask themselves when they wake up in the morning what kind of person they want to be. The speaker remarks that people work less and enjoy less because they are preoccupied asking themselves many questions instead of enjoy the moment. Mr. Shwarts mentions that although we can find some advantages with choices, there are two negative effects on people which the first one, paradoxically, is that it produces paralysis rather than liberation. People have many options to choose, but they find it very difficult to choose at all. The second effect is that even people manage to overcome the paralysis and make a choice; they are less pleased with the results. While the more options people have, it easier to regret and to disappoint about the selection that they chose because people imagine the attractive characteristics of alternatives that they reject making them less satisfied with their first decision. Finally, the speaker compares that before with one option, if people were