8-2 Choices

• Do you enjoy shopping? Why/why not?
• Is there a wide choice of goods in shops in North America?
• Do you think having a wide choice is a good thing, or a bad thing?
• Why do you choose to buy one brand instead of another - for example, drink coffee from Tim Hortons rather than Starbucks?

Are people encouraged to buy things if they have more choice, or less choice?

A. Johnny Flynn did not expect to feel inspired on clothes-shopping trip. ‘I avoid buying jeans; I wear one pair until it falls apart,’ says Flynn, an American psychology professor. ‘The last time I had bought a pair there had been just one style. But recently I was asked if I wanted this fit or that fit, or this colour or that. I intended to be out shopping for five minutes but it took an hour, and I began to feel more and more dissatisfied.’ This trip made him think: did more choice always mean greater satisfaction? ‘I’d always believed that choice was good, and more choice was better. My experience got me thinking: how many others felt like me?’

B. The result was a widely discussed study that challenged the idea that more is always better. Drawing on the psychology of economics, which looks at how people choose what to buy, Flynn designed a questionnaire to show the differences between what he termed ‘maximisers’ and ‘satisficers’. Broadly speaking, maximisers are keen to make the best possible choices, and often spend time researching to ensure that their purchases cannot be bettered. Satisficers are the easy-going people, delighted with items that are simply acceptable.

C. Flynn puts forward the view, which contrasts with what politicians and salesmen would have people believe, that the unstoppable growth in choice is in danger of ruining lives. ‘I’m not saying no choice is good. But the average person makes at least 200 decisions every day, and I don't think there’s room for any more.’ His study may help to explain the peculiar paradox of the wealthy West - psychologists and economists are puzzled by the fact that people have not become happier as they have become richer. In fact, the ability to demand whatever is wanted whenever it is wanted has instead led to rising expectations.

D. The search for perfection can be found in every area of life from buying soap powder to selecting a career. Certain decisions may automatically close off other choices, and some people are then upset by the thought of what else might have been. Flynn says, ‘If you make a decision and it’s disappointing, don’t worry about it, it may actually have been a good decision, just not as good as you had hoped.’

E. One fact that governments need to think about is that people seem more inclined to buy something if there are fewer, not more, choices. If that’s true for jeans, then it is probably true for cars, schools and pension funds. ‘If there are few options, the world doesn’t expect you to make the perfect decision. But when there are thousands it’s hard not to think there's a perfect one out there, and that you’ll find it if you look hard enough.’

F. If you think that Internet shopping will help, think again: ‘You want to buy something and you look at three websites. How long will it take to look at one more? Two minutes? It’s only a click. Before you know it you’ve spent three hours trying to decide which £10 item to buy. It’s crazy. You’ve used another evening that you could have spent with your friends.’

G. Flynn, who describes himself as a natural satisficer, says that trying to stop our tendency to be maximisers will make us happier. ‘The most important recommendation I can give is to lower personal expectations,’ he says. ‘But no one wants to hear this because they all believe that perfection awaits the wise decision maker. Life isn’t necessarily like that.’