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Barry Schwartz's The Paradox Of Choice

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Barry Schwartz titled his talk “The Paradox of Choice” because choice presents both good and bad things. Because of this, choice is a paradox. We live in a world full of a million different choices: where to eat, what car to buy, what phone to get, who we associate with, the list goes on and on. If we didn’t have any choices, our lives would be dull and mediocre at best. But with so many choices, studies have shown that we are less happy because of specific factors that have to do with having large amounts of choices to make and options to chose from.
According to Schwartz, choices make us miserable because of a few different things. One of which is the opportunity cost. The opportunity cost causes us to think about what we are missing because when you choose one thing, you sacrifice another. This can make people miserable because while they should be enjoying one thing, all they can think about it what they are missing because of what they gave up. …show more content…

There are so many options to choose from. Surely we can find one that makes everybody happy right? Because of the paradox of choice, this can actually easily be wrong. We debate for so long about where to eat because there are so many options it feels impossible to decide. Once we have made a decision, some of us may feel disappointed because of opportunity cost and the escalation of expectations. Because there were so many options to choose from, we had to give one thing up to get something else. For example, if I gave up Texas Road House for Olive Garden, the whole time I’m at Olive Garden eating breadsticks, I may be thinking about how much I wish I had a Texas Road House role. Also, by choosing among many options, people’s expectations may have escalated. This is because people think they have chosen the best possible option and their minds, they make the food unrealistically delicious. When the food comes, they may be let

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