When it comes to choice it always seems to be a love hate relationship: we hate making them, but we can’t live without them. Anyone can all look back to a time in our lives where they wish someone could just pick for us, or times when we wish there were more to choose from. All Americans have many choices, and it is such a part of our daily lives that we don’t even realize it. Barry Schwartz and Sheena Iyengar‘s TED talks bring up interesting ideas about choice, how people deal with them and their affects. They both state that although choice is good, it can also have negative effects. Schwartz explains what most people believe and experience with choice, while Iyengar shows cultural differences in choice making. Both Schwartz and Iyengar …show more content…
The second is the more choices the more likely that the best choice can be made, and the third assumption is that you should never say no to choice. Iyengard evaluates these three assumptions with various studies where one group is American and the other is another culture. Her studies help understand why and how Americans make choices in comparison to the rest of the world. Without doubt, Iyengard’s studies and analysis on choice is interesting but Schwartz’s was clearer because it easily communicated the message that was more applicable to the public. Choices are an important part of everyone’s lives and the choices we make can reflex who we are as individuals. Choice and the ability to choose are excellent and can represent a sense of freedom. Schwartz’s and Iyengard’s analysis on choice focused on the effects of choice in people and how people react and deal with it. Schwartz’s Official Dogma and explanation of how Americans act in response to choice making is the most relatable to individuals and clearly chows the consequences of too much choice. His analysis can assist to people realize that maybe because we have more choice doesn’t necessarily mean we will make us happier or the best decision will be made. Understanding the consequences of too much choice can possibly make individuals improve the negative effects it can have and make us happier with our
The Unbearable lightness of choosing “Because you are in control of your life. Don't ever forget that. You are what you are because of the conscious and subconscious choices you have made.” -Barbara Hall, A Summons to New Orleans, 2000 I personally agree with the writer Jon Spayde on all the aspects he has mentioned in this paper. The writer has discoursed various facets regarding the importance of alternatives in one’s life. But, a very significant point mentioned in this article is, that when a certain individual is in a position to make his own choices or take his own decisions he must keep in mind that he alone will not be the one to face the consequences, but many people will be a part of his decisions. So one must give a serious thought when making a choice, which may have an impact not just on one life but, on the lives of many others. Mr. Spayde points out the fact, that having a choice is the luxury of the privileged class. The unprivileged class cannot afford the luxury of choice. Now the situation is not that bad but we all know that they have limited choices and this lack of choice causes a problem for them in certain situations. According to my own experience, though the lack of choices may cause hurdles at times, still, there deficiency is sometimes ‘a blessing in disguise’. When a person is confined to a certain number of options he has no other way out, but to choose amongst them. This might be the making of an individual. Like we consider an example of a
Our choices influence how we live and how people see us, whatever decision we make impacts not only us, but our family as well. To start off, in the movie Forrest Gump directed by Robert Zemeckis, Forrest the main character is in love with his best friend, but when he goes to marry her, she puts him down. When Forrest asks Jenny to marry him and that he would make a good husband and she responds with “you would, Forrest” and then continues to say you don’t want to marry me. – Here Forrest is hurt that the love of his life does not want to be with him, but she is only hurting him because she is afraid of commitment and afraid to let him down. She loved him, but knows she cannot commit to something she
Having a plethora of choice may appear to promote the freedom of individuals, but when the quantity of choices a person is required to make becomes overloaded, the pressure builds and that “sense of freedom” becomes a sense of entrapment. There are so many choices available that there are going to be both
Analyze 2 recent “personal choices” of your own in a sociologically mindful manner. Do not use the same examples as the author (i.e., smoking, violent sports, having a baby, etc.). Be sure to clearly discuss the social consequences of your choices.
All Choices Have Consequences Choices! Everyone in the world has to make many of them every day. People make choices on what to have for breakfast, which routes to take to school, how to answer on a test, how to ask someone on a date. John Donne writes “No man is an island, entire of itself.” Like a pebble when dropped into water, creating ripples far and wide, a man’s actions may have repercussions for himself, his family and or friends, and even his society.
when the choices is made people instantly think to themselves oh darn I should have choose something different and believe the trails of these of these choices are the consequences.
A summary of Barry Schwartz’s claim is that though we love options and choices, the number of choices and variety has become detrimental to our wellbeing; in short, “sometimes more isn’t better, sometimes more is just more” (Sabrina). This is the claim of definition. The next claim that he proposes is the claim of cause stating that we, as Americans, have to make too many decisions in our day to day living, let alone future planning and goal setting decisions. He gives the example of going to the grocery store and picking out shampoo or a painkiller, which would in the past be a simple decision now becomes a huge ordeal deciding between 360 types of shampoo or 80 different options for painkillers (Schwartz). With so many small decisions
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.
People choose every day in different circumstances and degrees either small imperceptible one, such as the color of the shirt that they will wear, or huge emotional and moral dilemmas like an abort or a high-risk surgery. Nonetheless, there is always a decision made that has its consequences (want or not). Albert Camus uses characterization to address the importance of choices.
“God gave us all the ability to make our own choices. Good or bad. But also gives us a guide to navigate the storms. But it’s your choice to take that guide and use it or have your ship sink in the storms”. We all make choices at a certain level in our life, choices that determine the kind of legacies we leave. The Idea that right and wrong or good and evil occur in some nonconcrete sense, is because each individual has this thing we call moralities. Morality can determine as reasonable person, listen one and another associated our thought and come out with a solution that both can agree or disagree., Morality have a lot to do with choice makers, if we are morally secure it is difficult to make made choices that will destroy your life later on; therefore, Morality is the need to make right choices it’s also essential to know
In one day, the average american make approximately 35,000 decisions/choices(Davidson & Smith.decision making process.2004). Even a seemingly insignificant decision is consiously made by an individua, despite any extrinsic pressure or suggestion. Both Barry Schwartz an Malcolm Gladwell elaborate on choice as they spoke at ted talks, however their beliefs contradict. I believe choice in modern day industrialized society, benefits, as well as hinders one's well being, and one should learn how to effectively compltete the decision making process before coming to a conclusion.
To help define this, I looked to Dus-Otterstrom Goran. He said it best himself, “choice to be the very act of selecting and bringing about one among several alternatives” (Goran 261). Obviously the selecting of one option out of many defines choice. This idea seems elementary but becomes important when talking about the city to understand that in order to make a choice there must be more than one option presented. “Choice is valuable because it improves the chances of our getting outcomes that are in line with our preferences. It allows outcomes to take on a certain meaning they would not otherwise take on, in virtue of being expressions of our own” (Goran 261). In making decisions the individuals get to put themselves first. The point of a decision happens to be recieving the most benefits, therefore the value of having these benefits centered to an individual’s own life supports the idea that they will feel in control. “Choice is valuable because it bestows upon people a certain status they would not otherwise have. Choice promotes personal growth and we derive enjoyment from having and making choices” (Goran 262). Not only does making decisions instill a sense of control and therefore responsibility, but it adds to development. It allows a person to feel as though they are independent of all constraints. It enlists a sense of free will and freedom. Freedom in this sense,
An inability to control that choice becomes, in this view, simply a personal failing. But while it's true that, in the end, we're all responsible for how we spend our time, it's an oversimplification to argue that we're free "to choose" whether and how we use computers and cell phones, as if social norms, job expectations, familial responsibilities, and other external pressures had nothing to do with it (Car 2010).”
the choices that we make in out daily lives, good or bad that have to
“Perhaps our greatest power in life is the power to choose. Without question, choices are the most determining factor in how our lives turn out.” ( Maxwell,2007).