Decision Fatigue

We were walking out of a garden center on the southwest side of Springfield a week or so ago when my Main Man commented on the extensive number and variety of plants available. "When I think about what we used to sell at the garden center where I worked during high school and college," he said,"it's amazing." 

"Do you think people today are better gardeners?" I wondered.

"Probably not," he said. "Today an amateur gardener will attempt to grow more difficult species because they're available. They see them at the store, take them home, and plop them in the ground. They don't know that some varieties have a more difficult time thriving than others. What we sold at Barrett's would be considered just the basics now--petunias, zinnias, and marigolds. Pretty much everyone could make them grow, so it was easier to be successful from the start. I worry that many first-time gardeners today may be discouraged with some of the plants they try and just give up."

I know we were talking about plants, but my husband's remarks caused me to think about something known as "decision fatigue" which occurs when we have to choose from among too many options. In The Paradox of Choice,psychologist Barry Schwartz describes what happened when a supermarket offered customers the opportunity to sample as many varieties of jelly as they liked and purchase them at a discount. One day customers had the opportunity to choose from among twenty-four varieties; the next day they could choose from among only six. On day two, the supermarket sold ten times as much jelly. Researchers noted that when the decision became more difficult, i.e., there were too many choices, the customers bought nothing at all.

Schwartz concludes that too many choices leads to "decision paralysis." Worse than that, it may also contribute to our unhappiness. We struggle with contentment if we believe a better choice may still exist "out there." How is it possible to know if we haven't sampled them all? Eventually we choose, but we're prone to discontent because we are uncertain about whether or not we have maximized our options.

That's the problem with the world most of us inhabit today. Even though we may find the cereal aisle at the grocery store overwhelming, we still appreciate the opportunity to choose. We know the abundance we enjoy is one unavailable to much of the world. At the same time, preoccupation with variety and choice can cripple contentment. Added choice can equal more stress. More opportunities may disable decision-making ability. 

This summer I'm wondering if we might consider constraining our options a bit just to give ourselves a break. I'm wondering if this might be the season to limit the number of activities in which we (and our children) participate. We could creatively choose to restrict ourselves in any number of ways, but here are just a few possibilities:

• Read only books borrowed from the library.
• Limit grocery shopping to one supermarket.
• Eat primarily foods grown locally and purchased at a farmer's market.
• Focus on vacation options close to home (e.g., within 100 miles).
• Have at least one or two media-free evenings per week.

We can't eliminate all the stress in our lives associated with decision-making and we probably wouldn't want to do so. At the same time, we can have a saner summer by placing some self-imposed restrictions on the number of options from which we will choose. That's a choice we can make.

Decidedly yours,

Dr. Jennifer Baker