The Paradox Of Choice by Barry Schwartz (Summary & Review)

About The Author Of This Book

Barry Schwartz is an American psychologist. He is a professor at Swarthmore College, where he has taught since 1972. 

He is known for his contributions to the field of psychology, particularly in the areas of decision-making and behavioral economics.

Schwartz has written several books, including The Costs of Living, Practical Wisdom, and The Paradox Of Choice. 

He has also been featured in numerous documentaries and popular media outlets, such as TED talks and The New York Times. 

He is a frequent speaker and lecturer, and has been awarded numerous awards and honors for his work.

His work has helped people in understanding the way they make decisions and think about the consequences of those decisions. 

He has also been an influential voice in the world of psychology, and his work continues to be a source of inspiration and guidance for many.

The Paradox Of Choice Summary

Whether you want it or not, you have to make choices every second.

And if this sound difficult, think about the number of options want and have today in every aspect of our lives.

This takes the challenge to a whole another level.

Fortunately, in this book summary, you’ll learn how you can live a confusion-free life by having fewer options and at the same time derive more contentment from your decisions.

Alrighty, so without further ado, let’s dive right in.

Lesson #1: Our desire for more has led to an increase in the number of options we have today.

We all love extra variety and options.

For example, everybody wants more options in their food menu.

We want more options to organize our data.

We want more variety in everything we consume.

We are drawn to the idea of having more choices because of the potential for more success and satisfaction that comes with them.

On the flip side, we don’t like restrictions.

Imagine if you had to eat the same food every day, it wouldn’t be a pleasurable experience, right?

Once we are used to a certain thing, we want something fresh and new in our lives.

Clearly, we all have to desire to have more options in all aspects of our lives.

The problem is that there is a limit to the number of options we can handle at any given time.

The paradox is:

Although we think more choices will be better, they make us more confused and dissatisfied if we don’t know what we want.

In the ancient times, we had lesser options compared to modern world, so we thought that maybe having everything in abundance will fix our happiness problem.

Today, despite having so many options, we still face mental health issues like loneliness and restlessness.

Something always feels off, right?

Isn’t this weird: We all talk of freedom. But when we are faced with freedom of choice, we don’t derive much satisfaction beyond a certain point.

Nobody expected this kind of weird situation that we face today in the rapidly advancing digital world.

What’s surprising is that we still want more of everything.

Would you appreciate less number of TV Shows in your Netflix library? Probably not.

Would you appreciate less number of career options? Likely not.

Would you appreciate fewer options while buying any electronic gadget on Amazon? Likely not.

Would you appreciate less number of books to read? Likely not.

But would you appreciate less stress and better wellbeing? Definitely.

Do you see it? 

We not only want more options, but we also want less stress and confusion.

Let’s discuss further in the next lesson.

Lesson #2: More choices may lead to more confusion.

Have you wondered why making choices is so hard?

Think how much effort it requires just select a perfect t-shirt online.

When selecting a product, one should consider factors such as color, size, brand, type, reviews, and more.

Even when you try to simplify the process by checking a review on YouTube or any other social media platform, you have to think about whether the source is genuine or not.

And to find the best possible information, you have to scroll through countless videos reviewing the same product, and having different opinions.

Even if you have the best knowledge about a product, it’s difficult to rely on the opinions.

Even if a product has a high rating, there is no guarantee that your particular unit will be perfect.

Only after you hold the product in your hands and see it for real can you realize the truth about it.

There is more. Just think for a second.

If YouTubers who review the products may be biased, aren’t there any chances that our own thinking may be biased?

Pay attention to how many advertisements do we see every day.

Aren’t we always skeptical to buy products that have zero marketing behind it?

You are much more likely to buy a product after it being recommended by a person you trust.

We start doubting a product if nobody is talking about it.

Don’t trust me, just look what happens during your buying journey.

Making choices is very hard these days.

Everybody is out there to steal your attention for selfish reasons.

Big companies burn millions of dollars to capture your attention and stay relevant in the minds of consumers.

Now, try to look from a macro perspective.

Most people don’t have a clear vision in life.

We are highly prone to making misinformed choices by hearing opinions and stories from people who are often misinterpreting the reality.

All this leads to confusion and chaos.

The truth is:

There is no guarantee that spending all that time researching products before purchasing them will make you happier and satisfied.

Keep watching to learn why more choices ultimately leave you dissatisfied.

Lesson #3: More options may not lead to more satisfaction.

The tendency to look for more options not only confuses us, but it also makes us less satisfied with our decisions.

We derive less satisfaction from it.

Have you ever felt like the purchase wasn’t worth the money and started to question your choices, although you gave a lot of thought before purchasing it?

Think about the excitement we all have when you buy something we desire badly.

It makes us happy, right.

That cool smartphone that you always, wanted to buy. That gaming laptop you always wished you had. 

When you get those things, you feel happy.

Now, if you are a minimalist person, you’ll be more satisfied.

But if you are not, you’ll have this question at the back of your mind, “what if your choice was wrong? What if you didn’t buy the best model?”

After all, who wants the second best? We all want the best, right?

Most people, I think, fall in the second category. 

In other words, we are more like to maximize our pleasure instead of taking stress to reduce the sources of stress.

We are constantly looking for the best thing. 

On the flip side, minimalist are okay with what they have got. They tend like to add stuff to their life. They are content with fewer things. Furthermore, they are more likely to be satisfied after making a purchase.

Am I asking you to become a minimalist? Not really.

Just be watchful of your decision and see where they are leading you.

If adding more stuff to your life is making you restless, then what’s the point?

My suggestion is not to go in extremes unless it’s strictly necessary.

If more options are really needed, it’s good to have them. But if little options will do the job, don’t feel bad for having less options.

Lesson #4: Beyond a point, money won’t make you any happier.

The author talks about how America’s and Japan’s per-capita income has increased significantly in the past 40 years.

With that much money, you can buy more affluence.

But then why there are many Americans facing loneliness problem?

When you are lonely, you start feeling bad, right?

We need happiness because we feel sad despite having so much affluence.

Maybe increasing income and buying more stuff isn’t going to solve the happiness problem.

When we have less money, we that having more money would give us everlasting happiness.

But when the money increases beyond a certain point, the increase in it doesn’t proportionally increase happiness.

Logically, more money should bring more happiness, shouldn’t it?

Isn’t it the same big dream we all aim for?

Don’t we all want to become billionaires so that once we become one, we’ll be happier and live our best life?

According to the author, the reason behind this might how we are facing so more choices than we can handle.

More choices distract us from what’s truly important, so we become less happy, although money can buy freedom and give many choices for becoming happier.

More choices to buy things require time.

This means we get less time for social interactions, and thus we feel lonelier than ever before.

Adults going through loneliness have a tough time talking about their feelings or getting the support they need from their families.

Haven’t you noticed how we prefer the company of our gadgets more over meeting with friends and sharing stories?

Today, we share stories through social media and do less human interactions. Everything is becoming too robotic.

Just think about how people interacted a lot before we had smartphones and the internet. 

There was a strong connection — a human element was there.

Many studies indicate that people who have good relationships are happier compared to those who don’t.

The surprising data is that:

In America, young adults often feel lonelier than seniors despite being connected with their friends all the time through internet.

Maybe this is because people had fewer options to connect earlier, so they naturally focused on people around them and built stronger relationships.

They had fewer advertisements to divert their attention.

They could focus more on what’s truly important.

Does this mean we should move backwards?

No, that’s not the point here.

The point here is that having too many options might not always make us happier. 

And also, increasing per-capita income and surrounding ourselves with more stuff than needed will only add complexity to our lives, which will ultimately lead to less satisfaction and lesser happiness in the long term.

Money helps you buy pleasurable things and experiences, but do you know that you won’t always feel the same pleasure if you do the same things on loop?

Let’s find out why in the next lesson.

Lesson #5: We derive even less pleasure if we make the same kind of choices every day.

Allow me to explain with an example.

What happens when you listen to a great song?

You feel good.

Let’s say the degree of happiness was 90 first time.

But when you’ll listen to the same song again, the degree of happiness will decrease.

This time it’ll be lesser than 90. 

How much will it be exactly will depend on your preferences and who are you as a person.

The boost in your happiness won’t be the same as last time.

This is known as hedonic adaptation.

It is the idea that people become used to, or adapt to, both positive and negative life events over time. 

For example, if someone wins the lottery, they may experience an initial surge of joy and happiness, but soon begin to return to their baseline level of happiness. 

Similarly, if someone loses a loved one, they may initially experience intense sadness, but eventually become accustomed to the new reality.

The same thing happens with choices.

If you are making the same kind of choices every single day, your life will get boring. Your mind will adapt to the happiness you feel after making those choices.

It’ll become normal to you.

Following this logic, to derive greater happiness from the “freedom of making choices,” the choices must change in nature.

Again, it’s not about how many choices you make, it’s about the quality of the choices you make.

This is not a bad thing, actually.

It only means that you don’t need to live every day on a loop. You can always try new things and experiment with your normal ways of doing things.

It’s sometimes better to make less quality choices and limit your options to derive more pleasure.

Bullet Summary

Let’s recap what we learned so far:

• Lesson #1: Our desire for more has led to an increase in the number of options we have today.
• Lesson #2: More choices may lead to more confusion.
• Lesson #3: More options may not lead to more satisfaction.
• Lesson #4: Beyond a certain point, money won’t make us any happier.
• Lesson #5: We derive even less pleasure if we make the same kind of choices every day.

What’s the solution to the paradox of choice?

Okay, so you might be wondering what to do next after learning about this paradox of choice.

The solution is to set some smart rules and eliminate the choices. 

And focus more on making quality decisions.

Not all choices are worth spending time on.

Presently, you have an opportunity cost. You could choose which movie to watch next, or which book summary to read next.

Smart people won’t waste their time deciding which movie to watch; they’ll instantly start reading another great book summary.

Okay, just kidding, but you know what I mean.

You don’t have to choose out of all the options.

This is because at any moment, you have thousands of options to choose from.

Eliminate options as much as you can.

Prioritize what’s important to your mission in life.

The Paradox Of Choice Review

Here is the unbiased and critical review of this book:

Last update on 2023-01-04 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon

The Paradox of Choice is a thought-provoking book that dives deep into the idea that more choices may not always lead to greater satisfaction. 

It highlights how too many choices can lead to confusion, stress, and dissatisfaction. 

It’s a good read for anyone who wants to better understand the psychological effects of decision-making. 

The book offers an insightful view on how to better manage our choices and prioritize what truly matters in life.

How to buy The Book and from where?

You can buy the book in your preferable format below.

Get the Audiobook: Buy on Audible | Play free on Audiobooks.com

Get the Kindle version: Buy on Amazon

Get the Paperback version: View price on Amazon

Get the Hardcover version: View price on Amazon

Now It’s Your Turn

We have discussed the paradox of choice and how it can affect our decision-making and overall happiness. 

Hopefully, this article has helped you to better understand this concept and how you can manage your choices more effectively. 

Remember, it’s not always about having more choices, but rather making quality decisions. So, be mindful of your decisions and make the most of your choices.

Now you tell me:

What are your best takeaways from this book summary?

Do you have some feedback?

You can contact me anytime and let me know.

Spread the wisdom:

If you liked this, don’t hesitate to share it with your friends and family members.

Thanks for reading.