Culture For The Non-Cultured

When I went for ice-cream as a child, I would look out at all the flavors laid out in all their deliciousness, and be scared of making the wrong decision.  I began to dread trips to Baskin Robbins.

Neurotic?  Maybe.  But recent research shows that this behavior is not that unusual, and not limited to children.

In their fantastic book, Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, Chip Heath and Dan Heath describe “decision paralysis.” Decision paralyis is the paradoxical idea that the more choices people are given, the less likely they are to agree to any one of them.

The authors describe a study where college students were offered  the hypothetical choice between a great, once-in-a-lifetime lecture versus studying.  21% chose studying.  Then they were offered the hypothetical choice between a great lecture versus studying versus a great foreign movie.  40% chose studying.

The lesson, I think, is as much as people say they like their freedom, sometimes they like to be told they have 2 and only 2 choices: A or B. 

For instance, Red Mango is a big fad that’s hitting New York these days.  It offers 2 flavors of frozen yogurt: original and green tea …

And I find that kind of comforting.