Apple v. Orange

The consumer conundrum of too much choice may actually be more an issue of too little information, reports Alina Tugend in the New York Times (2/27/10). Benjamin Scheibehenne, of the University of Basel, believes that "it is too simple to conclude that too many choices are bad, just as it is wrong to assume that more choices are always better." He thinks it’s important to separate "the concept of choice overload from information overload." The problem, in other words, is that we’re often forced to make choices based on incomplete information.

This can happen even when there aren’t many choices, of course. And trying to become better informed by conducting research can make things worse because we tend to become obsessed with finding the perfect choice, as opposed to one that’s good enough. Lori Gottlieb wrote about this in her book, "Marry Him: The Case for Settling for Mr. Good Enough." Lori thinks that women should think more about whether the guy makes her happy than if he’s the best she can do. So, maybe the same applies when choosing peanut butter, right?

Sheena Iyengar, author of The Art of Choosing, meanwhile, thinks the answer may be to increase information and remove choices, and effectively defer to expert decision-makers. Her example is the difference in the way doctors handle life-support decisions in France versus America. In France, doctors pull the plug unless the family challenges them, while in America, the family has to decide. The result: "French families weren’t as angry or confused about what had happened, and focused much less on how things might have been or should have been."