The Paradox of Choice Why More Is Less.pdf

of Choice The Paradox Barry Schwartz Why More Is Less For Ruby and Eliza, with love and hope Contents Prologue. The Paradox of Choice: A Road Map PART I | WHEN WE CHOOSE Chapter 1. Let’s Go Shopping9Chapter 2. New Choices23PART II | HOW WE CHOOSEChapter 3. Deciding and Choosing47Chapter 4. When Only the Best Will Do77PART III | WHY WE SUFFERChapter 5. Choice and Happiness99Chapter 6. Missed Opportunities117Chapter 7. “If Only . . .”: The Problem of Regret147Chapter 8. Why Decisions Disappoint:The Problem of Adaptation167Chapter 9. Why Everything Suffers parison181Chapter 10. Whose Fault Is It? Choice,Disappointment, and Depression 201PART IV | WHAT WE CAN DOChapter 11. What to Do About Choice221Notes237Index2571 AcknowledgementsAbout the AuthorPraiseOther Books by Barry SchwartzCreditsCoverCopyrightAbout the PublisherPrologue The Paradox of Choice: A Road Map A BOUT SIX YEARS AG O, I WENT T O THE GAP T O B UY A PAIR OF JEANS. I tend to wear my jeans until they’re falling apart, so it had been quite a while since my last purchase. A nice young salesperson walked up to me and asked if she could help. “I want a pair of jeans—32–28,” I said. “Do you want them slim ?t, easy ?t, relaxed ?t, baggy, or extra baggy?” she replied. “Do you want them stonewashed, acid-washed, or distressed? Do you want them button-?y or zipper-?y? Do you want them faded or regular?” I was stunned. A moment or two later I sputtered out something like, “I just want regular jeans. You know, the kind that used to be the only kind.” It turned out she didn’t know, but after consulting one of her older colleagues, she was able to ?gure out what “regu-lar” jeans used to be, and she pointed me in the right direction. The trouble was that with all these options available to me now, I was no longer sure that “regular” jeans were what I wanted. Per-haps the easy ?t or the relaxed ?t would be fortable. Hav-ing already demonstrated how out of touch I was with modern fashion, I persisted. I went back to her