17: Maximizing, satisficing and the paradox of choice
The Psychology Podcast
iHeartPodcasts
4.4 • 2K Ratings
🗓️ 25 May 2015
⏱️ 42 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
A legend in the field, economic psychologist Barry Schwartz talks about how having too many options can be paralytic and tiresome to the human psyche. Schwartz also discusses the destructive force of an “only the best will do” mentality. We contemplate the implications of these concepts across topics like parenting consumerism, creativity, the prevalence of dissatisfaction in the modern world and what we can do to help ourselves.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to the psychology podcast with Dr Scott Barry Kaufman where we give |
| 0:04.7 | you insights into the mind brain behavior and creativity. |
| 0:08.3 | Each episode will feature a new guest who will stimulate your mind and give you a greater |
| 0:12.0 | understanding of yourself, others, and the world |
| 0:14.2 | we live in. |
| 0:15.2 | Thanks for listening and enjoy the podcast. It's my great pleasure to have the great Barry Schwartz on the show today. |
| 0:38.0 | Barry is the Darwin Cartwright Professor of Social Theory and Social Action at Swarthmore College. |
| 0:44.5 | He studies the link between economics and psychology, often startling insights into modern life. |
| 0:49.8 | He's author, among many books, of the Best Seller or The Paradox of Choice, why more is less. |
| 0:55.4 | Barry, thanks so much for taking the time to talk to me today. |
| 0:58.2 | My pleasure, Scott. |
| 1:00.0 | So I've been a long admirer of your work, has a lot of people and especially in the field of positive psychology. |
| 1:06.7 | You know, one of these great myths is that the more we have choices, the more we will be happy, the more we have choices the more we will be happy the more that will you know that |
| 1:15.2 | abundance is good you really busted this myth I thought in a really big way suggesting |
| 1:22.0 | that more to us can actually make us miserable. |
| 1:25.4 | I thought you could maybe talk about the initial theory a little bit for |
| 1:29.2 | listeners who may not be as familiar with it as I am. |
| 1:31.6 | Sure, well, first a little background. |
| 1:35.1 | The theory that the stuff I wrote about replaced or challenged |
| 1:40.6 | is very intuitive and it seems like it can't almost can't be false. |
| 1:45.0 | You know, if there are five cereals in the supermarket and you're content and I add three more, |
| 1:52.0 | somebody will be happy about that and you'll be unaffected. |
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