Too Much Jam

Virginia Postrel (a friend--I don't have that many friends, I just keep writing about them) reviews a book about choice in The New York Times. The author is Sheena Iyengar, who devised the famous jam experiment where more choices for shoppers led to less buyers. There's a bit more to it than that, but when the legend becomes fact, print the legend:

"The study hardly seems mine anymore, now that it has received so much attention and been described in so many different ways,” Iyengar, a professor at Columbia Business School, writes in “The Art of Choosing.” “From the various versions people have heard and passed on,” she adds, “a refrain has emerged: More is less. That is, more choice leads to less satisfaction or fulfillment or happiness.”

It is true, though it may seem a paradox, that less choice can lead to more freedom--a certain type of freedom, anyway. It can free up the mind and simplify your path. The path may be more limited, but you'll feel more free and comfortable while on it. Of course, that doesn't mean we want people--especially those we don't know directly--making the big (or often even the little) decisions for us. So it's troublesome to have people vaguely aware of Iyengar throw slogans at you rather than do the analysis necessary to deal with this issue. I'd still rather have more jam available, but that's nothing compared to government officials forcing me onto the path they prefer.

PS What's the right amount of choice? No one knows:

The optimal amount of choice lies somewhere in between infinity and very little, and that optimum depends on context and culture. “In practice, people can cope with larger assortments than research on our basic cognitive limitations might suggest,” Iyengar writes. “After all, visiting the cereal aisle doesn’t usually give shoppers a nervous breakdown.”

When I read that, I immediately thought of Moscow On The Hudson, a 1984 film starring Robin Williams as a Russian who defects to America. I don't remember much about the movie, but one scene that's stuck is Williams walking through a grocery store and, in fact, almost having a breakdown because of all the choice. I wonder if that's what Professor Iyengar was thinking of.