Have you ever felt overwhelmed by the number of choices in the cereal aisle? Or stood in front of your closet and found it impossible to choose a single outfit from all of the clothes hanging in front of you? Welcome to the club. The more options you have, the harder it is to make a decision—and the more likely you’ll end up making a risky choice, according to research published recently in the journal Psychonomic Bulletin and Review.
For the study, researchers at the University of Warwick and the University of Lugano asked 64 people to participate in a gambling game that displayed between two and 32 boxes on a computer screen. Each box was assigned a different monetary value ranging from £1 to £5 (approximately $ 1.51 to $ 7.56). Each box also had a designated payout likelihood. Participants were free to click on as many boxes as they wanted to see the assigned worth of each and the odds that each would actually pay out that amount. Ultimately, though, participants had to pick just one box.
Researchers found that people had a harder time choosing when there were more boxes on-screen. What’s more, having more options also made participants more likely to choose boxes with a high monetary value—regardless of the payout odds.
“People make rash decisions based on the information they gather,” says Thomas Hills, PhD, associate professor of psychology at the University of Warwick and lead study author. When people try to make decisions without full knowledge of what their choices actually are, they base their choices on impulse and feelings, says Hills. Having too many options limits your ability to analyze each one individually and make the most rational decision, says Sheena Iyengar, PhD, author of The Art of Choosing
One of the easiest ways to cope with indecisiveness? Separate your available choices into a few smaller, more manageable groups. Then eliminate all but one item from each group, suggests Iyengar. You’ll be able to quickly weed out several choices that might otherwise just distract you, and you’ll be left with only a few strong options—so you can actually make an informed decision.
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