The conclusion in the TEDTalk “The Paradox of Choice” by Barry Schwartz is that despite what people think the ability to have more choice can also be negative and not just positive. His premises are that having choices causes two negative effects at least in western industrial societies. One of the effects is called paralysis in which when people have many choices its hard for them to make a choice at all. The second effect is that when someone manages to make a decision they would be less happy than they would be if they didn’t have all those choices. In the article “From the ‘perfect’ salary to keeping up with the joneses, here’s how money really affects your happiness” by Cory Stieg, his conclusion is that money doesn’t make you happier. His premise is that studies have shown that once people make the median amount of income any more they make will not affect how happy they are and have shown more.
My argument is that having a lot of money will make you happier. While money itself will not make you happier, it is what that money is capable of that will make you happier. With more money comes financial stability and no need to stress over basic needs. It also comes with many choices of what you want to get with it. In the TedTalk Barry Schwartz makes an example of,” you go to the consumer electronics store to set up a stereo system … we can construct six and a half million different stereo systems out of the components that are on offer in one store.”(1:23). While the number is daunting the fact that you have so much choice to fit your needs perfectly is amazing and is only possible if you have the money needed to experiment. Another way money affects your happiness is by,” Buy yourself time … when people paid for time-saving services … they had higher levels of life satisfaction than when they bought material items.”(Cory Steig, P 30). By being able to afford services that mitigate the time you need to spend on everyday things like cooking or cleaning people can afford to do activities that they enjoy or experiment and see what they would enjoy which would make them happier.
One thought on “Alvin Tan Discussion Board #5”
Hi Alvin, I agree with your statement when you mentioned that “With more money comes financial stability and no need to stress over basic needs”. Someone who makes tons of money doesn’t have to worry about their rent fee, cable bill or streaming cost, phone bill, etc. As you said before, things become less stressful when money is not an issue. It’s not what you have, it’s how you will use it.