Summary
After watching The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz I believe the conclusion is that all the choices that we have today are impacting us negatively. The negative impact is because we’re never going to be satisfied. With so many choices our expectations will leave us with disappointment because of constant comparison. Barry Schwartz states “Paralysis is a consequence of having too many choices”. To defend his argument Barry Schwartz states “that it produces paralysis rather than liberation”. “With so many options to choose from, people find it very difficult to choose at all”. He then gives an example about a study that was done on investment in voluntary retirement plans. The study was done on Vanguard, a large mutual fund company that consists of about a million employees and about two thousand different workplaces. The findings of the study were for every ten mutual funds the employer offered; the rate of participation went down two percent. “Making the decision is so hard that they pass up significant matching money from the employer. “By not participating, they are passing up as much as 5,000 dollars a year from the employer, who would happily match their contribution”. Also, another negative impact is “that, even if we manage to overcome the paralysis and make a choice, we end up less satisfied with the result of the choice than we would be if we had fewer options to choose from”. Barry Schwartz further elaborated when he said, “it's easy to imagine that you could've made a different choice that would've been better.” And what happens is, this imagined alternative induces you to regret the decision you made, and this regret subtracts from the satisfaction you get out of the decision you made, even if it was a good decision”. “The more options there are, the easier it is to regret anything at all that is disappointing about the option that you chose.”
I chose to read the article by Cori Steg “From the ‘perfect’ salary to keeping up with the Joneses, here’s how money really affects your happiness. The conclusion of the article is that we are never truly satisfied. We always want a little more. Another conclusion that can be drawn from the article is that money doesn’t mean more happiness at all. In the article it was stated that “a 2018 study from Purdue University used much wider data from the Gallup World Poll and found that the ideal income point for individuals is $95,000 for life satisfaction and $60,000 to $75,000 for emotional well-being. When people earned more than $105,000, their happiness levels decreased.” Laurie Santos who hosts “The Happiness Lab” podcast stated “even the richest folks out there in the world can often look around and find somebody that’s just a teensy, weensy bit richer, and therefore their money is not making them as happy as they think. Entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk shared that he wants to “redefine success” as being happy versus making a lot of money. “I have an uncomfortable [number] of friends who make $12 million a year and are unhappy”.
I do agree that money doesn’t guarantee happiness. I agree because everyone’s definition of happiness is different. In the article titled “From the ‘perfect’ salary to keeping up with the Joneses, here’s how money really affects your happiness by Cori Steg. Entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk shared that he wants to “redefine success” as being happy versus making a lot of money. “I have an uncomfortable [number] of friends who make $12 million a year and are unhappy”. To be able to obtain twelve million dollars that isn’t easy to achieve. If a millionaire is unhappy then it’s not about the money. During the Ted Talk, Barry Schwartz stated that “the findings of the study were for every ten mutual funds the employer offered; the rate of participation went down two percent. “Making the decision is so hard that they pass up significant matching money from the employer. “By not participating, they are passing up as much as 5,000 dollars a year from the employer, who would happily match their contribution”. The employees were happier with making the decision of not participating because of the overwhelming options than getting the money. I do believe that money doesn’t rule everyone’s world. I believe that happiness comes from things that money can’t buy. For example, spending time with loved ones, making memories, or exploring hobbies. All of these can bring you happiness and don’t cost a cent.
