When choice is demotivating: can one desire too much of a good thing?

@article{citeulike:1431264, abstract = {Current psychological theory and research affirm the positive affective and motivational consequences of having personal choice. These findings have led to the popular notion that the more choice, the better-that the human ability to manage, and the human desire for, choice is unlimited. Findings from 3 experimental studies starkly challenge this implicit assumption that having more choices is necessarily more intrinsically motivating than having fewer. These experiments, which were conducted in both field and laboratory settings, show that people are more likely to purchase gourmet jams or chocolates or to undertake optional class essay assignments when offered a limited array of 6 choices rather than a more extensive array of 24 or 30 choices. Moreover, participants actually reported greater subsequent satisfaction with their selections and wrote better essays when their original set of options had been limited. Implications for future research are discussed.}, address = {Graduate School of Business, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027-6902, USA. ss957@columbia.edu}, author = {Iyengar, S. S. and Lepper, M. R. }, citeulike-article-id = {1431264}, issn = {0022-3514}, journal = {J Pers Soc Psychol}, keywords = {choicebehavior, human, neuroeconomics, paradox\_of\_choice}, month = {December}, number = {6}, pages = {995--1006}, posted-at = {2007-07-03 17:24:50}, priority = {2}, title = {When choice is demotivating: can one desire too much of a good thing?}, url = {http://view.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11138768}, volume = {79}, year = {2000} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:1431264 L3 - citeulike-article-id:1431264 TI - When choice is demotivating: can one desire too much of a good thing? JF - J Pers Soc Psychol VL - 79 IS - 6 SP - 995 EP - 1006 AD - Graduate School of Business, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027-6902, USA. ss957@columbia.edu SN - 0022-3514 N2 - Current psychological theory and research affirm the positive affective and motivational consequences of having personal choice. These findings have led to the popular notion that the more choice, the better-that the human ability to manage, and the human desire for, choice is unlimited. Findings from 3 experimental studies starkly challenge this implicit assumption that having more choices is necessarily more intrinsically motivating than having fewer. These experiments, which were conducted in both field and laboratory settings, show that people are more likely to purchase gourmet jams or chocolates or to undertake optional class essay assignments when offered a limited array of 6 choices rather than a more extensive array of 24 or 30 choices. Moreover, participants actually reported greater subsequent satisfaction with their selections and wrote better essays when their original set of options had been limited. Implications for future research are discussed. KW - choicebehavior KW - human KW - neuroeconomics KW - paradox_of_choice AU - Iyengar, SS AU - Lepper, MR PY - 2000/12// UR - http://view.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11138768 ER -