Now listen to a lecture on this topic in a psychology class.
Okay, here’s an example. Last week I went shopping for a pair of jeans. I hadn’t bought jeans in years. And boy was I in for a surprise. You see, all I wanted was regular jeans. But when I told this to the salesperson, he looked at me as though I were from Mars. He explained, I could choose between five different styles, straight or baggy, and I don’t know what else and a dozen colors. And on top of that, did I want buttons or zipper? Now, it used to be there were only a couple of jeans types, and it was easy for me to decide what I wanted. Now, with all these different possibilities, shopping was hard. I went back and forth. This pair was really comfortable. But this other one was the most fashionable. And there were at least four different colors that looked really good. Finally, I did settle on one, but what used to take five minutes had turned into a 2 hour project. Before the choice was basically dark blue or light blue, period. Maybe the fit wasn’t perfect, but deciding was easy. But now, now, I had a complex and time consuming problem on my hands. Plus all the back and forth actually gave me a headache. Was I making the right decision? How could I be sure? Sure, it was only a pair of jeans, but I left the store anxious rather than satisfied with my purchase.