The Science of Decision Paralysis: Why Trying to Choose the Best Option Makes You Feel Worse

Key findings

1. 2002

   With Ward, Monterosso, Lyubomirsky, White, and Lehman, Schwartz developed the Maximization Scale and showed that maximizers — who seek the single best option — achieve better objective outcomes but report lower happiness, more regret, more depression, and less optimism than satisficers. ↗

2. 2004

   In 'The Paradox of Choice', Schwartz synthesized laboratory and field evidence to argue that beyond a threshold of options, freedom of choice becomes a burden — generating anxiety, regret, and paralysis in everyday decisions from careers to consumer goods. ↗

Key findings

1. 2000

   With Mark Lepper, Iyengar showed in a grocery field experiment that a display of 24 jam varieties attracted more browsers but yielded roughly one-tenth the purchase rate of a display with 6 varieties — providing the first real-world demonstration of choice overload. ↗

2. 2006

   With Wells and Schwartz, Iyengar tracked MBA students' job searches and found that maximizers secured higher-paying positions than satisficers yet ended their search less satisfied — demonstrating that superior objective outcomes decouple from subjective well-being when counterfactual thinking is fueled by a maximizing orientation. ↗