We have been sold a line for a while now that choices are the end all and be all and we all have the right and deserve to make our own choices, but, these choices do come with potentially steep costs that no one really talks about. And that isn't even talking about how we actually make choices and how we are influenced to make those choices. For those of you interested in this topic I highly recommend a book called "The Paradox of Choice" by Barry Schwartz.
http://books.google.ca/books?id=ElQVdxAipZ0C&dq=paradox+of+choice+barry+schwartz&source=bl&ots=fV2YDLSXE2&sig=hbQHv420cKQ-mhIBd8MmnhY5UIA&hl=en&ei=859YS_aqNpSENoLi-dwE&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CBcQ6AEwAw
Thanks for sharing this info Crystal, I think this is a great topic of discussion for all of us.
Tanya
Tanya Beattie, BScH
Public Health Promoter
KFL&A Public Health
221 Portsmouth Avenue
Kingston, Ontario K7M 1V5
613-549-1232, ext. 1293
Fax: 613-549-7896
www.kflapublichealth.ca
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-----Original Message-----
From: Social Determinants of Health [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Chrystal Ocean
Sent: Thursday, January 21, 2010 1:39 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [SDOH] Too Many Choices Can Do Harm - New research
Variety is the spice of life, but is there such a thing as too much choice?
According to a recent study (slated for publication), the endless array of
options for everything from diet to schools to careers can paralyze us with
indecision. And once we finally make a choice we often regret our decision,
wondering if, given all the other possibilities, it was truly the best one.
To make matters worse, this navel-gazing can lead to selfishness, as we
become obsessed with ourselves, and what our decisions say about who we are.
As the study’s author, Hazel Rose Markus, a psychology professor at Stanford
University, explains: “The enormous opportunity for growth and
self-advancement that flows from unlimited freedom of choice may diminish
rather than enhance subjective well-being.” The paralysis of choice,
however, is somewhat of a bourgeois pickle: the study found that
non-Westerners and working class Westerners don’t put the same emphasis on
having an abundance of choice as the middle and upper classes.
Source: http://bit.ly/4qe9TY
As I comment over there, people at the bottom of the income ladder also face
too many choices which they must make every day. The stress caused from this
is both felt and visible, in terms of eroding health and mobility; added
stress, for example, increases the likelihood of disability. Having to make
so many choices is a key theme in blogs by people of very low-income. In the
new blog, economicus ridiculous, which was launched January 1st, there are
already seven posts with the tag 'Choices'. Choice is an exhausting fact of
life for us.
Ocean
--
Blog: economicus ridiculous ... exercises in miserly minimalism
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