Barry Schwartz presented his well-reasoned ideas at Pop!Tech on Saturday. His thesis: we're drowning in a sea of choices that challenge our ability to psychologically stay afloat. But, oddly, he omitted one of the key points of his book from his talk.
In the 1950's, economist/psychologist Herb Simon framed up an important concept. He called people who strive for the "very best" in any set of choices, "maximizers." Those who established a set of conditions which needed to be met in order to make a choice, "satisficers." Essentially, maximizers continually seek perfection in the domain in which they search, while satisficers find an item that meets their conditions and stop.
Schwartz's point: maximizers drive themselves crazy through all manner of doubt and regret while satisficers happily choose and move on. Learning how to determine when to be which type of searcher is the key. If we adopt a maximizer approach for every choice we make, anxiety is inevitable. If we learn the "when," and "when not," of maximizing perhaps we can manage the overwhelming set of choices presented by our economy.
Unfortunately for those who hadn't read Schwartz's book before the presentation, this important distinction was lost.
Comments