Ted Talk Essay

When it comes to choice it always seems to be a love hate relationship: we hate making them, but we can’t live without them. Anyone can all look back to a time in our lives where they wish someone could just pick for us, or times when we wish there were more to choose from. All Americans have many choices, and it is such a part of our daily lives that we don’t even realize it. Barry Schwartz and Sheena Iyengar‘s TED talks bring up interesting ideas about choice, how people deal with them and their affects. They both state that although choice is good, it can also have negative effects. Schwartz explains what most people believe and experience with choice, while Iyengar shows cultural differences in choice making. Both Schwartz and Iyengar bring up interesting perspectives that not many have ever thought about it, including myself. Barry Schwartz’s explanation of choice is not only the most relatable and accurate view, but it also help us comprehend how choice and the choices we make affect us. Barry Schwartz’s TED talk focused on the “Official Dogma”, what most people think, of choice. He explained that people believe that to maximize freedom and welfare you must maximize choice. He talked about the pros and cons of choice but mainly on the cons of this idea that the more choices we have, the better. He explained three main cons and the first was that we cannot make up our minds so we just decide to not choose. The second was that we end up less satisfied with the final option and feel regret towards our decision. We start to feel like we are missing out on better opportunities and feel that you could have gotten something better than what you picked; it will always be in the back of your head. Finally, there is an escalation of expectation. Since you are used to having all these choices you are always going to expect to get better and perfect options and choices. If a person has high expectations and end up getting disappointed they blame themselves and feel