Skip to content
Rounds
0:00 / 0:00

The paradox of choice | Barry Schwartz | TED

TED

28M subscribers • 27 videos on Rounds

YouTube
  • Recommended by 4 people, in Hacker News, across 4 different months.
  • Presented by Barry Schwartz, psychologist, as the video describes them

For anyone, no background needed. Education, not medical advice.

6.9M views19 years ago4 recommendations

Mental healthStressDepression and anxiety

Barry Schwartz argues that having too many choices leads to anxiety, paralysis, and dissatisfaction rather than happiness.

ted.com Psychologist Barry Schwartz takes aim at a central tenet of western societies: freedom of choice. In Schwartz's estimation, choice has made us not freer but more paralyzed, not happier but more dissatisfied. TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers are invited to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes -- including speakers such as Jill Bolte Taylor, Sir Ken Robinson, Hans Rosling, Al Gore and Arthur Benjamin. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, politics and the arts. Watch the Top 10 TEDTalks on TED.com, at ted.com/index.php/talks/top10

Why it's here

4 people recommend this

What people say. Recommended as a classic explanation of how excessive choice negatively impacts mental well-being.

geekfactorin Hacker News • Recommends

On “Letting your mind wander is a major cause of unhappiness”

This article reminds me of a TED talk I liked by Barry Schwartz on "The Paradox of Choice." link to this video The speaker argues that that freedom and choice are held as unassailable virtues by Western cultures, but in fact research shows that too much choice leads to unhappiness. If you think of mind wandering as perhaps a product of too much choice for the mind, the two ideas are complementary.
View on Hacker News

seoguruin Hacker News • Recommends

On “Minds Turned to Ash: Burnout is more than working too hard”

Have you heard of Barry Schwartz: The paradox of choice? He affirms what you are saying: link to this video He has other interesting theses as well. google him.
View on Hacker News

chiefofgxbxlin Hacker News • Recommends

On “Is Productivity Growth Becoming Irrelevant?”

The first bullet point you wrote about the 50 kinds of toothpaste becoming debilitating is a good example of the "Paradox of Choice". A good TED talk is given 0, or a shorter animated one: 1. Essentially, too many options leads to paralysis and second-guessing yourself. Good videos if you have the time to watch them. 0 link to this video 1 link
View on Hacker News

jodrellblankin Hacker News • Recommends

On “Ask HN: I’m 41 and still unmarried – what should I do?”

> " What can be more important than life partner? " My favourite TED talk pairing is Dan Gilbert's Surprising Science of Happiness1, where he offers evidence upon evidence that we humans grow to like what we are stuck with and can't change. A year after winning the lottery and a year after losing the use of their legs, lottery winners and paraplegics report being equally happy with their lives, one of his studies shows, for example. And Barry Schwartz's Paradox of Choice talk2 where he argues that the more choice we have, the less happy we will be after we made the choice, full of doubt whether we could or should have chosen better, questioning if we should choose again, and seeing any f…
View on Hacker News

latchin Hacker News • Mentions

On “Ask HN: Who is Hiring? (April 2011)”

Just want to say that this looks pretty cool. Reminds me of Barry Schwartz' "The Paradox of Choice" ( link to this video )
View on Hacker News