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Productivity methods and focus

Choice overload

The finding that facing too many options can make people less likely to choose at all and less happy with the choice they make.

What It Means

Choice overload is what happens when a large set of options makes a decision harder instead of easier. Psychologists Sheena Iyengar and Mark Lepper showed it in a 2000 study: shoppers offered 6 jams were far more likely to buy one than shoppers offered 24. In the same paper, people who picked a chocolate from a small set were more satisfied with it than people who picked from a big one.

Try It: Flip Through the Choice Overload Studies

Open each card to see what the research found. Sources: Iyengar and Lepper (2000) and Iyengar's own summary of the jam study.

The jam booth

A tasting booth at Draeger's grocery in Menlo Park, California showed either 24 jams or 6.

Who stopped

More passersby stopped at the big display of 24.

Who bought

Shoppers who saw 6 flavors were far more likely to buy a jar.

The chocolates

People choosing from a small set of chocolates were more satisfied with their pick.

The lesson

More options can draw people in and still make them less likely to choose.

What you can do

Cut your list to a few options before you start comparing. (Buhata's own tip)

How People Say It

  • "There were 30 kinds of cereal, so I just left."
  • "Too many options, I can't pick a show."
  • "Just give me three to choose from."

The Breakdown

How to shrink a choice (Buhata's own steps)

  1. Write down the two or three things the choice must do for you.
  2. Remove every option that fails one of them.
  3. If more than three remain, keep the three that look best at a glance.
  4. Compare only those three, and choose.
  5. Once you've chosen, stop looking at alternatives.

Try it today. Next time you shop online, sort by your one most important feature and look at only the top three results.

What the 2000 study compared

StudySmall setLarge setWhat happened
Jam tasting booth6 jams24 jamsMore people stopped at 24; far more bought at 6
Chocolate choice6 chocolates30 chocolatesPeople were more satisfied choosing from 6

Where It Comes From

Sheena Iyengar of Columbia Business School and Mark Lepper published "When Choice Is Demotivating: Can One Desire Too Much of a Good Thing?" in the JournalJournalingWriting down your thoughts and feelings, in a notebook or an app, to understand them more clearly and to see what's behind your stress. See more of Personality and Social Psychology in 2000. The jam experiment, run at Draeger's grocery store in Menlo Park, California, became the best-known example of choice overload.

Good to Know

The 2000 studies looked at choices of jam and chocolate, and they didn't name an ideal number of options. Iyengar's later paper, "The Dark Side of Choice: When Choice Impairs Social Welfare," takes the question beyond the grocery store. For your own decisions, the practical use is noticing when a long list is stopping you from choosing, and cutting it down on purpose.

FAQ

What is the jam study?

A 2000 experiment by Sheena Iyengar and Mark Lepper at a grocery store tasting booth. More shoppers stopped at a display of 24 jams, but those shown 6 were far more likely to buy.

Is choice overload real?

The original studies found clear effects for jams and chocolates. Treat it as a risk worth watching for in your own choices rather than a rule that holds for every decision.

How many options are best?

The studies compared 6 options with 24 or 30 and found the smaller set worked better. They didn't set an ideal number, so start by cutting a long list to a handful.

Do It in Buhata

Notes and Shopping

Before your next big purchase, write your two or three must-haves in Notes (Premium) in Buhata and compare only the options that meet all of them.

Open Buhata

Related Terms and Categories

  • Analysis paralysis

    Overthinking a decision so much that you can't make it, often because you keep gathering information or comparing options.

  • Satisficing

    Choosing the first option that meets your standards instead of searching for the best one, a term coined by Nobel laureate Herbert Simon.

  • Decision fatigue

    The idea that making many decisions in a row wears down the quality of later choices, a popular claim whose research evidence is disputed.

  • Capsule wardrobe

    A small set of essential, versatile clothes and accessories chosen so most pieces combine with each other into many outfits.

Productivity methods and focus

Sources

Columbia Business School, "When Choice Is Demotivating: Can One Desire Too Much of a Good Thing?" (Sheena Iyengar and Mark Lepper, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2000); Sheena Iyengar, "The Dark Side of Choice: When Choice Impairs Social Welfare" (Columbia Business School); Columbia Business School, "Sheena Iyengar" faculty page

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