How We Choose

This is a long one. Inspired by citations in Blink, I decided to pick up Sheena Iyengar's The Art of Choosing. Dr. Iyengar's book explores different facets of how we make decisions, such as cognitive biases and the effect of priming. Although I thought it was a little tedious at times, for the most part, it provided several interesting studies on how humans react to a lack -- or abundance -- of choice. (I don't think I'm ever going to be able to walk into a supermarket without thinking about her famous jam study.)


What I found most interesting, though, was her examination on how a person's cultural background influences his or her decision-making processes. She begins by distinguishing between individualist and collectivist societies, and reading her two definitions made me reflect how each society has shaped my own decision making process.


"From early on, members of individualist societies are taught the special importance of personal choice. Even a walk through the local grocery store becomes an opportunity to teach lessons about choosing, particularly in the United States, where stores routinely offer hundreds of options. As soon as children can talk, or perhaps as soon as they can accurately point, they are asked, "Which one of these would you like?" A parent would probably narrow down the number of choices and explain the differences between this cereal and that one, or that toy and this one, but the child would be encouraged to express a preference. After a while, the child would graduate to making tougher choices, and by the ripe old age of four, he may well be expected to both understand and respond to the daunting question, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" From this children learn that they should be able to figure out what they like and dislike, what will make them happy and what won't. Because their happiness is on the line, their own opinions truly matter, and they must figure out how to judge the outcomes of their choices.


By contrast, members of collectivist societies place greater emphasis on duty. Children are often told, "If you're a good child, you'll do what your parents tell you," and the parents need not explain themselves. From what you eat to what you wear, the toys you play with to what you study, it is what you're supposed to do that's most important. As you grow older, instead of being asked what you want, you may be asked, "How will you take care of your parents' needs and wants? How will you make them proud?" The assumption is that your parents, and elders in general, will show you the right way to live your life so that you will be protected from making a costly mistake. There are "right" choices and "wrong" ones, and by following your elders, you will learn to choose correctly, even relinquishing choice when appropriate."

Blink

After some moving mishaps, I recently found myself book-less and browsing a friend's shelves for something to tide me over until my boxes arrived. I stumbled across Malcolm Gladwell's Blink, and while I know a number of people consider him to be a hack, I thought the book was an interesting examination into the decision-making process of individuals and institutions. Basically, Gladwell argues that there are situations where it makes sense to follow your first instinct over careful, reasoned analysis... but not always. Which left me in a bit of a tizzy: how am I supposed to know when to make weighted average spreadsheets and when to just follow my gut?!? ;)

But, tucked in the Afterword is the following explanation:

One of the questions that I've been asked over and over again since Blink came out is, When should we trust our instincts, and when should we consciously think things through? Well, here is a partial answer. On straightforward choices, deliberate analysis is the best. When questions of analysis and personal choice start to get complicated -- when we have to juggle many variables -- then our unconscious thought process may be superior... It seems as if [Sigmund Freud] agreed: "When making a decision of minor importance, I have always found it advantageous to consider all the pros and cons. In vital matters, however, such as the choice of a mate or profession, the decision should come from the unconscious, from somewhere within ourselves. In important decisions of personal life, we should be governed, I think, by the deep inner needs of our nature."

Makes sense to me!