Comments | sub_divided: modern life (two years later)

sub_divided

modern life (two years later)

Feb 17, 2009 01:17

I am a fallen woman:

http://twitter.com/subdee

(AOL stuff I promised here ended up over there. There's not much more to the story, anyway...)

Read through Barry Schwartz' ode to limits, The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less. All kinds of issues with his chapter detailing the specific ( Read more... )

books:bookblogging

Comments 15

aiwritingfic February 17 2009, 06:52:00 UTC

Instead of the salary cap, I'm of the "tax them at 50% or higher above a certain cap" school of thought. Capped salaries just mean the perks to attract the really good people are going to be bonuses, stock options/stock outright, other benefits that can't be capped...

lilacfield February 17 2009, 07:45:26 UTC

Following you.

darksumomo February 17 2009, 07:54:46 UTC

Here's Schwartz's talk on the psychology of choice from the TED conference.

Barry Schwartz: The paradox of choice

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.

Also, here's his latest talk to TED on moral skill.

Barry Schwartz: The real crisis? We stopped being wise

Barry Schwartz makes a passionate call for practical wisdom as an antidote to a society gone mad with bureaucracy. He argues powerfully that rules often fail us, incentives often backfire, and practical, everyday wisdom will help rebuild our world.

petronia February 17 2009, 08:03:35 UTC

Retailers' truism - if you give people 6 options they're happy, if you give them 32 they get confused and walk away without buying anything. But I'm sure the book mentions it. XD

sub_divided February 17 2009, 14:57:15 UTC

Yes it does! Also that people forced to choose between 32 items will be less satisfied with their choice than people forced to choose between six.

retsuko February 17 2009, 16:07:27 UTC

Interesting--I had heard him speak on NPR and was impressed at that time with his maximizer v. satisficer talk, but his argument was very male-focused.

And word on the self-help books... my favorite one was Women Who Think Too Much, which I think the author had meant as "women who dwell on the past and worry about the future too much" but came out as something entirely different. ;)

sub_divided February 18 2009, 05:02:48 UTC

I liked his point that everyone is both: the goal is to work out your, well, goals, and to satisfice on everything else.

(I think I just like the word: SATISFICE. Mmmmm.)

Ahaha yeah, that's a very unfortunate choice of words.