The Tyranny Of Choice Summary

In “The Tyranny of Choice”, Barry Schwartz writes about choices, the freedom of choice, and the classification of two sets of people based on their decision-making skills. As humans in a changing society, we are faced with choices on a daily basis. These choices can either make us happy or cause us misery and anxiety. How we approach these choices as individuals can better explain our own preferences. The two terms Schwartz mentions are “maximizer” and “satisficer”. He gives us an introduction into both of them, but I decided to simplify it for the sole purpose of this essay. “Maximizers” are people who are not satisfied with the choices presented to them, and often do research and compare other options to help them reach the best option for them. With this, they exert a lot of time and energy into seeking …show more content…
It is rare that I would settle for a mediocre option when I make a decision, unless an extreme outside force causes me to select from what I already have (satisficer). As a young adult in college, the freedom to choose is absolute hell. I spend much time researching into my future and options that are best for me. There are days where I become “overstimulated” by my environment and its choices that I have to pause and complete my decision-making at another time. To be honest, I used my maximizer skills to write this essay. I was not content with how I approached it and wanted to make it to the point. I had choices to make and combined them to make the best paper I could. In this time, Microsoft Word crashed and I lost my first copy of this essay. But due to the nature of decision-making, I was able to find the best option for me to get this paper done, and be miserable, yet happy at the same exact time. It took me a while to internally search for what I wanted to present, but when I was able to combine my best ideas after conducting internal research and reading Schwartz a few