Simplessity » The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less

Barry Schwartz author of The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less recently gave a presentation at Google on The Paradox of Choice. He has lots of great statistics and examples. You can watch the video on Google Video.

Here are some notes from the video:

Effects of too much choice

• Paralysis - People get overwhelmed with choice, and end up doing nothing.
• People end up making poor decisions.
• Satisfaction
  • Regret - the more alternatives there are, the more likely you are to think you didn't pick the best one.
  • Anticipated Regret - People don't pick because they don't want to regret their decision.
  • Opportunity costs
  • Escalation of Expectations
  • Self Blame

Capability Vs Usability tradeoff - Capability seams more important at first but in practice usability is more important.

Via: Greg Linden