A632.2.3.RB- Sheena Iyengar: How to Make Choosing Easier

I am a huge fan of Sheena Iyengar and her work. This is my second time blogging about her studies, this time I came across a different TED talk. I wish I could shadow her during each stage of her work so I could see how everything comes together. The first TED talk I discussed was The Art of Choosing in a blog titled Ballet Slippers or Adorable? This time I am interested in her TED talk on How to Make Choosing Easier. In a world with so many choices and the feeling that more is always in demand, Iyengar wanted to know how we can become better at managing our choices when in fact we are facing choice overload. She explains that the more choices that are available the more likely we are to avoid making a choice. 

She gave an example of a specialty store she used to visit that had tons of choices of items ranging from olive oil to jam. Each item had possibly hundreds of choices. It does not sound like a big deal at first; you go into the store, if you do not have an immediate preference you could just pick one and be on your way. Right? The jam did not overwhelm me because I do not take food so seriously. If you made me actually go into the store my attitude toward the process of choosing would probably not be so casual. She also discussed financial plans for retirement. I glazed over instantly when she discussed how there could also be hundreds of plans. I do not claim to be an expert on financial matters, so when faced with making the best selection I am clueless how I could know which one is the right one? I start worrying if there are so many, there must be a reason. If they all did the same thing, why would there be so many? 

There are three main consequences that have been observed when offering too much choice. People are more likely to delay choosing or procrastinate even if they are going against their best self-interest. Second, people are more likely to make worse choices. Lastly, people are more likely to choose things that make them last satisfied (Iyengar, 2011). Since we cannot make choice overload disappear overnight, never to be dealt with ever again, what can we do about it?

She offers four techniques that can be applied to personal decision making and business decisions:

1.       Cut- Less is more

2.       Concretize- Make it vivid

3.       Categorize- More categories, fewer choices

4.       Condition- For complexity

(Iyengar, 2011)

I found two of these particularly appealing; cut and concretize. As she discussed in detail what each entailed, I realized how beneficial each could be in my personal life and at work. In the instance of cut the slogan becomes less is more. What this means is that by reducing extraneous options you can improve the choosing experience. This can be great for an organization’s bottom line, as well. Costs can be lowered while still seeing an increase in sales. “When the Golden Cat Corporation got rid of their 10 worst-selling cat litter products, they saw an increase in profits by 87 percent -- a function of both increase in sales and lowering of costs” (Iyengar, 2011, n.p.). 

Each weekend I look to see what new movies are playing at the movie theater. I love movies. It seems like there is a dry spell and I am not interested in anything and then suddenly there are five movies I want to see at the same time. I make a list of all of the movies and I stew over which one will be better and what should I see first. Without fail, most of the time I know I am not going to be able to see all of them. It makes no sense, but I usually do not go to the movies because I am overwhelmed. “Emotions can sometimes focus the mind but can also lead to unproductive coping strategies such as avoidance” (Hoch, Kunreuther & Gunther, 2001, p. 108). It took me four years to paint my house because I could not pick the color. I have one room that has six different paint colors. I have a problem with choosing, especially when it comes to fun or creative options. I want it all or nothing at all, I guess. The cutting technique is something I can adopt to reduce this choosing anxiety.

I also believe there are other things that can improve my ability to decide. Not just for me, but for others, too. Learning more about myself, engaging in self-reflection, specifying what goals I have, what values are most important to me and checking back in on these things periodically is a great platform in which to begin better choosing. Knowing who I am, what I want, and pairing it with these decision techniques can help weed out the noise of having too many options and narrow the focus to a more bite-sized portion. I identify with an Eastern approach to thinking more than I realized. I prefer to make reflective opposed to expedient choices as much as possible, especially in my personal life. It is important for me to thoroughly be able to trace out connections between things (Hoch, Kunreuther & Gunther, 2001). As in my example about paint selection, I wanted to ensure that it is executed with my full intentions in mind. I am not just going to jump head first to do it and get it over. To be fair, I was not truly motivated or focused for the entire four years to paint, it was a casual mentioning from time to time. If I had been stuck for that long it would have been a true case of paralysis analysis (2001) and that is when these techniques could have kept me from being buried alive from decision overload.

Working with students I see this is also a problem for other people, too. I am not alone in the decision-making boat. In an ERAU graduate program there are typically twelve courses, which doesn’t sound like a lot. Prior to each new term I begin the process of enrollment. Students are notorious for not keeping track of their program requirements or what they need to take so they ask for advice. What should I take next?

 If I list out the eleven or even eight remaining classes the response is that they will think about it and get back to me. Then I do not hear from them for a couple months. Graduate degrees need to be completed within seven years and time is ticking. Most programs are fairly flexible regarding the order in which coursework can be taken. I do not do anything special other than check the schedule to see what is offered and pick two they have not completed.

Based on you degree program I suggest one of the following courses for the March term: MSLD 633 or MSLD 634.

It is extremely rare that students come back with another request after I have given them a choice of two.  In the past it was structured like this: Casey your remaining program requirements are as follows: MSLD 511, MSLD 520, MSLD 633, MSLD 634, a College of Business 500/600 level elective and MSLD 690. Your capstone must be taken last, please let me know which you would like to be registered in and I will be glad to help. Students need to enroll to progress through their program and helping them make a decision instead of avoid it is an important part of the business model in education.

Concretization was a tricky one for me at first. I was not sure what this was and then I realized that is like concrete: hard, porous, grey, tangible concrete. Suddenly a picture has been formed. I see it, I feel it, I can recall sitting on concrete during a cold, rainy winter and how the dampness soaked into my bones through the layers of my winter clothing never allowing that memory to leave me. Iyengar states that choices must be felt in a vivid way. If the consequences of our choices are perceived in this way people do a better job with choosing. She asked us to think about spending cash versus using an ATM card. When you physically pull out the money and count it out to make a payment you can visually see how much is left. It is out of sight, out of mind with a never changing plastic card. During an experiment at ING they added a section to the retirement forms that asked people to imagine the positive things that could be done with their retirement savings. This type of concretization proved to increase participants.

Pictures can be used as part of concretization. I am highly susceptible to visuals. When I go to a restaurant I read through the dishes and the ingredients. They sound fine, I like the composition of each, but nothing really pulls me in until I run across a picture of a meal. I am known for ordering pictures. I used to wonder why they didn’t just make an entire menu out of pictures. Now I know that too many pictures would likely be overload in itself.

As an academic advisor we are actually a team. We are constantly trying to figure out what is the best way to engage our students. What is useful one term can become a one hit wonder, it can worn out easily. We can certainly overload students with too much information, but making announcements is important, especially for enrollment. Another graduate advisor, Brian, had a great idea for one of our enrollment outreaches for the January term. He scoured the internet for a candid-looking picture of an ERAU graduation. He placed this into the outreach email and said: This is the goal, let’s make it a reality. Let’s get enrolled for the January term. It was actually quite successful. Recently we have seen a lot of drops from courses, which are detrimental to getting enrollments. I believe that using this same type of concrete imagery will prompt the consideration of pushing on, urging students to keep going. There are times when students truly need to leave their courses. But other times it is because they are quite overwhelmed. Reframing the goal can perhaps keep in check the negative emotions by recalling the positive emotions of why they wanted to start their journey of pursuing and receiving a Master’s degree.

I think there is a lot of applicable merit to understanding and utilizing these potential solutions when we experience choice overload. I know that I can be susceptible like anyone else when there is too much coming at me all at once. I shut down and avoid making a decision. That is a choice, I suppose, but not necessarily a good one. Previously I would have applauded myself for not making any decision versus getting in over my head with a bad decision. I am enthusiastic about Sheena Iyengar’s TED talk and that I get to come away with some simple tools to add to my decision-making defense arsenal!

References:

Hoch, S., Kunreuther, H., & Gunther, R. (2001). Wharton on making decisions. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Iyengar, S. (2011) Sheena Iyengar: How to make choosing easier | Video on TED.com. TED: Ideas worth spreading. Retrieved January 22, 2015, from http://www.ted.com/talks/sheena_iyengar_choosing_what_to_choose.html

A632.1.4.RB- Multistage Decision Making

I used to think I was great at decision making; that I aced each decision with flying colors. This is not to say that I suddenly believe I make bad decisions, it is just that now I am unsure if I could be making even better choices. After spending less than a week with Wharton on Making Decisions I have become aware that there are many influences and factors that help or hinder our capabilities. Understanding and reflecting upon my decision making process compared to the multistage decision making process in the text I see that that I simply make what I consider to be the safest choices. In comparison I could be making more efficient choices that yield more significant, successful outcomes.

The Wharton text gives examples of complex formulas used by researchers to solve multistage problems.  These formulas input the variables and probabilities to provide a solution with the greatest chance of success. This approach referred to as dynamic programming is aimed toward the idea that “a decision problem may involve a large number of stages…one need not enumerate and take expectancies of all possible contingent future realizations to arrive at an optimum decision policy” (Hoch, Kunreuther, Gunther, 2001, p. 42). The text goes on to say that few solves problems through equations, which is a relief because I was near abandoning hope at making any improvements in my decision-making methods.

Hoch, Kunreuther & Gunther explain that we tend to use experience to learn and improve, also known as heuristics, and that we should consider the future in our decision making processes. However, the fact that advice must be continuously given such as ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor away’ suggests our heuristic solutions may not always be as good as we wish them to be (Hoch, Kunreuther, Gunther, 2001). “Precisely measuring how good (or bad) we are at making dynamic decisions, however, turns out to be more difficult that one might presume” (Hoch, Kunreuther, Gunther, 2001, p. 43). 

Perhaps it would be beneficial for me to adopt a more systematic means by which to make decisions. Looking at optimal decision making I can use these to help predict how decisions I make today will affect my future. Working full-time and also pursuing my graduate degree full-time constantly makes me feel like my plate is as full as it could be. I cut corners all of the time lately when it comes to what I eat and whether I exercise. I keep promising myself that if I can just make it through another month it will be easier or if I get through the last half of my degree this year that I can focus on my health again come 2016. 

This sounds like a nice idea, but waiting a whole year to make a change can have quite an impact. There would be another year’s worth of habits to break and even unseen health consequences that I may not be able to undo. It is important to think of future impact of today’s decisions. Sometimes theory of good decision making is easier than practicing it; after all there are only so many hours in a day. Excuses aside there is an internet meme that says, “You have the same amount of hours in the day as Beyoncé”. Well played, internet… well played.  Thinking forward, as I am going to start calling it, I know I can improve my decision-making. I am not going to study decision-making solely, but really put it to good use and practice it, too. There is a great trail by my house that is calling my name! Time to get out there and get busy!

Reference: Hoch, S. J., Kunreuther, H., & Gunther, R. E. (2001). Wharton on making decisions. New York: Wiley.