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
No comments:
Post a Comment