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Gleb Tsipursky Ph.D.
Intentional Insights

SELF-HELP


WHY DO MORE BUYING CHOICES CAUSE UNHAPPINESS?


RESEARCH SHOWS HOW WE TEND TO MAKE PURCHASING MISTAKES THAT DISAPPOINT US.

Posted February 7, 2023 | Reviewed by Abigail Fagan

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THE BASICS

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KEY POINTS

 * The idea that more choice equals more happiness is a myth. After a certain
   minimum of choices, additional options cause us to feel less happy.
 * Loss aversion, where people are more inclined to avoid losses than make
   gains, is a common judgement error.
 * Post-purchase rationalization is a phenomenon where people try to justify
   their decisions after making them.

Source: Jeremy Smith/supermarket fit

Have you ever felt unhappy about a purchase you made despite spending hours
reading product descriptions and reviews, comparing dozens of options, and
finally choosing what you perceived to be the best deal? I faced the same
problem many years ago, when I still lacked the knowledge of effective shopping
techniques around buying choices.



We make shopping mistakes because of how our brain is wired and because
retailers use human psychology to their advantage by manipulating the shopping
process, particularly in digital contexts. Amazon and other retailers want us to
spend as much time as possible on their websites to tempt us with a variety of
add-ons and options and to cause us FOMO (fear of missing out) on the best
possible deal. This drains our time and wallets — and even our happiness. It’s a
good thing you can learn more about the psychological dangers of shopping
through cutting-edge research in behavioral economics and cognitive
neuroscience.




CHOOSE + BUY = HAPPINESS?

Tom’s wife usually does the grocery shopping in the family, but she had the flu
so Tom went instead. Selecting the fruits and veggies went fine, but he hit a
wall when he got to the bread section. There were over 60 varieties to choose
from. Tom examined the ingredients and made comparisons; he wanted to get it
right, after all. After 10 minutes of deliberation, he picked one that seemed
like the perfect choice.



However, he had to repeat the process for the rest of the packaged goods.
Different brands offered a host of choices, and his wife’s usual shopping list
that said “bread” or “cheese” didn’t help. By the time he was finished shopping
and paid for everything, he was tired and miserable.

Why did Tom have this kind of experience? Shouldn’t he be happy that there were
many choices in the supermarket? After all, mass media presents the narrative
that abundance of choice equates with happiness.

article continues after advertisement


According to neuroscience and behavioral economics research, the real story is
more complicated than that. While having some options make us feel good, once we
get beyond that small number, we feel less and less happy the more choices we
get.

For example, in one study, shoppers at a food market saw a display table with
free samples of 24 different types of gourmet jam. On another day in the same
market, the display table had six different types of jam. The larger display
attracted more interest, but people who saw the smaller selection were 10 times
more likely to purchase the jam, and they felt better doing so compared with
those who had to select among the larger display.



This phenomenon was later dubbed “choice paralysis”, referring to the fact that
after a certain minimal number of choices, additional options cause us to feel
worse about making a decision and also make us unlikely to decide in the first
place. This applies to both major and minor decisions in life, such as when
choosing a retirement plan or something as simple as ice cream flavors.






LOSS AVERSION AND POST-PURCHASE RATIONALIZATION OF BUYING CHOICES

Why do more choices cause unhappiness? Well, one typical judgment error we make
because of the wiring in our brains is called loss aversion. Our gut reactions
prefer avoiding losses to making gains. This is probably because of our
evolutionary background; our minds evolved for the savanna environment, not for
our modern shopping context. Due to this, when we have lots of options, we feel
anxious about making the wrong choice and losing out on the best one.


THE BASICS

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Even having the opportunity to change your mind can be problematic. As it turns
out, the benefit of having the option to exchange a product or get a refund can
be a myth. Another counterintuitive behavioral economics finding shows that
people prefer to have the option to refund their purchases but feel more
satisfied if the shopping decision is irreversible.

article continues after advertisement


This is due to a phenomenon called post-purchase rationalization, which is also
called choice-supportive bias. Research finds that after making a final
decision, we try to justify it. We focus on the positives and brush off the
negative aspects. After all, if you’re a smart person, you would not make a bad
purchase, right? However, if the choice can be reversed, this post-purchase
rationalization doesn’t turn on, and we’ll keep thinking about whether it was
the right choice.


SELF-HELP ESSENTIAL READS

The Power of Humility
2 Ways to Fearlessly Step Outside Your Comfort Zone




HOW CAN YOUR BUYING CHOICES PROMOTE HAPPINESS?

Digging into research on factors that made my shopping a more unhappy experience
years ago helped me improve my buying decisions. When choosing what to buy, the
number one technique involves satisficing as opposed to maximizing. This is
backed up by extensive research, both involving in-person and online shopping.



Maximizing behavior refers to finding the perfect option when shopping.
Maximizers exhaust all available options to make sure that they get the best
deal in terms of performance, price, and so on. They have high expectations, and
they anticipate that the product will fulfill this promise.

It’s the opposite for satisficers. They set certain minimal criteria that need
to be met, then search for the first available product that meets the criteria.
They look for products that are “good enough” and those that can get the job
done, even without the bells and whistles or savings which they might have found
in an extended search.



Research shows that maximizing behavior results in less happiness, less
satisfaction, and more regret than satisficing. This finding applies especially
in societies that value individual choice highly, such Western Europe and the
United States. In societies that place less of a focus on individual choice such
as China, maximizing has only a slight correlation with unhappiness, yet still
contributes to it.



To be happier, satisfice and limit your choices! Make a shortlist that compares
a reasonable number of options and doesn’t include every product available.
There’s no such thing as the perfect deal. Buying something that gets the job
done, without excessive searching, is going to make you happier in the long run.



When you’re shopping in person, avoid Tom’s problems by skipping big
supermarkets with a gazillion options for every product. Instead, go to grocery
stores with a small selection of acceptable products, like Aldi for cheaper
prices or Trader Joe’s for higher quality. You don’t need 40 types of butter, do
you? Just four will do. If you really need to go to the supermarket, save
yourself from the hassle of choosing from so many varieties by going for the
store brand every time.



You will also probably feel happier about a purchase by ignoring free return or
refund offers, unless the product is defective. Treat each shopping decision as
final and irreversible, and get post-purchase rationalization working for you.
Combine this with satisficing to get great results, because when you focus on
“good enough”, your brain automatically highlights the positives, downplays the
negatives, and lowers your expectations.



References

Kahneman, D., Slovic, S. P., Slovic, P., & Tversky, A. (Eds.). (1982). Judgment
under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases. Cambridge university press.

Tsipursky, G. (2020). Never Go With Your Gut: How Pioneering Leaders Make the
Best Decisions and Avoid Business Disasters. Wayne, NJ: Career Press.

Tsipursky, G., Votta, F., & Roose, K. M. (2018). Fighting fake news and
post-truth politics with behavioral science: The pro-truth pledge. Behavior and
Social Issues, 27(1), 47-70.

Soll, J. B., Milkman, K. L., & Payne, J. W. (2015). A user's guide to debiasing.
The Wiley Blackwell handbook of judgment and decision making, 2, 924-951.

Keren, G. (1990). Cognitive aids and debiasing methods: can cognitive pills cure
cognitive ills?. In Advances in psychology (Vol. 68, pp. 523-552).
North-Holland.

Cantarelli, P., Bellé, N., & Belardinelli, P. (2020). Behavioral public HR:
Experimental evidence on cognitive biases and debiasing interventions. Review of
Public Personnel Administration, 40(1), 56-81.

Haselton, M. G., Nettle, D., & Andrews, P. W. (2015). The evolution of cognitive
bias. The handbook of evolutionary psychology, 724-746.

Marshall, J. A., Trimmer, P. C., Houston, A. I., & McNamara, J. M. (2013). On
evolutionary explanations of cognitive biases. Trends in ecology & evolution,
28(8), 469-473.

Haselton, M. G., Bryant, G. A., Wilke, A., Frederick, D. A., Galperin, A.,
Frankenhuis, W. E., & Moore, T. (2009). Adaptive rationality: An evolutionary
perspective on cognitive bias. Social Cognition, 27(5), 733-763.

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About the Author

Gleb Tsipursky, Ph.D., is on the editorial board of the journal Behavior and
Social Issues. He is in private practice.

Online:
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NEWS

 * Can Machine Learning Solve Psychology's Replication Problem?
 * 4 Ways to Avoid Making Poor Life Choices
 * Are There Better Alternatives to Spaying and Neutering Dogs?

Essential Reads
 * Testing the Visual Mandela Effect
 * Why Do More Buying Choices Cause Unhappiness?
 * How to Tell and What To Do If Your Child Is Anxious in Grief
 * How Many Toys Should Your Toddler Have?

Trending Topics
 * Coronavirus Disease 2019
 * Narcissism
 * Dementia
 * Bias
 * Affective Forecasting
 * Neuroscience


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