snowdeal.org - conflux: on miswanting and the paradox of choice.

conflux

on miswanting and the paradox of choice.

as someone who occasionally feels that he didn't get The Handbook On Career Planning in particular or life planning in general, the central point of "why career planning is time wasted" rings true to me and makes me wonder how those that do seem able to plot meticulously crafted career trajectories pull it off while maintaining their happiness and sanity:

"In reality, people frequently don't know what they want and psychology has proved it. That's why career planning, or at the very least just deciding what you're going to do next, is so unpleasant. It's no fun at 18 years old when people ask what you want to do. There seem to be so many different options, each with myriad branching possibilities, many of which lead in opposite directions, but all equally tempting. Surrounded by these endless spiralling futures, it is no wonder that many a school-leaver sticks with what they know and follows in parental footsteps."

"The idea of making mistakes about what we might want in the future has been termed 'miswanting' by Gilbert and Wilson (2000). They point to a range of studies finding we are poor at predicting what will make us happy in the future."

it's fascinating that we've reached a point in human development where we've saturated our evolved ability to rationally deal with the opportunities presented by an ever expanding array of possibilities.

the phenomenon isn't limited to The Big Life Decisions. think you're the only one left unhappy with all the myriad of choices on the shelf at the grocery store? you're not alone:

"Research in the wake of Kahneman and Tversky has unearthed a number of conundrums around choice. For one thing, choice can be "de-motivating." In a study conducted several years ago, shoppers who were offered free samples of six different jams were more likely to buy one than shoppers who were offered free samples of twenty-four. This result seems irrational�surely you�re more apt to find something you like from a range four times as large�but it can be replicated in a variety of contexts."

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conflux

on miswanting and the paradox of choice.

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