When I read this article, I found it very surprising that having more choices can really affect a person in a negative way. Before reading this article, I would thinkthought more people would be happy if they were able to have more choices in life. Barry Schwartz made me realize that people were not happy when they had choices. In addition, Schwartz said, “Why are people increasingly unhappy even as they experience greater material abundance and freedom of choice? choice?” I never thought people would become depressed if they were given more choices and options to choose from. This reading gave me a better understanding about choices and how choices can affect your life. When Schwartz said, “We have identified several processes that help explain why increased choice decreases satisfaction.
Schwartz,” he included an example in the reading, which said, “I recall buying a bottle of wine to accompany dinner when I was vacationing with my family in a seaside cottage in a small town in Oregon. The tiny general store had about five options from which to choose. The one I chose wasn’t very good, but I didn’t expect it to be, and I knew that I couldn’t really have done much better. Contrast that with how I feel to bring home a disappointing bottle of wine from a store that offered thousands of bottles from which to choose” (4). It is very interesting to read that if you don’t have a choice to make, then your expectations are much lower. If someone doesn’t have a choice to make, then they don't have anything to compare that choice to, so they think they made the best possible choice. After reading this article, I do think I would be stressed out if I had to choose between twomany options. I would be scared that I might pick the wrong choice.